Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Bill Gates lauds Pakistan Army’s efforts in country’s anti-polio campaign

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Bill Gates lauds Pakistan Army’s efforts in country’s anti-polio campaign

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates (left) and Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. — Geo.tv/File

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa held a telephonic conversation  with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) co-chairman Bill Gates, who appreciated Pakistan Army’s role in the country’s anti-polio campaign, the military’s media wing said Wednesday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, in a statement, said: “The call was in the backdrop of polio eradication drive in Pakistan. Gates appreciated the Pakistan Army’s help in enabling the campaign through the provision of security, monitoring, and bridging of capacity gaps.”

The COAS responding to the appreciation said that it was a national duty and Army played a part in the “significant initiatives undertaken by the Pakistani government”.

“The healthcare workers who played the most important part in polio drive also acted as the frontline defence against COVID-19,” he said, adding: “[Despite] COVID-19, Pakistan Army in support of [government’s] efforts has already made preparations to restart anti-polio campaign in coming weeks.”

According to ISPR, Gates and Bajwa discussed the challenges that have surfaced in the wake of coronavirus and future pandemic threats and efforts to enhance the resilience of population through education, flexible healthcare management, and the use of technology.

The Army chief “thanked Bill Gates for his foundation’s efforts towards the noble cause and said that every initiative aimed at [the] betterment of Pakistan and its people will be fully supported and appreciated,” the statement added.

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U.S. Says China ‘Bullied’ U.K. Over Huawei 5G Contract

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U.S. Says China ‘Bullied’ U.K. Over Huawei 5G Contract

The United States has hit out at China over its “bullying” of the U.K., saying that the Chinese Communist Party “threatened to punish” the country over its refusal to allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to bid for contracts in the country’s implementation of the next-generation 5G mobile network.

“The United States stands with our allies and partners against the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]’s  coercive bullying tactics,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

Pompeo said Beijing had threatened to punish British bank HSBC and to break commitments to build nuclear power plants in the U.K. unless London allowed Huawei to build its 5G network.

He said HSBC’s Asia-Pacific CEO Peter Wong, who also serves as an adviser to the Chinese government, had publicly supported “Beijing’s disastrous decision to destroy Hong Kong’s autonomy” with a draconian subversion and sedition law.

“That show of fealty seems to have earned HSBC little respect in Beijing, which continues to use the bank’s business in China as political leverage against London,” Pompeo said.

“Beijing’s aggressive behavior shows why countries should avoid economic overreliance on China and should guard their critical infrastructure from CCP influence.”

He said Australia, Denmark, and other democracies have recently also faced pressure to bow to China’s political wishes.

Pompeo’s statement came after lawmakers from 18 countries formed a parliamentary alliance to mount a collective response to Chinese trade, security and human rights policies.

The group was formed amid widespread concerns about China’s decision to impose a national security law in Hong Kong, its lack of transparency in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, its assertive behavior in the South China Sea and Chinese influence in domestic politics of democratic countries.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced on May 29 it would begin the process of taking away the special trade and investment status it grants Hong Kong, in response to China’s decision to impose a national security law that ends the city’s status as a separate legal jurisdiction.

The White House has also said it will move away from a decades-old policy of engagement with Beijing.

‘Poor decisions’ about China

U.K.-based writer Ma Jian said the U.K. had made a number of errors in its dealings with China.

“Xi Jinping’s so-called Chinese dream is a dream of world hegemony,” Ma said. “Any company, whether private or state-owned, are used as bargaining chips.”

“The U.K. is already become an economic and trade zone for China, and it serves the U.K. right, because this government has made a number of poor decisions, about the pandemic, about Hong Kong and Huawei,” Ma said.

Human rights barrister Michael Polak said the U.K. government had failed to take massive human rights violations facilitated by Huawei in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where at least 1.5 million Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been subjected to mass incarceration in camps.

