"Reports of infected medical workers are emerging almost daily as Russia copes with the virus. Last week alone, more than 200 doctors in Moscow and St. Petersburg were reported to have it, with some turning to social media to make their plight known. It’s unclear how many Russian doctors and nurses overall have been infected. The Health Ministry did not respond to requests for comment, but news reports from a dozen regions in the past two weeks suggest at least 450 medical workers have had COVID-19, with 11 doctors and five nurses dying. The number is likely to be much higher because hospital officials often hide such infections, said Semyon Galperin, head of the Doctors Defense League. The number of coronavirus cases in Russia has risen quickly to more than 93,000 with 867 deaths, although some in the West question the accuracy of those reports. Most of Russia’s big cities have been locked down since March 30 under measures that were extended to May 11. Of 285 virus hot spots in the country, medical facilities account for more than half, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova."
"When a Russian intensive care doctor spoke out last month about the lack of protective gear and ventilators, she was summoned by police and threatened with charges for spreading ‘‘fake news,’’ an offense that carries up to five years in jail. Russia’s hierarchy of fear — from the president to head doctors in hospitals — appears to be stepping up its intimidation against anyone speaking out about shortages and infections in the health care ranks as the COVID-19 pandemic expands across the country. ‘‘Everyone is afraid of the head doctor,’’ the ICU doctor said, asking not to be identified out of concern of making her situation worse. ‘‘A head doctor in a district hospital is like a czar. It’s rare that doctors speak up.’’ ‘‘I am under pressure from all sides,’’ she added. ‘‘It’s awful. We have such censorship we can’t say anything openly.’’
It's the same in the U.S., but those that took the oath seriously and studied the data have spoken out anyway even if censored in the western pre$$.
"Two Russian doctors have died and another was seriously injured in falls from hospital windows after they reportedly came under pressure over working conditions in the coronavirus pandemic. The exact circumstances of the separate incidents in the last two weeks remain unclear and they are being investigated by police, but they underscore the enormous strains that Russian doctors and nurses have faced during the outbreak. Reports said two of the doctors had protested their working conditions and the third was being blamed after her colleagues contracted the virus. Across Russia, doctors have decried shortages of protective equipment and questionable infection control procedures at dozens of hospitals, with many saying they have been threatened with dismissal or even prosecution for going public with their grievances. Hundreds of medical workers also have gotten infected."
Look like murder to me, and can you believe the Russian authorities are blaming the deaths on domestic violence?
"As coronavirus overruns Russia, doctors are dying on the front lines" by Anton Troianovski New York Times, May 14, 2020
MOSCOW — Russia is hailing its medical workers as heroes, their photographs plastered on billboards and their stories glamorized on state TV, but as the country develops into one of the global epicenters of the disease, those workers are suffering astonishing levels of infection and death in their ranks, and as the number of reported coronavirus cases in Russia grows, many fear the worst is yet to come.
They have a website memorializing health care workers who have died during the pandemic, and they are treating theirs just like us.
Like their colleagues in much of the rest of the world, many of those doctors and nurses are suffering from a shortage of protective gear and equipment, but Russian health workers are also at the mercy of a convoluted, depersonalized, and unforgiving bureaucracy that increasingly appears outmatched by the pandemic.
We are so similar!
An internal federal government document obtained by The New York Times illuminated Russia’s lack of preparedness. In late March, regional Russian officials were sounding alarm bells about a drastic undersupply of protective equipment and pervasive confusion about how they were supposed to tackle the virus.
Those problems have not been fully resolved. Six weeks later, even doctors at Moscow’s top hospitals are reporting overwhelming levels of infection among their colleagues.
Doctors say they are hampered not just by a lack of equipment and protective gear but also by a rigid, top-down governing system that discourages initiative and independent thinking. Medical workers who have spoken out have faced pressure from authorities.
Possible stress-related suicides?
“People in administrative positions generally don’t know how to make decisions — they know how to carry out orders,” said the doctor who had said 75 percent of their department was sick, who would speak only anonymously for fear of retribution, “and they keep getting contradictory orders.”
The contradictions in Russia’s coronavirus response start in the Kremlin. A nationwide lockdown came to an end Tuesday on orders from President Vladimir Putin, even as Russia was reporting about 10,000 new cases daily. Its total of 252,245 confirmed infections exceeds that of any other country except the United States.
Putin's fault, like Trump.
Russia has reported 2,305 coronavirus deaths, almost certainly an undercount, given widespread reports of faulty testing and other causes of death being recorded for patients who died of COVID-19.
Russian officials, however, insist the country is now well prepared, with a large reserve of hospital beds and ventilators, and widespread testing that is identifying many asymptomatic carriers of the virus. They have criticized the Western news media, including the Times, for casting Russia’s pandemic response in an excessively negative light.
Oh, the Russia-hating, war-mongering, agenda-pushing AmeriKan pre$$ would never do that!
For much of this year, Russia seemed to be in an enviable position as the pandemic raged through Western Europe. The government appeared to recognize the dangers of the virus early on, closing much of Russia’s 2,600-mile land border with China in January. Two months later, Russia was still recording fewer than 100 new cases a day, and Putin said the virus was “contained” and the situation “under control,” but behind the scenes, Russian regional officials were making it clear to the Kremlin that the situation was not.....
