Day: October 6, 2020

Facebook said it will ban groups that “represent” QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and “deep state” government officials. The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts for “representing QAnon,” even if they don’t promote violence. The social network said it will consider a variety of factors to decide if a group meets its criteria for a ban, including its name, the biography or “about” section of the page, and discussions within the page, group or Instagram account. Mentions of QAnon in a group focused on a different subject won’t necessarily lead to a ban, Facebook said. Less than two months ago, Facebook said it would stop promoting the group and its adherents, although it faltered with spotty enforcement. It said it would only remove QAnon groups if they promote violence. That is no longer the case. The company said it started to enforce the policy Tuesday but cautioned that it “will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks.” The QAnon phenomenon has sprawled across a patchwork of secret Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and YouTube videos in recent years. QAnon has been linked to real-world violence such as criminal reports of kidnapping and dangerous claims that the coronavirus is a hoax. But the conspiracy theory has also seeped into mainstream politics. Several Republicans running for Congress this year are QAnon-friendly. By the time Facebook and other social media companies began enforcing — however limited — policies against QAnon, critics said it was largely too late. Reddit, which began banning QAnon groups in 2018, was well ahead, and to date it has largely avoided having a notable QAnon presence on its platform. Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Citigroup Inc. reportedly fired a manager in its technology department after an investigation found that he operated a prominent website dedicated to QAnon. According to Bloomberg, Jason Gelinas had been placed on paid leave after he was identified on Sept. 10 by a fact-checking site as the operator of the website QMap.pub and its associated mobile apps. Citi did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Tuesday. 
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A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used “killer acquisitions” to smite rivals, charge exorbitant fees and force small businesses into “oppressive” contracts in the name of profit. The panel, an antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, recommended that Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc., Amazon.com and Facebook should not both control and compete in related business activities but stopped short of saying they should be broken up. The scathing 449-page report describes dozens of instances where the companies misused their power, revealing corporate cultures apparently bent on doing what they could to maintain dominance over large portions of the internet. “To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report said. Facebook, Apple and Google did not have an immediate comment. In anticipation of the report, Amazon warned in a blog post Tuesday against “fringe notions of antitrust” and market interventions that “would kill off independent retailers and punish consumers by forcing small businesses out of popular online stores, raising prices and reducing consumer choice.” After more than a year of investigation involving 1.3 million documents and more than 300 interviews, the committee led by Democratic Congressman David Cicilline found companies were running marketplaces where they also competed, creating “a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another.” Coming just weeks before the Nov. 3 presidential election, the content of the report became increasingly political, an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to boost their credibility in the fight against market domination by big tech companies. That said, Congress is unlikely to act on the findings this year. Ultimately, the report reflects the views of the Democratic majority in the House, and two other reports were expected to be authored by Republican members on the panel, two sources told Reuters earlier in the day. Recommendations The panel recommended companies be prohibited from operating in closely aligned businesses. While they did not name any one company, this recommendation would suggest that Google, which runs the auctions for online ad space and participates in those auctions, should potentially be required to separate clearly, or not even operate, the two businesses. The report urged Congress to allow antitrust enforcers more leeway in stopping companies from purchasing potential rivals, something that is now difficult. Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012 is an example of this. Instagram at the time was small and insignificant, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw its potential and noted that it was “building networks that are competitive with our own” and “could be very disruptive to us,” the report said. As part of the report, the committee staff drew up a menu of potential changes in antitrust law. The suggestions ranged from the aggressive, such as potentially barring companies like Amazon.com from operating the markets in which it also competes, to the less controversial, like increasing the budgets of the agencies that enforce antitrust law: the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission. 