“At no stage in the Government’s decision making process have they stopped to consider the evidence of the gross human rights violations facilitated by Huawei against the Uyghur and other Turkic people or the evidence of slavery within Huawei’s supply chain,” Polak said in a statement.

He said Huawei is “deeply implicated in the ongoing surveillance, repression and persecution of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang.”

“It is bizarre and very concerning that our Prime Minister and Government have not stepped in to prevent this company selling 5G infrastructure whilst they are involved in what can only be considered as crimes against humanity,” he said.

London-based Uyghur rights campaigner Enver Tohti, who is part of a legal challenge over the decision, said anyone implicated in crimes against humanity should have no place doing business in the U.K.

Meanwhile, exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng said the collaboration of international lawmakers represents a growing awareness among democratic nations of the threat posed by Chinese ambitions to the international community.

“I think the key people at the heart of this alliance are pretty determined,” he said. “Everyone is starting to recognize and be concerned about the impact that events in China could have on their own interests.”

“Given this trend, it’ll be harder for them to keep passing the same old toothless measures [they did in the past],” Wei said.

Spotlight on the United Front

Pompeo’s statement came as an Australian think-tank issued a damming report on the Chinese Communist Party’s far-reaching overseas influence operations — under what it terms the United Front.

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is strengthening its influence by co-opting representatives of ethnic minority groups, religious movements, and business, science and political groups,” the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a report released on Wednesday. “It claims the right to speak on behalf of those groups and uses them to claim legitimacy.”

Beijing’s network of influence operates via the United Front, a network of party and government agencies charged with furthering the CCP’s influence.

“The CCP’s role in this system’s activities … is often covert or deceptive,” the report said.

It said the United Front had extended its influence into foreign political parties, diaspora communities and multinational corporations, and represents an explicit bid to export China’s political system around the world.

“This undermines social cohesion, exacerbates racial tension, influences politics, harms media integrity, facilitates espionage, and increases unsupervised technology transfer,” the report said.

United Front work could be mistaken for diplomacy or propaganda, without the extent of its covert nature being fully grasped among democratic governments, it said.

The report called on governments to invest in analyzing foreign interference and to formulate public policy to prevent it.

“Foreign interference often takes place in a grey area that’s difficult to address through law enforcement actions,” the report said. “Strengthening civil society and media must be a fundamental part of protecting against interference.”

The report quoted President Xi Jinping as saying, in a 2015 meeting of United Front groups: “The United Front … is an important magic weapon for strengthening the party’s ruling position … and an important magic weapon for realizing the China Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation.”

Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for RFA’s Cantonese Service, by Jia Ao for the Mandarin Service, and by the Uyghur Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.



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Utah Gubernatorial Candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Seen Shaking Hands Unmasked

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Utah Gubernatorial Candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Seen Shaking Hands Unmasked

(SALT LAKE CITY) — Republican Utah gubernatorial candidate and former ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. said Wednesday he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Huntsman said he is experiencing “classic symptoms” of the illness caused by the coronavirus, and will isolate himself while his campaign continues.

“Like so many others, my goal is to keep my family safe,” he said in a tweet. “Though isolated temporarily, we’ve never been more energized in this important race for governor. The work goes on!”

The news comes after a campaign staffer tested positive last week.

Huntsman previously served as Utah governor until 2009, when he left to be the U.S. ambassador to China under then-president Barack Obama. He later served as ambassador to Russia under President Donald Trump before resigning and mounting his campaign for governor.

Huntsman, 60, is one of four Republican candidates on the June 30 primary ballot. He is considered a front-runner, though in a tight contest with Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who has had a higher profile recently by helping run the state’s response to the coronavirus crisis.

Primary ballots began going out this week in the election being conducted entirely by mail due to the pandemic. It’s the first wide-open governor’s race in Utah in more than a decade.

Huntsman went into quarantine last week and canceled all his public appearances after learning of the staff member’s positive test.