--more--"
Related:
"Moscow authorities on Friday began free coronavirus testing for all residents. Under the program announced by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, tests for coronavirus antibodies, a marker of infection, will be conducted at 30 clinics throughout the city. The program will allow officials “to know precisely how many Muscovites had coronavirus and developed immunity, how many people are infected or are suspected to have coronavirus,” the mayor said in a blog post Thursday. Sobyanin said that 70,000 city residents will receive invitations for testing “every few days” and that the city will have the capacity to do 200,000 tests a day by the end of the month. The data obtained during testing will help the city authorities coordinate the work of health care facilities and make decisions on whether to extend or ease lockdown restrictions, the mayor added. Moscow, with a population of more than 12 million, accounts for half of the country’s more than 262,000 reported infections."
Start digging, Russians:
AFP via Getty Images
"Moscow health officials say 77 people died of coronavirus in the city in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number for the Russian capital so far. With a total of more than 146,000 confirmed infections and 1,580 deaths, Russia’s capital currently accounts for more than half of the country’s virus cases and 58 percent of all reported deaths. Russia’s caseload surpassed 290,000 on Monday, with the death toll exceeding 2,700. The country’s comparatively low death rate has raised questions in the West, with experts suggesting Russia may be underreporting deaths. Russian officials vehemently deny these allegations and attribute the relatively low number of COVID-19 deaths to measures the country has taken to curb the spread of the virus."
They are trying to raise them:
A medical worker wearing protective clothing helped a woman out of her wheelchair as she left after receiving treatment at a hospital for COVID-19 patients in St. Petersburg on Monday (Dmitri Lovetsky/Associated Press/Associated Press).
Now they are back on their feet:
"President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared an end to a partial economic shutdown across Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he said that many restrictions will remain in place. In a televised address to the nation, Putin said it will be up to regional governors in the far-flung country to determine what industrial plants could reopen starting Tuesday. He emphasized that it’s essential to preserve jobs and keep the economy running, provided that workers strictly observe sanitary norms. “The nationwide nonworking regime is coming to an end,” a somber-looking Putin said. “Gradually, and very carefully, we are starting to ease the restrictions.” Putin also said regional authorities should consider allowing people to take walks and exercise wherever and whenever possible. He emphasized that all mass gatherings will remain prohibited and noted that it’s essential for all Russians who are older than 65 or have chronic illnesses to continue staying home. Putin’s decision to ease the restrictions comes as Russia registered a daily record of more than 11,600 new infections in the last 24 hours, more than half of them in Moscow. That has brought the national total to more than 221,000 cases — the world’s fourth-highest after the United States, Spain, and Britain — including about 2,000 deaths."
There you go. We have lost Putin as a defender of humanity -- meaning he never really was one.
Related:
"President Vladimir Putin of Russia says the coronavirus has stabilized in the country, with the number of new infections abating. Russia ranks second behind the United States in the number of infections, with more than 326,400 reported cases and more than 3,200 deaths."
They passed the peak, though:
"President Vladimir Putin said Russia has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic and ordered preparations to resume for military parades marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II victory. Moscow and other cities should stage the postponed May 9 Victory Day parades on June 24, ‘‘given that the situation in the country as a whole, in most regions and in the Armed Forces, is stable, and that it is stabilizing in many places after the peak of infections,’’ Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a videoconference Tuesday. The Kremlin had planned particularly grand commemorations for the 75th anniversary this year, before Putin was forced in April to postpone the events as the coronavirus spread. The annual Red Square parade in Moscow involving thousands of troops and Russia’s most sophisticated weapons has long been an occasion for him to project a sense of power and national pride. With Russia’s economic activity declining by a third during a two-month nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of the virus, the Kremlin is now seeking to limit the fallout. The rate of new infections has started to slow in Russia, which over the weekend slipped to third place in the number of total cases globally, after Brazil and the United States. Diagnoses rose 2.5 percent in the past day to 362,342. Russia reported a record 174 deaths in the same period, taking the total to 3,807."
They won the war, but not without casualties:
"In new setback, Russian president’s spokesman hospitalized with coronavirus" by Daria Litvinova Associated Press, May 12, 2020
MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 52, is the latest top government official to come down with the coronavirus, and on Tuesday, health officials said they were investigating the safety of ventilators after the fires killed a total of six people in the past four days.
A fire Tuesday at St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg killed five patients on ventilators. Another blaze Saturday at the Spasokukotsky Hospital in Moscow killed one patient. Both hospitals had been repurposed for treating coronavirus patients.
They catch fire?
They catch fire?
The government says hospitals have enough ventilators to deal with the outbreak, and Putin said Monday that only “a small fraction” of Russia’s ventilator stockpile is being used; however, doctors in hospitals outside big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg have been complaining about not enough ventilators or their poor quality, as well as about sweeping shortages of protective equipment.
Peskov regularly dismissed those complaints at his daily briefings and maintained that Russian hospitals are well-stocked with everything they need. He has been the Kremlin’s feisty voice in denying Russia’s involvement in various international scandals, such as the inference in the 2016 US election, the poisoning of Russia’s former spy Sergei Skripal in Britain, and recent allegations of Russian security services plotting to poison Czech officials.....
The Skripal story is absurd, and the Czechs should know better.
The Skripal story is absurd, and the Czechs should know better.
--more--"
He was cured by a hot cup of coffee:
"As the land of the samovar, Russia has historically been viewed as a tea-drinking culture. Not any more, according to an industry lobby group which says coffee is now the nation’s preferred hot beverage. Coffee consumption rose 12 percent in Russia last year to 180,000 tons, overtaking tea for the first time, the RusTeaCoffee association said in a newsletter on its website. Demand for tea fell 8.5 percent to 139,000 tons in the same period, it said."
