Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Six In The Morning Wednesday 16 September 2020

 

Coronavirus: Trump denies downplaying severity of virus

US President Donald Trump has denied downplaying the seriousness of Covid-19, despite admitting in a recorded interview to having done that.

At a televised event with voters, Mr Trump said he had "up-played" it.

The claim contradicts comments Mr Trump made to journalist Bob Woodward earlier this year, when he said he minimised the virus's severity to avoid panic.



'Confounding': Covid may have already peaked in many African countries

One explanation for virus not behaving as expected could be previous exposure to other infections, experts tell MPs

The coronavirus pandemic has peaked earlier than expected in many African countries, confounding early predictions, experts have told MPs.

Scientists do not yet know why, but one hypothesis is the possibility of people having pre-existing immunity to Covid-19, caused by exposure to other infections.

Prof Francesco Checchi, a specialist in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told MPs it was “broadly” true that coronavirus had not behaved in expected ways in African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and Somalia.

Yoshihide Suga: New Japanese prime minister formally elected to succeed Shinzo Abe

Shake-up of top ministerial roles expected as ex-chief cabient secretary takes limelight

Japan's Parliament elected Yoshihide Suga as prime minister Wednesday, replacing long-serving leader Shinzo Abe with his right-hand man.

Mr Suga had been chosen as leader of the ruling party on Monday, virtually assuring he would succeed Mr Abe, who resigned earlier in the day because of ill health. Mr Suga, who was chief cabinet secretary in Mr Abe's government, is to launch his own cabinet later Wednesday.

Mr Suga has stressed his background as a farmer's son and a self-made politician in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities.

Evangelical disruptors of hierarchies

The rise of evangelical Christianity

The fast-growing evangelical movement is mainly ultraconservative and keen on prosperity; it is transnational, pragmatic, shrewdly political and increasingly seeks ways to advance its rightwing agenda.

by Akram Belkaïd & Lamia Oualalou


In the last four decades, Protestantism, whether in Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Mexico City or Lagos, has experienced an impulse towards ultraconservatism that has had an influence on social, economic and diplomatic issues as well as entire societies. The evangelical branch of Protestantism has 660 million adherents worldwide and is growing dramatically. In the early 20th century, 94% of South Americans were Catholic and only 1% Protestant. Now the number of Protestants there has grown to 20%, while that of Catholics has fallen to 69%.


German state suspends 29 police officers in far-right online chat group

Twenty-nine German police officers have been suspended and face investigation on suspicion they exchanged far-right propaganda in online chat groups. Police union representatives called the revelation "unbearable."

Police squads raided 34 private homes and bureaus of colleagues across the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Wednesday, over what the state's interior minister, Herbert Reul, described as "the worst and obnoxious" content.

At least 5 private WhatsApp chat groups — the oldest dating back to 2013, the latest to 2015 — contained 126 electronic images, including photos of Adolf Hitler and a fictional depiction of a refugee in a gas chamber, Reul said.

Venezuela's government accused of committing crimes against humanity in UN report

Updated 1247 GMT (2047 HKT) September 16, 2020


Venezuela's government was accused of committing crimes against humanity in a report published Wednesday by a United Nations-backed fact-finding mission.

After investigating 223 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, and reviewing an additional 2,891 to corroborate patterns of violations and crimes, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela found that the Venezuelan government, as well as other state agents and groups working with them, had committed "egregious violations."



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