He attended a campaign event in the small northern Utah city of Logan shortly before getting the news. It was held outside to allow for social distancing practices, though a number of people there did not wear masks, the Herald Journal newspaper reported. A photo shows Huntsman shaking hands with an attendee, neither wearing a mask.

The number of coronavirus cases has been trending upward in Utah as the state moves toward re-opening the economy under pressure from conservatives who cite the heavy economic toll of business shutdowns aimed at stopping the spread.

Huntsman’s positive test came after an initial incorrect negative result from the Salt Lake County Health Department. A second test came back positive.

His running mate, Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi, was cleared to continue campaigning in person last week.

His daughter Abby Huntsman left her role as a host on the TV show “The View ”to join the campaign. It was not immediately clear if she had been affected by the virus.

The family is among the most well-known in Utah. Jon Huntsman Sr. was a billionaire businessman and philanthropist.

The staffers and their positions have not been identified. Campaign headquarters was closed for cleaning last week and and later reopened.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.

His other opponents are former state House Speaker Greg Hughes and former GOP chair Thomas Wright.

Contact us at editors@time.com.

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Tunisian parliament rejects bid for French colonialism apology

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Tunisian parliament rejects bid for French colonialism apology

Tunisia’s parliament has rejected a motion calling on France to apologise for crimes committed during and after colonial rule, following 15 hours of debate.

The bill, which demanded “compensation to the Tunisian state and to all those who suffered the pain of colonisation,” was put forward by the centrist Al-Karama coalition, which holds 19 of the 217 seats in parliament.

More:

Legislators from the bloc attended the session, which ran into the night, wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan: “Murder and torture, the brutality of French colonialism”.    

Seventy-seven votes were cast on Wednesday in favour of the motion, far short of the 109 votes needed for it to pass – a tall order, given the deep divisions among members of Tunisia’s parliament.

“We are not animated by any bitterness or hatred, but such apologies will heal the wounds of the past,” Seifeddine Makhlouf, president of Al-Karama, said.

He used the example of Germany, which apologised to France after the Nazi occupation, noting that the two countries “are now allies and the leading partners in Europe”.

Lawmakers from the bloc attended the session wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan: “Murder and torture, the brutality of French colonialism” [Anadolu]

However, Makhlouf provoked an outcry when he attacked the first president of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, calling him “the servant of France.”

Lawmaker Mustapha Ben Ahmed of the Tahya Tounes party said: “We are for the most part the children of Bourguiba, who led the liberation struggle of the country after long years of imprisonment and deportations and built modern Tunisia by generalising education and by emancipating women.”

Opponents argued that such a move would spell economic disaster, given that France is Tunisia’s top trade partner and foreign investor. Some one million Tunisians also live in France.

The leader of moderate Islamist party Ennahdha was among those who said the motion could harm Tunisia’s economic interests and its most important international alliance. Others noted Tunisia’s years-long economic crisis and 15 percent unemployment rate and said the motion was too hastily prepared.

“We are not going to feed Tunisians with such motions,” said Osama Khelifi, of the Qalb Tounes party.

The North African country was a French protectorate from 1881 until it gained independence in 1956. A year later, it was declared a republic with Bourguiba as its president. 

He was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1987 following allegations that he had become senile, and after doctors declared he was unfit to rule.

Then-Prime Minister Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was appointed president, a post he held until he was removed in the country’s 2010-2011 uprising.

The uprising was the trigger for similar revolts that toppled autocratic leaders across the region in a wave of protest dubbed the Arab Spring.


SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Tucker Carlson Sells His Stake in The Daily Caller

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Tucker Carlson Sells His Stake in The Daily Caller

The Fox News host Tucker Carlson has sold his stake in The Daily Caller, stepping away from the Washington-based conservative news and opinion site he co-founded in 2010 as an alternative to left-leaning outlets like The Huffington Post.