Needed, too:
"Siberia is in the throes of a heat wave that would be considered warm even by the standards of those living outside the Arctic Circle. In Washington, D.C., for example, the temperature has been stuck in the 60s all week, reaching a maximum of 73 degrees Thursday. Yet several stations in North Central Siberia, including areas near or above the Arctic Circle, are seeing temperatures climb well into the 80s. On Friday, the town of Khatanga, Siberia, located well north of the Arctic Circle, recorded a temperature of 78 degrees. The typical maximum temperature for the day at that location is 32 degrees. It’s not clear if this was the high for the day, but this would be sufficient to set a new monthly record considering the old record high for May was just 54 degrees. The Siberian warmth in May is not a fluke event, either; instead, it’s been a consistent feature since the winter. Temperature departures from average in Europe and Asia have helped push global average surface temperatures to record highs this year, and on global temperature maps, these regions stand out as splotches of crimson red. The warmth in Siberia is already having repercussions on Arctic ecosystems, with unusually large Siberian wildfires already burning this year, snow cover plummeting unusually quickly and sea ice cover in areas such as the Kara Sea, which lies to the north of Central Siberia, at a record low for the date, having begun its seasonal melt more than a month earlier than is typical. In recent years, scientists have raised growing concerns about the stability of Arctic permafrost, including stretches of permanently frozen soil located throughout Siberia. When the permafrost thaws, carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases that had been locked away for centuries is freed up, constituting an accelerant to global warming."
Which fortunately kills COVID!
Everyone has a snowcat:
"Simba, a Siberian cat, fell off the balcony of a ninth-floor apartment on Halloween. The nearly 2-year-old feline landed on a concrete patio on the ground level of the building at 1111 Beacon St., where he laid all night. He was found the next morning by his owner, who rushed him to MSPCA Angell Animal Medical Center. Simba suffered fractures to his front and rear right legs, a shattered jaw, damaged lungs, multiple lacerations, and blood in his abdomen. Simba spent eight days in the animal hospital. On Thursday, Simba was back for a check-up and bandage change. “It’s quite miraculous that he survived at all,” Dr. Virginia Sinnott of Angell’s emergency and critical care unit, said in the statement."
The beaver shot got her a date.
Look, up in the sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's Superman:
"Russia accused the United States of “systemic problems in the human rights sphere.’’ It denounced Floyd’s death as the latest in a series of police violence cases against African Americans.
He was cured by a hot cup of coffee:
"As the land of the samovar, Russia has historically been viewed as a tea-drinking culture. Not any more, according to an industry lobby group which says coffee is now the nation’s preferred hot beverage. Coffee consumption rose 12 percent in Russia last year to 180,000 tons, overtaking tea for the first time, the RusTeaCoffee association said in a newsletter on its website. Demand for tea fell 8.5 percent to 139,000 tons in the same period, it said."
Needed, too:
"Siberia is in the throes of a heat wave that would be considered warm even by the standards of those living outside the Arctic Circle. In Washington, D.C., for example, the temperature has been stuck in the 60s all week, reaching a maximum of 73 degrees Thursday. Yet several stations in North Central Siberia, including areas near or above the Arctic Circle, are seeing temperatures climb well into the 80s. On Friday, the town of Khatanga, Siberia, located well north of the Arctic Circle, recorded a temperature of 78 degrees. The typical maximum temperature for the day at that location is 32 degrees. It’s not clear if this was the high for the day, but this would be sufficient to set a new monthly record considering the old record high for May was just 54 degrees. The Siberian warmth in May is not a fluke event, either; instead, it’s been a consistent feature since the winter. Temperature departures from average in Europe and Asia have helped push global average surface temperatures to record highs this year, and on global temperature maps, these regions stand out as splotches of crimson red. The warmth in Siberia is already having repercussions on Arctic ecosystems, with unusually large Siberian wildfires already burning this year, snow cover plummeting unusually quickly and sea ice cover in areas such as the Kara Sea, which lies to the north of Central Siberia, at a record low for the date, having begun its seasonal melt more than a month earlier than is typical. In recent years, scientists have raised growing concerns about the stability of Arctic permafrost, including stretches of permanently frozen soil located throughout Siberia. When the permafrost thaws, carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases that had been locked away for centuries is freed up, constituting an accelerant to global warming."
Which fortunately kills COVID!
Everyone has a snowcat:
"Simba, a Siberian cat, fell off the balcony of a ninth-floor apartment on Halloween. The nearly 2-year-old feline landed on a concrete patio on the ground level of the building at 1111 Beacon St., where he laid all night. He was found the next morning by his owner, who rushed him to MSPCA Angell Animal Medical Center. Simba suffered fractures to his front and rear right legs, a shattered jaw, damaged lungs, multiple lacerations, and blood in his abdomen. Simba spent eight days in the animal hospital. On Thursday, Simba was back for a check-up and bandage change. “It’s quite miraculous that he survived at all,” Dr. Virginia Sinnott of Angell’s emergency and critical care unit, said in the statement."
The beaver shot got her a date.
Look, up in the sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's Superman:
"Russia accused the United States of “systemic problems in the human rights sphere.’’ It denounced Floyd’s death as the latest in a series of police violence cases against African Americans.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
As America was consumed with racial strife, the Russian did a Hitler and moved into Poland:
Poland’s Chopin competition put off until October 2021
Polish coalition postpones Sunday presidential vote
Poland presidential election to be held within 74 days
Liberal Warsaw mayor injects suspense into presidential vote
Climate talks kick off in Poland with boost from G-20 summit
The deal was a disappointment and the doubters are killing the planet.