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For nearly a year, Benjamin Billal was chained to a rock.“I was taken to a faith healing center by my grandmother and my mother,” Billal told journalists by video link from Monrovia, Liberia on Tuesday. “There, I was shackled. I was chained to a rock, where I stayed for about 11 months. There, there was no food. They gave us food at will — when they feel like giving you food, they gave you food. And there, we had no freedom moving around. You want to move around, you move around with chains.”What did he do to get this treatment? According to doctors at Liberia’s only mental health facility — where he was finally taken after 11 months of being shackled — he was suffering from depression.Shackling, restraining and detaining patients with mental health conditions is a sadly common practice in Africa, with some children as young as 10 being chained and locked in small spaces by their families, a new report by Human Rights Watch has found.The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 1 in 5 Liberians suffer a mild to moderate mental disorder. But in 2016, according to WHO data, the West African country had only one registered psychiatrist. Additionally, poverty and lack of awareness usually put mental health low on the list of priorities for many struggling families.Shackling is a global problem, said Kriti Sharma, a Human Rights Watch researcher on disability rights. She authored this year’s report on the degrading practice and shared some of her experiences.“What we found is, frankly, horrific,” she said. “People can spend years tied to tree, locked in a cage or sheep shed, or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions. And why? Because families are struggling to cope, because governments are failing to provide adequate support and services in the community, particularly mental health care.”Shackled people live in extremely unsanitary and degrading conditions, Sharma said.“Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, defecate in a very small space, sometimes no larger than a one- to two-meter radius,” she said. “Simply put, dignity is being denied. One man in Kenya told me, ‘I’ve been chained for five years. The chain is so heavy it makes me sad.’ He stays in his room with seven people, seven men. He’s not allowed to wear clothes. He only wears an underwear, and he has to go to the toilet in a bucket. He told me, ‘it’s not how a human being is supposed to be. A human being should be free.’”Michael Njenga, Kenya-based chairman of the Pan African Network for Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities, says he has two recommendations for governments.“We need absolute prohibition, in terms of shackling,” he said.He said governemnts also need to address systematic shortcomings when it comes to dealing with mental health.  “I think for me, most important… is looking at the intersection between availability of mental health services within the community.  It is important to ensure that we develop a wide range of community-based mental health services that respond to the needs of persons with psychosocial disabilities.”And, Sharma, the report’s author, said the global pandemic has made the problem even more dire.“People go in and out of chains depending on the support that’s available in these communities,” she said. “We are closely documenting a case who was shackled for eight years in a shed. He was freed, he went back to the community because he had access to support. He had a job. He did the local call to prayer at his mosque. And then, four years later, when COVID-19 hit, he was shackled once again by his family because there was a disruption in government services.”Billal’s story, however, has a better ending. After his older brother fished him out of the faith healing center and took him to a mental health facility in Monrovia, he was able to complete his education.He is now a schoolteacher, and a mental health activist, working to make sure what happened to him does not happen to anyone else. 
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying 60 Starlink satellites for the company’s internet satellite constellation system.The launch marks the 13th Starlink mission.  The company says the goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide reliable and affordable internet across the globe, particularly to remote and rural areas where internet service is otherwise not available.  The satellites reportedly deployed into orbit about an hour after the launch.SpaceX is one of the U.S. space agency NASA’s commercial partners, which supplies its reusable rocket launch system and other rockets for the agency’s space program.  The company says its reusable booster came back to earth Tuesday and landed on one of the company’s unmanned “drone” ships in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
 
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Even though businesses are reopening around the world, the pandemic is still a reality. Many commercial spaces and offices are taking people’s temperatures before allowing them inside.  In some industries, handheld thermometers may not be efficient enough. Thermal imaging systems allow temperatures to be taken without anyone needing to be physically close to the person being evaluated.  The demand for these types of devices is skyrocketing globally. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.Videographers: Michael Eckels, Elizabeth Lee  Video editor: Elizabeth Lee