Mr. Carlson, one of the country’s most prominent conservative commentators, retained financial ties to The Daily Caller after taking up his prime-time role at Fox News in 2017. But he had yielded day-to-day oversight to his co-founder and college roommate, Neil Patel, the site’s publisher and a former chief policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.

“I haven’t had editorial input” since the prime-time show began, Mr. Carlson said in an interview on Wednesday, adding that he sold his stake in the site last year. “Neil runs it. I wasn’t adding anything. So we made it official.”

Mr. Patel, who met Mr. Carlson when they lived together at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., confirmed in an email that he had purchased his former roommate’s stake, but declined to disclose the sum. Fox News declined to comment on Mr. Carlson’s transaction.

The Daily Caller was a pioneer in online conservative journalism, though its influence has faded in recent years as once-fringe sites like Breitbart News made inroads with right-wing audiences. Mr. Carlson, who began his career as a writer for magazines like The Weekly Standard and Esquire, had placed an emphasis on original reporting at The Daily Caller, and the site was granted entry to the coveted presidential press pool by the White House Correspondents’ Association.

A former host on CNN and MSNBC, Mr. Carlson has become a central star of Fox News, where his 8 p.m. show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” recently eclipsed “Hannity” as the top ratings draw among adults 25 to 54 years old, the most important age demographic in cable news. Last week, Mr. Carlson drew about one million viewers in that category, and 4.8 million viewers over all.

His program has proved to be a lightning rod for controversy, including in recent days, as Mr. Carlson has devoted his monologues to denouncing nationwide demonstrations against police brutality as violent riots led by “criminal mobs.”

On Monday, Mr. Carlson was sharply criticized after he said on-air that the widespread unrest “is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you.” Fox News later said Mr. Carlson’s use of the pronoun “they” referred to Democratic leaders and mayors, not protesters.

The Daily Caller has not been immune from its own scandals. In 2015, for instance, the site retracted an anti-Semitic headline, and in 2018 it cut ties with an editor who, it emerged, had contributed to a white nationalist website.

On Wednesday, Mr. Patel said that he was now the majority owner of The Daily Caller. Foster Friess, a conservative donor who was one of the initial investors in the site, remains a part owner. Mr. Carlson’s decision to sell his stake was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Patel said the site was profitable and reiterated that, as publisher, he remained committed to news reporting alongside punditry and entertainment.

“We will be a place committed to civil debate,” Mr. Patel wrote in an email. “Not enough people in our country are talking openly with those outside their bubbles. I sincerely want us to be a place where that happens.”

Several former Daily Caller reporters occupy prominent roles in Washington journalism, including the CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and David Martosko, who covered the White House for The Daily Mail of London.

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Trump Campaign Demands CNN Apologize For Poll That Shows Him Losing To Biden

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Trump Campaign Demands CNN Apologize For Poll That Shows Him Losing To Biden

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is demanding that CNN apologize for a poll that shows Joe Biden with a 14-point lead over the president.

The campaign also wants the news network to retract the poll, supposedly because it’s biased (but really because it points out the serious challenges Trump faces in his quest for a second term).

The campaign whined about the negative poll stated its position in a cease-and-desist letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker. It argued that the CNN poll is “designed to mislead American voters through a biased questionnaire and skewed sampling.”

The letter — signed by the Trump campaign’s senior legal adviser, Jenna Ellis, and chief operating officer Michael Glassner — called CNN’s poll “phony” and “a stunt” meant to “cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President.”

Trump’s campaign minions also requested that CNN publish a “full, fair, and conspicuous retraction, apology, and clarification to correct its misleading conclusions.”

“We stand by our poll,” Matt Dornic, a network spokesman, said.

The Trump campaign’s letter griped that the CNN poll surveyed only 1,259 people — only 25% of whom were Republican — and that it was taken before last Friday’s better-than-expected jobs report.