The Russians also occupied Hungary because they are all a bunch of pussies, and they then shot into the Balkans:
"Montenegrin police said Thursday they have detained about 60 people following clashes at protests demanding the release of eight Serbian Orthodox Church priests jailed for leading a religious procession despite a ban on gatherings related to the virus pandemic. Twenty-six officers were injured during the unrest late Wednesday in the towns of Niksic and Pljevlja, police said. One of the injured policemen has been hospitalized, the statement said. Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in a televised address on Thursday described the protests as a “brutal attack on the state that could have unforeseeable consequences on public health.’’ Police insisted they intervened with pepper spray and dispersed the protesters into smaller groups after they threw rocks, bottles, and other objects and blocked traffic. Police were “brutally attacked for no reason,’’ the statement added."
In retaliation, Serbia banned Montenegro flights amid the rising tensions.
"With gatherings banned amid a lockdown to combat the new coronavirus, a few thousand people staged a protest in Slovenia against the center-right government by riding their bicycles through the capital Ljubljana. The cycling protest on Friday was held for the second week in a row following reports of alleged political pressure in the procurement of protective gear and ventilators. Wearing face masks, the protesters passed through the center of the city before briefly stopping or riding in circles by the government and parliament buildings. Many shouted “Thieves!” Slovenian anti-corruption authorities have launched an investigation into the allegations leveled by a whistleblower. Government officials have denied any wrongdoing, citing the need for hasty orders during the crisis. A country of 2 million people, Slovenia has reported 1,434 cases of the new coronavirus while 93 people have died."
By that time the Russians were are cycling into Germany:
"As countries seek to get their economies back on track after the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, bicycle use is being encouraged as a way to avoid unsafe crowding on trains and buses. Cycling activists from Germany to Peru are trying to use the moment to get more bike lanes, or widen existing ones, even if it’s just a temporary measure to make space for commuters on two wheels. The transition to more bike-friendly urban environments “is necessary if we want our cities to work,” said Morton Kabell, who cochairs the European Cyclists’ Federation. “A lot of people will be afraid of going on public transportation, but we have to get back to work someday. Very few of our cities can handle more car traffic,” he said. In addition to bike lanes separated by curbs, Kabell backs subsidizing electric bicycles, which could encourage commuters who have longer or hilly journeys. The benchmarks are Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, where half of the daily commuters are cyclists, and the Netherlands, with its vast network of bike lanes. Still, countries around the world are catching up at different speeds. The French government asked cycling activist Pierre Serne to draw up a plan for when its lockdown ends May 11. His recommendations, including bicycle lanes separated from other vehicles at an estimated cost of around $90,000 per mile, have been submitted to the Transportation Ministry. In Berlin, the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg council simply painted yellow lines on the some roads to take space from car lanes. Similar initiatives are popping up elsewhere. Officials in Lima, Barcelona, and Milan are speeding up plans to expand bike paths or take space from cars or current parking sites."
They want whoever is left after the great cull to be pedaling bikes!
Time to take the field of battle again:
"Germany’s top soccer league resumed season play with what fans call “ghost games,” with no spectators in the stands and players warned to keep their emotions in check and desist from spitting, handshakes and hugging."
There will still be television advertisements:
"In the brief video, a dark-skinned man is pushed off a city street and onto a sidewalk by a giant white hand. Then another giant hand takes him by the head and pushes him toward a doorway, before he is summarily flicked inside. The 10-second ad by Volkswagen, to promote its new Golf on Facebook and Instagram, set off a controversy this week as observers pointed to its racist symbolism. The carmaker pulled the ad on Tuesday. “We posted a racist advertising video on Volkswagen’s Instagram channel. We understand the public outrage at this. Because we’re horrified, too,” said Jurgen Stackmann, a member of the Volkswagen brand’s board of management, in a statement posted on LinkedIn on Twitter. “We’re ashamed of it and cannot explain how it came about.” Stackmann referred to the “guilt of our company” because of its close ties to the Nazis in the 1930s and ‘40s. “That is precisely why we resolutely oppose all forms of hatred, slander/propaganda and discrimination.” An animated slogan that appears at the end — “Der Neue Golf” or “The New Golf” — briefly appears to spell out a racist slur in German, the magazine Der Spiegel said. German television said the giant hand could be interpreted as a “white power” gesture. Volkswagen said it would investigate how the ad was made, “with full transparency and consequences.”
It's almost as if they were ahead of the curve:
"In Berlin, thousands of demonstrators held a peaceful protest outside of the US Embassy on Saturday, some carrying signs that read, “Stop Killing Us.” Three players in Germany’s top soccer league — English forward Jadon Sancho, French striker Marcus Thuram, and American midfielder Weston McKennie — made gestures of support for Floyd during weekend matches. Germany’s soccer federation, which bans players from making political statements during matches, said it would investigate the display by McKennie."
"The US Embassy in Berlin was the scene of protests on Saturday under the motto: “Justice for George Floyd.” Several hundred more people took to the streets Sunday in the capital’s Kreuzberg area, carrying signs with slogans like “Silence is Violence,” “Hold Cops Accountable,” and “Who Do You Call When Police Murder?”
Better drive away from there as quickly as possible:
"Tesla Inc. will give workers at its US plants the ability to take unpaid leave through the end of the month if they’re wary of returning to work, according to an internal memo. The electric-vehicle maker announced the provision along with plans to reinstate its attendance policy starting Friday. Employees who are concerned they might expose an at-risk member of their household can sign and submit a document to take leave until May 31. The memo applied to workers at the company’s auto plant in Fremont, Calif., and its battery factory near Reno, Nev."