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U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans not to “be afraid” of COVID-19 after he returned to the White House Monday evening after 72 hours of hospitalization for the deadly virus.In a show of fitness, he climbed the steps of the South Portico, standing on the Truman Balcony where he removed his mask, gave a double thumbs-up gesture and saluted the Marine One helicopter as it prepared to take off from the South Lawn. Without putting his facemask back on, the president then walked into the White House where others were awaiting his arrival.Earlier, as he walked out of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,  Trump said, “Thank you very much, everybody.”Stepping off the helicopter and walking toward the White House residence, the president paused to turn to the cameras, waved and gave a thumbs-up. Asked by VOA how he was feeling, a muffled reply of “real good” could be heard. Later in the evening, he tweeted out a recorded message about COVID19, saying “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.””We’re going back, we’re going back to work. We’re going to be out front,” he said. “Don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful,” he added.FILE – President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden participate in the first presidential debate, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland.Next presidential debate
Trump’s reelection campaign said the Republican president, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in the polls, plans to participate in the Oct. 15 second debate against the Democratic Party nominee.  “Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations, and most importantly, his clinical status, support his return home” to the White House, which has medical facilities and practitioners to monitor the president around the clock, his primary physician, Dr. Sean Conley, told reporters Monday afternoon.  “Every day a patient stays in the hospital unnecessarily is a risk to themselves,” he added. “Right now, there’s nothing being done upstairs here that we can’t safely conduct down home.” Before leaving the hospital, the president tweeted, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” adding that he felt better than he did 20 years ago. I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, center, and other doctors, walk out to talk with reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 5, 2020.Physicians ‘cautiously optimistic’
Speaking with reporters at the hospital, Conley, an osteopath and a commander in the U.S. Navy, declined to answer some questions, such as the condition of the president’s lungs, citing patient confidentiality.    The president is taking a steroid, dexamethasone, which is typically not administered in mild or moderate cases of the coronavirus, along with a five-day course of remdesivir, an antiviral medication.    Trump’s physicians remain “cautiously optimistic and on guard, because we’re in a bit of unchartered territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he has so early in the course,” Conley said. “If we can get through to Monday with him remaining the same, or improving, better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief.” After tweeting a video on Sunday that he was “getting great reports” from his doctors, Trump promised a little surprise for his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated.            President Donald Trump drives past supporters gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020.Drive by criticism
His decision to do a drive-around for supporters Sunday evening was condemned by one attending physician at Walter Reed as irresponsible.          Dr. James Phillips, who is also chief of disaster medicine at The George Washington University in Washington, tweeted that the special vehicle the president was riding in is sealed against chemical attack.     “The risk of COVID-19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play,” said Phillips, referring to the driver and an accompanying agent in the front seat who appeared to be wearing masks, face shields and gowns.     That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020“Appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE,” White House spokesman, Judd Deere, said. “The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do.”      On Monday Conley said the drive was only “for a short period of time,” and the agents in the vehicle with Trump were adequately protected.  Infection date unclear
Earlier Sunday, the doctors treating the president revealed that their patient had earlier experienced “two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen saturation.”         Conley received word last Thursday evening that both Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after one of the president’s close aides, Hope Hicks, was confirmed to be ill with the infection.      The doctor declined again on Monday, when pressed by reporters, to answer when Trump last tested negative for COVID-19, something considered important for doing adequate contact tracing to try to limit the spread of the virus.   “I don’t want to go backwards,” the physician said. “The contact tracing, as I understand it, is being done. I’m not involved with it.”      Trump’s campaign on Friday put a hold on all previously announced events involving the president’s participation.  
  Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen, along with Sarah Pence and her husband Michael Pence and their daughter, right, arrive on Marine Two at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Oct. 5, 2020, as he departs for Utah.Return to campaign trail
Vice President Mike Pence is making campaign appearances this week, as well as facing off Wednesday evening against Sen. Kamala Harris of California, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee.      “As far as travel goes, we’ll see,” Conley replied when asked how soon Trump could get back on the campaign trail with less than a month before the Nov. 3 presidential election.  
  
Doctors said it is important to ensure that the president is no longer shedding virus and that he is in good enough physical shape before getting medical permission to travel.  Trump and Biden were about 4 meters apart on a debate stage last Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests at least 2 meters for social distancing purposes.           Biden’s campaign said the former vice president tested negative Friday for the coronavirus. A test on Sunday was also negative.            The coronavirus has killed 210,000 people in the United States and infected nearly 7.5 million across the country, according to Johns Hopkins University data.  