CNN said political pollsters typically sample registered voters rather than likely ones at this stage of the race because it’s difficult to project who’s actually going to vote in an election five months from now.

Deadline.com reported that Biden also beats Trump in other polls by an average of 8.1 points.

This isn’t the first time, the Trump campaign has threatened the media for accurately covering the president.

In March, the campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to TV stations that were airing an ad criticizing how Trump handled the coronavirus crisis.

The complete CNN letter can be seen in this tweet.

Twitter users responded to the letter with trademark mockery.



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Just Eat Takeaway in Talks to Acquire Grubhub

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Just Eat Takeaway in Talks to Acquire Grubhub

OAKLAND, Calif. — Just Eat Takeaway, a European food delivery service, said on Wednesday that it was in advanced talks to buy Grubhub, a deal that would give it a foothold in the United States.

The proposed deal would be an all-stock transaction, Just Eat Takeaway said in a statement. Its stock fell about 13 percent on the news; Grubhub’s stock rose 7 percent.

Uber had been in talks to buy Grubhub, but those discussions foundered over price and regulatory concerns, said a person with knowledge of the discussions, who was not authorized to speak publicly. If Uber had bought Grubhub and combined it with Uber Eats, the result would have been the largest food delivery service in the United States, with about a 55 percent market share. That had attracted antitrust scrutiny.

“A further announcement will be made when appropriate,” Just Eat Takeaway said in its statement.

Grubhub did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Uber declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Just Eat Takeaway was nearing an all-stock deal for Grubhub.

The talks for Grubhub have heated up as food delivery has become more popular in the coronavirus pandemic. People have turned more toward services such as Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats as restaurants shut down in-room dining during the early phases of the outbreak. Restaurants are slowly beginning to reopen.

Even so, profits in the food delivery business have been elusive. Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub have all spent millions of dollars on marketing and incentives to lure customers away from the others. Grubhub, which had been profitable, began losing money as it spent more to fight off rivals.

“Competition and pricing pressure will be fierce going forward,” said Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.

That has led to deal making. In 2018 and 2019, there were 25 mergers and acquisitions in food delivery, valued at a combined $20.12 billion, according to Linklaters, a global law firm.

Food delivery services in the United States also face regulatory headwinds. In California, Uber and DoorDash are challenging a law that requires them to reclassify their independent contractors as full-time employees. And in several cities, lawmakers are considering caps on the fees that delivery services charge, which restaurant owners have said are exorbitant.

Just Eat Takeaway was created this year through the $7.8 billion combination of two of the earliest participants in Europe’s food-delivery market, Just Eat and Takeaway.com. It has been fighting competition in Europe from Uber Eats and Deliveroo, a London-based company whose investors include Amazon.

Just Eat Takeaway is run by a Dutch entrepreneur, Jitse Groen, who founded Takeaway.com in 2000 when he was a student frustrated with the challenge of ordering pizza online. Mr. Groen took Takeaway.com public in 2016. He now has a net worth of more than $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.

  • Updated June 5, 2020

    • Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?

      So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.

    • How does blood type influence coronavirus?

      A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

    • How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

      The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

    • Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?

      Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

    • How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

      Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

    • My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?

      States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

    • What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?

      Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

    • What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

      Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

    • How can I protect myself while flying?

      If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

    • Should I wear a mask?

      The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

    • What should I do if I feel sick?

      If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

In addition to the deals for Grubhub and Just Eat, Mr. Groen bought the German portion of Delivery Hero’s business for about $1 billion in 2018.

Just Eat and Takeaway.com traditionally focused on providing software to restaurants so they could coordinate their own deliveries, a more profitable business model than supplying drivers to make the deliveries. But the combined company is building out its own fleet of drivers. This year, Just East announced a partnership to deliver food for McDonald’s in Britain and Ireland.

Kate Conger reported from Oakland, and Adam Satariano from London.

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Tear Gas Is Banned In Warfare But Not Against Protesters. A New Bill Could Change That.