At least they got you to the airport:
"Airbus is preparing for permanent job cuts after warning unions that it needs to rein in production amid a collapse in demand, people with knowledge of the situation said. Discussions have begun with labor groups in Germany, France, and Spain, the people said, with the formal process expected to start next week. The number of positions to be eliminated hasn’t yet been decided, according to the people, who asked not to be named disclosing private information."
"The supervisory board of Lufthansa approved Germany’s $10 billion bailout proposal, paving the way for the airline to receive the lifeline should shareholders accept the deal. With the carrier’s cash reserves dwindling, Lufthansa’s supervisory board voted in favor of the plan and called an extraordinary general meeting of stockholders for June 25. The board’s approval was unexpectedly delayed last week after members balked at European Union demands for slot disposals, a matter resolved in a deal sealed late Friday.
Over here, Boeing for$wore a bailout, so you better find another airline:
"Delta Air Lines Inc. is offering new programs to entice workers to leave the carrier voluntarily as it expects a large-scale recovery in coronavirus-devastated travel demand to take as long as three years. On Thursday it provided details to workers about an enhanced plan for long-term employees nearing retirement age or who have more than 25 years of service, and a separate program that covers other eligible workers. Delta is in talks with its pilots’ union for a similar early retirement plan, chief executive Ed Bastian said in a letter to employees. Delta joined other US carriers in stepping-up efforts to scale back workforces voluntarily and avoid forced layoffs later this year, when a federal prohibition on airline job cuts expires. More than 40,000 Delta workers earlier accepted voluntary unpaid leaves after the coronavirus pandemic and related travel restrictions curtailed travel demand."
The flight was headed for Boston, but was blocked (was Jennifer Weishaupt beneath the shield) even as Europeans soak up the sun despite the virus travel rules being a mishmash -- and while they were preoccupied with that, the Russians swept up through Denmark and into Norway.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
They then went down to Italy and over to Spain:
"In Italy, some fear the virus is a get-out-of-jail card for Mafiosi" by Elisabetta Povoledoand Emma Bubola New York Times, May 13, 2020
ROME — When news broke last week that 376 inmates had been moved from their high-security prison cells to house arrest because of coronavirus concerns — and that hundreds more were seeking to do the same — the backlash was almost immediate. Even as the coronavirus dominated the news cycle, the homecoming of convicted organized crime figures made front-page news.
The house arrests also revived the debate over Italy’s chronically overcrowded penitentiaries. Italy was the first country in Europe to battle the virus, as well as one of the hardest hit, with more than 30,000 deaths and 220,000 infected, but it has also been in a decadeslong battle against the mob.
The government scrambled to make amends, as critics, including opposition lawmakers and even some members of the majority, said the mobsters were using the increased risk to their health from the pandemic as a get-out-of-jail card. They called for the resignation of the justice minister and announced a motion of no-confidence toward him.
Several prosecutors warned that granting house arrest to certain Mafia figures was unacceptable, even under the extraordinary circumstances of the devastating outbreak.
“The Mafia feeds on signs,” said Giancarlo Caselli, one of Italy’s most famous anti-Mafia prosecutors. Allowing a Mafia boss to return to his territory “sends a message of retreat, of weakness that the Mafia can exploit,” he added.
To counter overcrowding, the government passed a decree March 16 that allowed authorities to shift into house arrest detainees who had less than 18 months to serve — but only until June 30. Opponents of the move denounced it as a disguised pardon, but the approach was not unusual. Several other countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, along with some US states, have taken similar steps.
South America, too.
Overall, thousands of inmates have been granted house arrest, including hundreds who were under maximum security, but the outrage has been greatest over three men: over the weekend, with the pandemic easing, the government issued a new decree that called on judges to review their earlier house-arrest decisions.
Italian news outlets reported Wednesday that judicial authorities had revoked the house arrest of at least one Mafioso, and that the cases of other mobsters were under review.....
OMFG!
--more--"
Related:
"Italian police have arrested 91 suspected mobsters in a probe of money-laundering and extortion in a bid to thwart Sicily’s Cosa Nostra from exploiting economic woes triggered by the pandemic. Hundreds of Financial Guard police officers fanned out early Tuesday through Palermo, the alleged crime clans’ power base, as well as in several regions in northern Italy. Investigators contend mobsters were laundering extortion and drug-trafficking revenue and were preparing to use ill-gained cash to buy struggling businesses that have been shuttered during the COVID-19 containment lockdown. While loan-sharking is still an activity of organized crime in Italy, increasingly mobsters have sought to buy up hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealerships, and other businesses for years now. They were doing this in an Italian economy that was stagnant even before lockdown measures caused tens of thousands of business owners to shut down for weeks."
Isn't that why they jailed Manafort?
"When word surfaced last weekend that a kidnapped 24-year-old Italian aid worker had been released after 18 months in captivity in Africa, Italians were overjoyed, but from the moment she stepped off an Italian government plane Sunday wearing a green jilbab — the full-length outer garment worn by some Muslim women — her welcome home became decidedly chillier, and even hostile. The conversion of the young woman, Silvia Romano, to Islam, along with rumors that Italy had paid a ransom for her release, opened the dam to a deluge of insults on social media. Romano, whose release reportedly occurred last Friday, was kidnapped in November 2018 in the Kenyan city of Chakama. Italian newspapers, citing a deposition Romano gave to prosecutors after her return, said that she had been abducted by a gang affiliated with the Al Shabab militant group. The case has stirred criticism that some Italian nongovernmental organizations are ill-prepared to handle the threats facing workers in some countries. It has also revived arguments about Italy’s purported propensity — which it has consistently denied — to pay ransom for the release of kidnapped Italians, a practice that is common elsewhere in Europe."