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now acknowledging that COVID-19 can spread through small particles in the air over an extended distance and for hours at a time.  The CDC has long insisted that the coronavirus is transmitted mainly between people standing within two meters of each other, through droplets produced by talking, breathing, coughing or sneezing.  But FILE – Personnel at the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work the Emergency Operations Center in response to the coronavirus, among other threats, Feb. 13, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia.The CDC posted a similar guidance last month suggesting the virus could spread through aerosols over an extended distance.  But the agency abruptly removed the guidance a few days later, saying it was mistakenly posted before it had gone through a proper technical review.  The method of how COVID-19 is transmitted has been under intense debate among health experts for months. Back in July, more than 200 scientists from over 30 countries published an open letter to the World Health Organization urging the agency to consider evidence that the virus can be spread through airborne transmission.   FILE – COVID-19 patients are being treated at the Tshwane District Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, July 10, 2020.Another study released Monday reveals that nearly a third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients experienced some type of neurological disorder, including confusion, headaches, confusion, dizziness or muscle pain.  Researchers observed the outcomes of more than 500 coronavirus patients admitted to a hospital system in Chicago between March and April, the earliest days of the outbreak in the U.S.  The researchers found that only 32% of the patients with neurological problems were able to handle routine daily activities after being released, like cooking or handling financial issues, compared to 89% of patients who did not have such problems.  The researchers said the most severe neurological symptom was encephalopathy, which is characterized by “altered mental function ranging from mild confusion to coma.”   Meanwhile, several U.S. news outlets say the White House has rejected a proposal by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to  implement a set of strict new guidelines for emergency authorization of a new COVID-19 vaccine.FILE – A volunteer is injected with a vaccine as he participates in a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination study at the Research Centers of America, in Hollywood, Florida, Sept. 24, 2020.The new rules — which would have required drug makers to observe participants in late-stage clinical trials for at least two months after they receive a second and final dose of an experimental vaccine —  would have certainly pushed a possible vaccine well past the November 3 presidential election, defying predictions made by President Donald Trump.    The World Health Organization says roughly one in 10 people around the world may have been infected with the coronavirus.        FILE – Commuters ignoring physical distancing norms push each other as they try to board on a long distance bus in Kolkata, India, Oct. 1, 2020.The head of the health emergencies program at the World Health Organization, Michael Ryan, said Monday that the agency’s “best estimates” indicate 10% of the world’s population could have contracted the virus.        That estimate, which would amount to more than 760 million people, is more than 20 times the number of confirmed cases in the world and would still leave more than 90% of the population susceptible to the virus.       Speaking to a special session of WHO’s 34-member executive board in Geneva, Ryan said the figures vary between countries, but said the estimate means “the vast majority of the world remains at risk.”      “We are now heading into a difficult period,” he said.      The number of confirmed worldwide cases tallied by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center surpassed 35 million on Monday, a week after surpassing 1 million coronavirus deaths.       Madrid Emergency Service health workers conduct rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 in the southern neighborhood of Vallecas in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 2, 2020.Several European nations hit their own pandemic milestones, with Germany reporting Monday its total confirmed cases exceed 300,000, Britain recording its 500,000th case, and Spain becoming the first European country to surpass 800,000 total coronavirus cases.     
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Hurricane Delta, the ninth storm of the Atlantic season, prompted forecasters to issue warnings for Mexico and Cuba, with the U.S. Gulf coast in striking distance later this week.  The U.S.-based National Hurricane Center said Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum north and west to Rio Largartos, including Cozumel. A hurricane watch remains in place for western Cuba, including the Province of Artemisia. The Cayman New service reports the center of Hurricane Delta is expected to pass near the southwest Cayman Islands early Tuesday, bringing heavy rains to the region. The Cayman Islands remain under a tropical storm watch. Forecasters expect Hurricane Delta will continue to gain strength over the coming days as it moves toward the southern Gulf of Mexico. 
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday said COVID-19 can spread through virus lingering in the air, sometimes for hours, acknowledging concerns widely voiced by public health experts about airborne transmission of the virus. The CDC guidance comes weeks after the agency published – and then took down – a similar warning, sparking debate over how the virus spreads. In Monday’s guidance, CDC said there was evidence that people with COVID-19 possibly infected others who were more than 6 feet away, within enclosed spaces with poor ventilation. Under such circumstances, CDC said scientists believe the amount of infectious, smaller droplet and particles, or aerosols, produced by people with COVID-19 become concentrated enough to spread the virus. The CDC has long warned of transmission through small droplets that shoot through the air and generally fall to the ground, which resulted in the six-feet social distancing rule. Aerosol droplets are much smaller and can remain suspended in the air, like smoke. While CDC stresses close-contact transmission is more common than through air, a group of U.S. scientists warned in an unrelated open letter published in medical journal Science on Monday that aerosols lingering in the air could be a major source of COVID-19 transmission. “The reality is airborne transmission is the main way that transmission happens at close range with prolonged contact,” the researchers said in a press call. Viruses in aerosols can remain in the air for seconds to hours, travel more than 2 meters and accumulate in poorly ventilated indoor air, leading to superspreading events, the researchers said. Since individuals with COVID-19 release thousands of virus-laden aerosols and far fewer droplets while breathing and talking, the scientists said the focus must be on protecting against airborne transmission. They also said that public health officials should clearly differentiate between droplets ejected by coughing or sneezing and aerosols that can carry the virus to greater distances Public health officials must highlight the importance of moving activities outdoors and improving indoor air, along with wearing mask and social distancing, the letter said. 
  
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