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Tear Gas Is Banned In Warfare But Not Against Protesters. A New Bill Could Change That.

Police are routinely using a chemical weapon banned in international warfare against peaceful protesters during a pandemic — but a new bill would stop the practice all together.

On Monday, a group of lawmakers introduced a draft of a bill that would ban the use of tear gas by police, after the repeated emergence of videos of law enforcement gassing civilians protesting against racism and police brutality.

The bill, first proposed last week by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.), would pull federal funding from police agencies that continue using tear gas, pepper spray, or other chemical weapons.

In the last three weeks, protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd have spread throughout the country. Demonstrators are also calling for reforming ― or in some cases defunding ― police departments.

The protests have also shown the extent to which a militarized police force will combat its own citizens. Earlier this month, protesters outside the White House were tear-gassed by U.S. Park Police so that President Donald Trump could use a nearby church for a photo-op.  



Tear gas floats in the air as a line of police move demonstrators away from St. John’s Church near the White House on June 1.

“Last week, people were just so shocked to see this administration tear-gas its own people,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a phone call with the Los Angeles Times this week. The new bill “is one of the most basic steps we can take,” she said.

Though tear gas is banned in war, it’s currently classified as a “riot control agent” that can be used for crowd control. Its use against protesters is especially dangerous as the country is still fighting COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has killed more than 100,000 Americans and infected nearly 2 million.

“As an immunologist, it scares me,” Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergy and immunology doctor at NYU Langone Health, told Pro Publica about the use of tear gas. “We just got through a brutal two months, and I’m really scared this will bring a second wave [of COVID-19] sooner.”

Tear gas is a generic term for the chemical chlorobenzalmalononitrile, or C2. More from Pro Publica:

CS activates a specific pain receptor, one that’s also triggered by eating wasabi, said Sven-Eric Jordt, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University. But CS is much more powerful, up to 100,000 times stronger than the sting from wasabi, he said.

“They are really pain nerve gases. They are designed to induce pain.”

CS is particularly painful when it gets on your skin or in your eyes. (Doctors have advised protesters not to wear contact lenses.) When inhaled, the pain induces people to cough. The compound degrades the mucus membranes in your eyes, nose, mouth and lungs — the layers of cells that help protect people from viruses and bacteria.

A 22-year-old Ohio woman died two days after she attended a demonstration in Columbus last month where police shot tear gas and pepper spray at protesters. The woman’s sister said she believed the chemical agents contributed to her sister’s death, which remains under investigation.

Last week, 1,300 medical and public health professionals signed a letter asking police to stop using “tear gas, smoke, or other respiratory irritants, which could increase risk for COVID-19 by making the respiratory tract more susceptible to infection, exacerbating existing inflammation, and inducing coughing.”

“To stop us from protesting the death of a Black man who was suffocated by police, law enforcement is using a weapon that restricts our lungs ― during a respiratory pandemic,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement about the new bill. 

Sometimes it isn’t even the chemical itself, but the projectile it comes in that can cause lasting damage. A 21-year-old Indiana Tech student lost his right eye during a May protest after he said a tear gas canister was shot at his head.

Police could also be harming themselves in their use of tear gas: In Atlanta, the chemical was carried by the wind right back to the officers who released it.

Some cities are now starting to question the chemical’s use. Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler told police Saturday to only use tear gas as a last resort.

“I strongly believe that gas should not be used to disperse crowds of non-violent protesters or for general crowd management purposes,” Wheeler said in a statement. “It should only be used in response to violence that threatens life safety.”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a 30-day ban on police using tear gas. (However, three days later, police ignored the ban and fired the chemical at protesters.) The city of Berkley, California, voted to prohibit the use of tear gas. Police in Louisville, Kentucky, may now only use tear gas at the chief’s orders. And hundreds of health care professionals in New Orleans are demanding police stop the use of tear gas on protesters. 