She arrived just before the tourists:
"Italy’s tourism industry is focused firmly on June 3, when both regional and international borders reopen, allowing the first prospect of tourists since Europe’s first lockdown went into place in early March. In tourist-reliant Venice, occupancy of the city’s 50,000 hotel beds has hovered around zero ever since. “Venice lives on tourism, period,’’ said Claudio Scarpa, head of the city’s hotel association. ’’All the economic structures that operate in the city, including the port, are tied to tourism.” In Milan, Italy’s financial capital, 3,400 restaurants planned to open Monday, along with 4,800 bars, 2,900 hairdressers, 2,200 clothing stores and 700 shoe shops. ‘‘After a long period at home, we will all want to go out and have a good coffee in a bar, eat a pizza in a pizzeria, buy a pair of jeans or go to the hairdressers,’’ Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said Saturday in a Facebook video."
It will take some adapting:
"In separate, stark warnings, two major European leaders have bluntly told their citizens that the world needs to adapt to living with the coronavirus and cannot wait to be saved by the development of a vaccine. The comments by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came as nations around the world and US states are both struggling with restarting economies blindsided by the pandemic. With 36 million newly unemployed in the United States alone, economic pressures are building even as authorities acknowledge that reopening risks new waves of infections and deaths. Pushed hard by Italy’s regional leaders and weeks in advance of an earlier timetable, Conte is allowing restaurants, bars, and beach facilities to open Monday, the same day that church services can resume and shops reopen. ’’We are facing a calculated risk, in the awareness . . . that the epidemiological curve could go back up,’’ Conte said late Saturday. “We are confronting this risk, and we need to accept it, otherwise we would never be able to relaunch.” Conte added that Italy could ‘‘not afford” to wait until a vaccine was developed. Health experts say the world could be months, if not years, away from having a vaccine available to everyone despite the scientific gold rush now on to create such a vaccine. “We would find ourselves with our social and productive fabric heavily damaged,” Conte said. Italy’s economy is forecast to contract 9 percent this year due to the coronavirus amid a long, strict lockdown. For his part, Britain’s Johnson, who was hospitalized last month with a serious bout of COVID-19, speculated Sunday that a vaccine may not be developed at all, despite the huge global effort to produce one. “I said we would throw everything we could at finding a vaccine,” Johnson wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. “There remains a very long way to go, and I must be frank that a vaccine might not come to fruition.” Johnson said Britain was taking “baby steps” toward reopening, “trying to do something that has never had to be done before — moving the country out of a full lockdown.” “Despite these efforts, we have to acknowledge we may need to live with this virus for some time to come,” Johnson wrote. The Conservative leader said the UK needs to find new ways of controlling the virus, including more testing for people who have symptoms and tracing the contacts of infected people. One minister said Sunday that 17,200 people had been recruited to be contact tracers. Coronavirus has infected more than 4.6 million people and killed more than 312,000 worldwide, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts say undercounts the true toll of the pandemic. The United States has reported more than 88,000 dead in the pandemic and Europe has seen at least 160,000 deaths."
They are both aware that the virus has already mutated and weakened.
"Italy has registered its lowest daily increases in both deaths and new cases of COVID-19 since before the national lockdown began in early March. According to data from the Health Ministry, 99 deaths of persons with coronavirus infections were registered in a 24-hour period ending Monday evening. That same period saw 451 confirmed new cases. On Monday, Italians enjoyed a first day of regained freedoms, including being able to sit down at a cafe or restaurant, shop in all retail stores, or attend church services such as Mass, but until next month they still can’t travel outside their regions except for work or other strict necessities, as lockdown rules are gradually lifted. Italy now officially has 32,007 deaths, although many in nursing homes who died during the lockdown period weren’t tested for coronavirus as the tests were mainly given to hospitalized patients. Overall, there are 225,886 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy, where Europe’s outbreak began."
Time to go for a drive:
"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday reported a first-quarter net loss of 1.7 billion euros ($1.84 billion) due to a steep decline in car sales during the coronavirus pandemic. The Italian-American carmaker has withdrawn full-year earnings forecasts due to the volatility of the economic situation provoked the virus, which includes stalled production and shuttered dealerships. Fiat Chrysler confirmed it remained committed to full merger with French carmaker PSA Peugeot, which it aims to complete by early 2021."
I would turn around if I were you.
"As Italy decides whether to open regional borders as planned next week, hard-hit Lombardy remains an outlier. The civil protection agency reported 345 confirmed new infections in the region on Friday. That brings Lombardy’s total cases to 88,500, nearly 40 percent of Italy’s total. Nearly half of Italy’s total of known positive cases are in Lombardy, and 80 percent of those are in isolation at home, not requiring hospital care. The Italian government had announced internal borders would open on June 3, but the stubborn infection rate in Lombardy has put that in question."
"Italy added 111 new victims to its death toll and nearly 420 new infections, in line with its recent daily tallies, suggesting the virus is under control nearly four weeks after the country began gingerly loosening a strict lockdown in the onetime European epicenter of the pandemic."
If it is UNDER CONTROL then it is NO LONGER a PANDEMIC so STOP CALLING IT THAT!
It was then that Italian concerns shifted:
"In Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper’s senior US correspondent, Massimo Gaggi, wrote that the reaction to Floyd’s killing was “different” than previous cases of black Americans killed by police and the ensuring violence. “There are exasperated black movements that no longer preach nonviolent resistance,” Gaggi wrote, noting the Minnesota governor’s warning that “anarchist and white supremacy groups are trying to fuel the chaos.’’
