FRANCE
Study gauges COVID-19
About one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear the novel coronavirus is worse than the seasonal flu, and a study released yesterday outlined just how much worse, showing a death rate almost three times higher among COVID-19 patients. The research, using French national data and published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, underscored the increased severity of COVID-19. Researchers compared data for 89,530 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in March and April with 45,819 people hospitalized with seasonal influenza between December 2018 and the end of February last year. About 16.9 percent of COVID-19 patients died during the period of study. This compares to a death rate of 5.8 percent among those with influenza. Catherine Quantin, a professor at the Dijon Bourgogne University Hospital who jointly led the study, said that the difference in death rates was “particularly striking” given that the 2018/19 flu season was the deadliest France had seen in five years.
UNITED STATES
Strip clubs to stay open
A San Diego judge on Wednesday ruled that two local strip clubs can stay open, despite an explosion in COVID-19 cases in California that has forced authorities to severely restrict “non-essential” activities. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil went further in his preliminary injunction, saying that all “businesses with restaurant service” are exempt from health restrictions imposed by the state. Pacers Showgirls International and Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club had filed a lawsuit asking to be allowed to continue operations while taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Performers would be masked, dance on stage solo and observe physical distancing, among other precautions. Such establishments “provide sustenance to and enliven the spirits of the community, while providing employers and employees with means to put food on the table and secure shelter,” Wohlfeil wrote in his decision.
UNITED STATES
Court rejects elephant case
An appellate court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling dismissing a petition from an animal rights group for an elephant in the Bronx Zoo to get human-like rights and be moved to a sanctuary. The Nonhuman Rights Project had said that Happy, an elephant, was “unlawfully imprisoned” at the zoo, where it has been for more than 40 years. A judge in February, ruling against the petition, said that New York state courts have ruled that animals are not legally “persons.” The appeals court ruling agreed with that decision, saying: “A judicial determination that species other than homo sapiens are ‘persons’ for some juridical purposes, and therefore have certain rights, would lead to a labyrinth of questions that common-law processes are ill-equipped to answer.”
CUBA
President open to US talks
President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Thursday said that he was ready to talk with US president-elect Joe Biden “on any subject,” but vowed to protect his country’s sovereignty and socialist ideals. Relations with US President Donald Trump were badly strained, and on the campaign trail Biden vowed to change US policy towards the communist country. “We are willing to discuss any issue. What we are not willing to negotiate and what we will not give in on is the revolution, socialism and our sovereignty,” Diaz-Canel said in a speech at the legislature. “Those principles will never be on the table,” he added.
JAPAN
Suga to bolster military
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday signaled to North Korea and China he would bolster the nation’s military to counter threats they pose to security by allocating an estimated US$5 billion for sea-based missile interceptors and new anti-ship missiles. His cabinet authorized spending to add two Aegis-equipped destroyers to Japan’s fleet of vessels — to bring its tally to 10 and make it the largest behind the US Navy. It would also develop a new, longer-range surface-to-ship missile that would to counter threats at sea, in a move that comes as its warships and those from China have sailed near each other off the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea, claimed by both nations and Taiwan. No numbers were given on spending for the new ballistic missile defense system in the next fiscal year budget plan, but the costs for the destroyers alone were nearly US$5 billion, the Nikkei reported, citing estimates from private contractors.
AUSTRALIA
Deaths labeled ‘terrorism’
Detectives suspect the deaths of an elderly couple in their Brisbane home is a “terrorism incident” perpetrated by a knife-wielding man who was shot dead by police, officials said yesterday. Raghe Abdi, 22, threatened police with a knife before he was shot dead on a highway on the outskirts of Brisbane on Thursday morning, officers said. The bodies of Maurice Anthill, 87, and his 86-year-old wife, Zoe Anthill, were found in their home near where Abdi died, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said. Linfold declined to detail how they had died, but homicide detectives had found evidence that Abdi had been in the house, she said. Australia Federal Police suspect Abdi had been influenced by the Islamic State group. He was arrested on suspicion that he was trying to join extremists when he attempted to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia in May last year.
CHINA
Vaccine drive targets 50m
Authorities have started an ambitious effort to inoculate 50 million people against COVID-19 ahead of the Lunar New Year, using locally developed shots that are moving closer to receiving regulatory approval. The launch would focus on giving Chinese-made vaccines to key groups, including hospital, police, airport and customs staff, as well as utility workers, said people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified as the discussions are private. The rollout would be the equivalent of inoculating the entire population of South Korea in less than two months, and sets the most ambitious pace globally, ahead of others such as the US and UK who are also racing to distribute doses.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
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