Interest groups may make it difficult to change tear gas policy on a national level, though. Safariland, the maker of the gas that was used to attack protesters outside the White House, have made more than $137 million in sales to the U.S. government in the past three and a half years, according to CBS MoneyWatch. 

“It is a horror on top of a horror on top of a horror — and it must end,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her statement. “Banning tear gas is one of many steps we must take in this moment to fundamentally restructure the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they are supposed to protect and serve.”



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Garber, MLS ‘confident’ about health and safety for Orlando restart – Sportsnet.ca

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Garber, MLS ‘confident’ about health and safety for Orlando restart – Sportsnet.ca

A lot can change in 10 days.

June began with MLS threatening to lock out the players if they failed to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement.

Now, the two sides have reached a deal, with a plan to resume the 2020 season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.

The aptly named “MLS is Back Tournament” kicks off on July 8 and will incorporate all 26 teams. Clubs will arrive in Florida and begin training as early as June 24.

The group stage for the tournament will be drawn on Thursday, with host club Orlando City in a six-team Group A as a top seed. Last season’s playoff semifinalists in Toronto FC, Atlanta United, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC along with Real Salt Lake – who had the next highest points total in the Western Conference – will also be seeded.

From there, every team will play three group-stage games. Those matches will count towards the regular-season standings. The top two sides in each group will qualify for the round of 16, as do the four best-placed third-place clubs. In the case of a tie after 90 minutes in the knockout stage, the game will forego extra time and advance to a penalty shootout.

The champion receives a berth for the 2021 Concacaf Champions League, even if the winner is Canadian. Normally, Canada’s MLS clubs secure the berth via the Canadian Championship, but that could change under these extraordinary circumstances.

“If TFC, for example, won that [MLS] tournament and then the Canadian Championship, it would be up to Canada Soccer to decide who is going to represent Canada in Concacaf Champions League,” said TFC president Bill Manning. “Maybe it’s the runner-up — I’m purely speculating there. But all three MLS teams will still compete in the Canadian Championship, whether one of us wins [the MLS tournament] or not.”

Upon completion of the tournament, MLS is planning to continue its regular season with a revised schedule in home markets, followed by the playoffs. That will be determined at a later date.

Given the strict medical protocol put in place by the Bundesliga, there are some questions about the safety of club and league personnel in Florida.

Germany’s COVID-19 curve continues to decline, according to data from the New York Times. The United States has experienced a decrease, but Florida’s curve is rising. Orlando isn’t as affected as other cities such as Miami, however.

“We are obviously, like everybody, monitoring what goes on and what has been going on with COVID in every state, including in Florida,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber on a conference call with reporters. “The number of cases in Florida have been less than in many, many other places. We are confident that we’ll be able to manage our tournament.

“There won’t be any guests in the environment where we’re going to be, so it’s something that we are confident we’ll be able to manage.”

MLS unveiled a detailed protocol of their own, with players receiving regular testing before, during and after their arrivals.

Personnel on the bench or touchline must wear facemasks and must practise social distancing as much as possible to limit the spread of COVID-19. Players are prevented from swapping jerseys, kissing the ball and were asked to “exercise care” when spitting or clearing their nose.

“There is no specific protocol for how many positive tests would have us take a step back and think about what happens next,” Garber said. “It’s why we are so focused on regular testing and ensuring that we do what we need to do to keep our players safe and then managing what would happen should a player test positive.

Should a player test positive for COVID-19, he will be immediately removed from the tournament and placed in mandatory quarantine. Afterwards, contact tracing will be conducted on everyone who’s been within 10 feet of the player. Those people will then be tested even more regularly than usual.

There will be hotel employees, drivers and other non-MLS staff around the facilities, but there is no concern with that group.

“Those staff people will not be coming in close contact with our players,” said Garber. “If they were going to be in close contact, then we would manage it through a different protocol.”