Time to cross the Mediterranean:
"The Spanish government has declared 10 days of mourning starting Wednesday for the nearly 27,000 people who have died with the coronavirus in Spain, the longest official mourning period in the country’s four-decade-old democracy. Flags will be hoisted to half-staff in more than 14,000 public buildings across the nation and on Spanish naval vessels until June 5, under the declaration made Tuesday. King Felipe VI, as Spain’s head of state, will preside over a solemn memorial ceremony once the country emerges from the lockdown imposed 2½ months ago, the government said. Opposition parties had criticized Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government for not paying tribute to the pandemic’s victims as Spain’s death toll became a point of political debate."
At the end of the period of morning, this was reported:
"Spain on Monday reported no official deaths from the virus in a 24-hour period, a first since March. The development is “very, very encouraging,” emergency health response chief Fernando Simón said. Also, Spain recorded only 71 new infections over the past 24 hours, he told reporters. “We are in a very good place in the evolution of the pandemic,” Simón said. “The statistics are following a trend. They are going in the right direction.” Spain reported its first two deaths on March 3. Another was reported two days later. Then its numbers jumped exponentially. On April 2, it recorded 950 deaths in 24 hours — the peak death toll. The official death toll now stands at 27,127, with 240,000 confirmed cases."
By that time the Russians has reached the Atlantic:
"Portugal is reopening movie theaters, shopping malls, gymnasiums, and kindergartens after a gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions over the past four weeks produced no spike in new coronavirus infections. Also reopening in coming days are places of worship, courtrooms, and large stores. The limit of 50 percent of seating capacity at restaurants will also be scrapped as long as eateries place impermeable barriers between tables. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in the Lisbon metropolitan area, where in some places officials have detected an increase in cases, some of those changes will come into force only after a review at the end of next week."
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Now that the Russians occupy all of Europe:
"Easing up: Europe grapples with when to reopen schools" by Angela Charltonand Elena Becatoros Associated Press, April 28, 2020
PARIS — The question of when to reopen schools looms large as countries in Europe and elsewhere draw up plans to restart their battered economies.
Despite alarm among some teachers, parents, and mayors, France detailed plans Tuesday to start opening schools on May 11, with limits on class size and rules requiring face masks. Hard-hit Italy intends to keep schools closed until September.
Elsewhere around the world, the virus appeared all but vanquished in New Zealand. Australia opened the beach in Sydney. Brazil was emerging as a new hot spot for infections.
The virus was vanquished by a Sith warrior, and that's why it migrated south.
Germany, widely praised for its handling of the outbreak there, reported an uptick in the infection rate since some small businesses were allowed to reopen just over a week ago, but it was too soon to say whether the easing of the restrictions was to blame.
The number of confirmed infections worldwide stood at more than 3 million — including 1 million in the United States — and the confirmed global death toll topped 210,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true toll is believed to be much higher.
Although the coronavirus seems to affect children far less seriously than adults, many officials, teachers, and parents are concerned about the health risks that school openings could pose.
Some point to the difficulties of ensuring that children stick to social distancing and frequent hand washing, and to the dangers for teachers, but many parents would struggle to return to work without schools being open, hampering efforts to counter the world’s deep economic slump.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that elementary schools will reopen May 11 and high schools May 18. He said all high school students will have to wear masks, and class sizes will be capped at 15.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis outlined his government’s plan for a gradual lifting of the lockdown there, saying high school seniors will restart classes on May 11, followed a week later by students in lower grades. Elementary schools and kindergartens will remain closed.
In Italy, the decision to keep the schools closed until the fall could make it harder for parents to return to work. Typically grandparents in Italy are fallback baby sitters, but they are now off-limits because they are vulnerable to the virus.
Then they will have to hire a migrant instead.
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Related:
"Europeans longing to swap their balconies for beaches, mountains, or museums elsewhere on the continent got a morale boost on Wednesday, when the European Commission recommended the reopening of borders that were closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. With new infections beginning to recede and governments from Riga to Rome easing lockdowns, concerns are now turning toward the resumption of cross-border vacation travel. The spending is especially important during the summer months when Europeans shutter their shops and take a collective time out — long derided on the other side of the Atlantic as a decadent indulgence — but essential to the economies of many member states. “We are helping European tourism get back on track while staying healthy and safe,” said Thierry Breton, European commissioner for the internal market, in announcing guidelines aimed at helping the European Union’s 27 member states reopen their borders, but recommendations from the commission, the executive branch of the European Union, are not binding. They raise the risk that each member state will either create its own policies, or form bubbles among like-minded partners, creating a patchwork of measures that could entangle planning and endanger public health. Some of the first countries to reopen have done so on a limited basis....."
The money is going to come pouring in:
"European governments promised more relief to their citizens on Thursday, with France announcing an 18 billion euro ($19.4 billion) plan to support restaurants, hotels, and other tourist facilities that have been closed since mid-March amid the coronavirus crisis. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe promised the French that they will be able to go on vacation in France in July and August, including in French overseas territories, as the country has started lifting its lockdown this week. Germany’s parliament approved plans to increase the amount paid to people who spend months in a government-backed short-time work program during the pandemic. Companies are making extensive use of the program, which was credited with keeping down unemployment in the financial crisis more than a decade ago. It allows them to keep employees on the payroll while they await better times. Those announcements came after Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte promised a massive package of tax cuts and other financial aid to help businesses and families. His government also promised to legalize the status of foreigners, many of them illegal migrants who are crop-pickers, baby sitters, and caretakers."
If only women ran the world, huh?
“I want us to take a new bold step together,” said the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who unveiled the plan on Wednesday (Olivier Hoslet/Pool Photo via Associated Press/EPA Pool via AP).
That's not exactly what I meant.
"In an unusual statement on US affairs, the European Union said Monday that it hoped “all the issues related to the protests in the US will be settled swiftly and in full respect for the rule of law and human rights.” It usually reserves this type of language for violent breakdowns in nations with few democratic or human rights safeguards. “We regret the loss of life, express our condolences to those affected and condemn violence and racism regardless of where it comes from,” the statement added."
They were a lot tougher on China.
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NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"New York state regulators are investigating Deutsche Bank’s relationship with the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, adding another compliance issue to a growing list for chief executive Christian Sewing. The New York Department of Financial Services has been looking into the bank’s dealings with Epstein as part of a broader look into the German lender’s compliance and controls, according to a person familiar with the matter. Epstein was arrested last year on federal sex-trafficking charges more than a decade after he pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of soliciting an underage girl for sex. His death in a New York City jail was ruled a suicide."
"The German government wants to increase offshore wind power capacity fivefold by 2040 as part of its plan to wean the country off fossil fuels. The Cabinet on Wednesday agreed on a bill that would set a goal of 40 gigawatts of installed offshore wind power capacity in 20 years, from about 7.5 gigawatts at present. It also raised the target for 2030 from 15 gigawatts to 20. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said the new offshore wind target for 2030 would help Germany achieve its goal of meeting 65 percent of its gross electricity consumption with renewable energy in a decade."
"France slammed the United States over its probe into digital taxes that are being considered by a number of countries, saying it contradicts Washington’s call for unity among leading economies. “There is a real contradiction between the US demanding unity within the Group of Seven — which we support — and the possiblity of new trade sanctions,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said after a G-7 telephone conference Wednesday. The French and US government agreed a truce earlier this year in a dispute over France’s digital services tax, according to which Washington is holding back on sanctions and Paris is suspending the collection of its levy. France will resume collecting the tax at the end of the year unless there is an agreement in talks at the OECD on new global tax rules. On Tuesday, the Trump administration started investigations into digital services taxes considered by several trading partners from the European Union to India. A similar investigation into France’s tax led to the threat of tariffs."
"Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country’s controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world. Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed. That’s not the case.’’ Sweden has stood out for the way it has handled the pandemic, not shutting down the country or the economy like other nations but relying on citizens’ sense of civic duty. Tegnell’s statement came after more contrite comments earlier in the day. Asked whether the country’s high death toll has made him reconsider his unique approach to the pandemic, Tegnell told Swedish radio “yes, absolutely.” The nation of 10.2 million people has seen 4,542 deaths linked to COVID-19."
What is the rate on that?
0.04453 percent, which means a death rate of 5 per 10,000.
No wonder Sweden never shut down.
"Italy officially ended its lockdown Wednesday, opening regional and international borders in a bid to boost summer tourism, but found itself alone as its neighbors viewed the move as premature and remained wary. Italy’s long-awaited opening after nearly three months allowed residents to finally reunite with friends and family members, and brought a flood of French shoppers across the border for less expensive groceries and cigarettes, but normalcy was a long way off. Many European nations are waiting until June 15 to open their borders, and some much later than that."
Strange how they all had the time and bravery to spill into the streets in the wake of the COVID ravaging, 'eh?
"Thousands in Europe decry racial injustice, police violence" by Pan Pylasand Jill Lawless Associated Press, June 3, 2020, 9:13 p.m.
LONDON — Thousands of people demonstrated in London on Wednesday against police violence and racial injustice over the killing of George Floyd, which has set off days of unrest in the United States.
In Athens, police fired tear gas to disperse youths who threw firebombs and stones at them outside the US Embassy toward the end of an otherwise peaceful protest by about 4,000 people. No injuries or arrests were reported.
The London demonstration began in Hyde Park, with protesters chanting “Black lives matter,” before many of them later marched through the streets, blocking traffic.
Some of them converged on Parliament and the nearby Downing Street office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A few scuffles erupted between protesters and police outside the street’s heavy metal gates.
Inside, Johnson told a news conference that he was “appalled and sickened” by Floyd’s death on May 25 when a white Minneapolis officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on the handcuffed Black man’s neck for several minutes.
Police appeared to keep a low profile during the demonstration and ensuing marches.
Earlier, Britain’s most senior police officer said she was “appalled” by Floyd’s death and “horrified” by the subsequent violence in US cities. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the London force would “continue with our tradition of policing using minimum force necessary.”
Johnson, who has sought to cultivate close ties with President Trump, was asked what he would say to him. He replied: “My message to President Trump, to everybody in the United States from the UK, is that . . . racism, racist violence, has no place in our society.”
Unless it is committed in the name of Almighty Judai$m, and then you can't comment on it. It's a considered a faux pas.
Elsewhere, more than 1,000 people protested in Stockholm despite a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people due to the coronavirus, and while they expressed solidarity with US demonstrators, participants emphasized that racial injustice was a problem in Sweden, too. Police said they had to use pepper spray and make one arrest.
Everyone must bow down to the agenda, huh?
Of course, the migrant wilding and rapes are rarely, if ever, reported, and Sweden wasn't as pure as the driven snow when it comes to lockdown, either.
About 3,000 people rallied in Finland’s capital of Helsinki, although they dispersed an hour later when the number of participants obviously exceeded the 500 maximum allowed, and a demonstration in the Dutch port of Rotterdam by thousands of protesters was cut short by police when the crowd got too big for coronavirus social-distancing measures.
Finland got off light for being in league with the Nazis, and one can $mell the $tench of the $oro$ Opoen $ociety acro$$ Europe.
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