That protocol includes social distancing and face masks being worn by everyone involved in the restart project. Sanitization, temperature checks and other measures will also be in place at the hotels.

“There’s a difference between contact and there’s a difference with being in the vicinity,” Garber continued. “I don’t think a bus driver is going to be in close contact with somebody walking on the bus, for example. Somebody cleaning their room is not necessarily going to be in close contact with a player. The players are going to be in close contact with each other, and that’s why they are going to be tested as frequently as they are.”

No plan will satisfy everyone in these strange times. The Bundesliga’s restart was met with skepticism, but there have been no hiccups since games resumed on May 16. MLS is surely hoping that they can be the leading example on this side of the Atlantic.



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EU proposes weekly Brexit talks, ready to make ‘compromises’

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EU proposes weekly Brexit talks, ready to make ‘compromises’

Michel Barnier said that the EU was also willing “to eventually decide between the rounds, if there is a true British engagement in favor of certain subjects | Pool photo by Daina Le Lardic/Getty Images

Michel Barnier proposes more face time but warns EU still won’t allow cherry-picking.

Brussels is ready to quicken EU-U.K. trade talks with weekly meetings and find “compromises” on rules for fair competition, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Wednesday — but insisted Britain would not be allowed to cherry-pick terms or backtrack on existing promises.

“We have very little time, and that’s why I have asked the British negotiator, David Frost … to accompany the negotiation rounds in July, August and September by more restricted meetings between us every week,” Barnier told the European Economic and Social Committee.

He added that the EU was also willing “to eventually decide between the rounds, if there is a true British engagement in favor of certain subjects that we care about, to organize more specific meetings to advance on certain issues.”

Barnier said he regretted that after the first four negotiation rounds with London, he was “forced to note that the British negotiators refuse to seriously engage with us in four areas that we consider as essential.” He listed those as fisheries, police and judiciary cooperation, the governance structure of the future deal, and a level playing field ensuring equal environmental, labor and competition rules.

On the level playing field, one of the thorniest issues of the negotiation, Barnier said he was “ready to find compromises,” but insisted that “the British must transcribe in a legal format what we have agreed in the Political Declaration” on a post-Brexit relationship. He did not elaborate further what such compromises could be.

In the Political Declaration, signed by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year alongside the Withdrawal Agreement, both sides agreed a future deal must be accompanied by a level playing field to “prevent distortions of trade and unfair competitive advantages.”

Barnier urged the EU to “look beyond short-term adaptation costs” that could arise if no deal is reached before the year’s end, and instead consider “our long-term economic interests — even more so in the context of ensuring Europe’s economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis.”

Emphasizing that “we cannot accept the U.K.’s attempts to cherry-pick parts of our single market benefits,” Barnier said: “Do we really want to consolidate the U.K.’s position as a certification hub for the EU, knowing that it already controls some 15-20 percent of the EU’s certification market? … Do we really want to take a risk with rules of origin that would allow the U.K. to become a manufacturing hub for the EU?”

The EU chief negotiator also brushed off Frost, who said last month that London was only asking for what Brussels had already offered other trading partners — and that it had a right not to be treated worse than them.

“The truth is that in many areas, [the U.K.] is asking a lot more than Canada, Japan or any of other free trade partners,” Barnier said. “It is looking to pick and choose the most attractive elements of the [EU] single market without the obligations.”

He said that there was “no automatic entitlement to benefits given by the EU under previous free trade agreements,” and added: “Every agreement with have, with Canada, South Korea or Japan, has been tailor-made to the partner with which we negotiated.”

Responding to Barnier’s comments, a spokesperson for the U.K. government said: “Brexit is about economic independence and we gain more by being able to design our own rules to suit the best interests of our businesses and people in future.”

The government also reiterated it will not extend the transition period that ends December 31. “Throughout the negotiations we’ve been clear that we will not extend the transition period and, if offered an extension from the EU, we won’t accept it,” the spokesperson said.



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