Shilpa Shetty touches upon her daily life and all she has going on amid quarantine
Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress and entrepreneur recently opened up about the birth of her daughter and the impact left on her daily schedule by COVID-19.
By February of 2020, Shilpa welcomed her newborn daughter Samisha via surrogacy, and with COVID-19 having baracaded her within her home, she has been making the best possible use out of her time by spending it with both her children.
According to a report by IANS, Shilpa recently touched upon the grand scheme oflife and revealed what she has been focusing her attention on during her time in quarantine.
The actress was quoted saying, “I couldn’t have timed it better. It’s God’s grace, it worked perfectly in my scheme of things.â€
She added, “This time is so precious with my son and with my newborn. I can only be thankful and have utmost gratitude for the way things have panned out.â€
During the course of the interview, she also touched upon how her life has changed since the pandemic hit, and also admitted to having had a tough time adjuecting to the new normal.
She claims, “The universe knows how to reset, to teach us patience and value for what we have. Hope we learn from this experience and come out stronger.â€
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has come out strongly in favor of schools having students return to the classroom in the fall, despite the ongoing risks associated with COVID-19.
“The AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school,†the group said in an update to its guidance for school re-entry.
The guidance asserts that “the importance of in-person learning is well-documented,†and that evidence already has emerged of “negative impacts†on children due to school closures in the spring.
One research paper estimates that the 55 million U.S. children who were out of school due to the coronavirus pandemic may have lost roughly a third of their progress in reading and half of their progress in math.
But children have not simply taken a hit academically, the AAP warned.
Being away from school for a long period of time can lead to social isolation, the group said. Prolonged closures can make it difficult for schools to identify students who are struggling academically, or who may be dealing with domestic abuse, substance abuse, and serious mental health concerns like depression and suicidal thoughts.
School closures also have a direct impact on children’s nutrition and their physical activity levels.
“The AAP guidance also says that while universal masking is “ideal,” it is not always realistic, particularly among younger children.â€
The guidance comes as COVID-19 cases are surging in many states, meaning that risks surround a return to classrooms. The AAP calls for school policies to be “flexible†and “nimble†in responding to new information on the pandemic as it arises, and said education officials should adopt policies that can be easily revised if case counts in a given school or community spike.
But the group also points to data suggesting that COVID-19 has not been as serious in children — and that they may be less likely to spread the virus to each other.
“Although many questions remain, the preponderance of evidence indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection,†the guidance said. “In addition, children may be less likely to become infected and to spread infection.â€
(One of the more serious post-infection health problems linked to COVID-19 — pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome ― can be life-threatening to the children it afflicts, but so far such cases in the U.S. have been rare.)
The AAP guidance offered ways schools can balance the desire to resume in-person learning with the need to keep students and staff safe.
The guidance said school districts should do what they can to promote social distancing, while acknowledging the practical challenges that presents, particularly in over-crowded schools already strapped for space. The AAP pointed to some evidence that 3-feet of space between students may be effective in combatting viral spread, particularly if coupled with mask-wearing.
The AAP guidance also said that while universal masking is “ideal,†it is not always realistic, particularly among younger children. While noting that some people have medical exceptions, the group said that school staff and older students — those in middle or high school — generally can wear cloth masks â€safely and consistently,†and should be encouraged to.
Several states have begun to roll out their plans for the upcoming academic year, including New Jersey and Connecticut, that aim for the re-opening of in-person classrooms.
But others, like New York City — once the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. — have yet to firm up plans, hinting at the strong likelihood of a hybrid model combining some remote learning and some in-person classes.
Ultimately, whenever school districts determine that in-person learning can resume, teachers should be ready to deal with significant setbacks in children’s academic, social and emotional development in the wake of last spring’s abrupt closures, the AAP said.
“Schools will need to be prepared to adjust curricula and instructional practices accordingly,†the AAP said, “without the expectation that all lost academic progress can be caught up.â€
As Texas surpassed 5,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients for the first time, Gov. Greg Abbott continues a dramatic retreat in his aggressive reopening of America’s second-biggest state. (June 26)
AP Domestic
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday expressed concern about “significant increases†in coronavirus cases across the nation, which he attributed to increased testing, community transmission and individual outbreaks.
Robert Redfield, CDC director, said hospitalizations are rising in 12 states and that 130 counties across the country are considered “hot spots.”
The news comes as state officials grapple with reopening plans as COVID-19 persists. Some are taking preemptive measures to postpone further phases of their reopening, while others have rolled back their phases to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Â
Among the measures implemented to keep rising COVID-19 cases at bay are shutting down high-capacity spaces such as bars and gyms, halting elective surgeries and mandating mask wearing.Â
Here is a look at which states have postponed their reopening. This list will be updated.
Arizona
Gov. Doug Ducey’s issued an executive order mandating bars, gyms, theaters and water parks to shut down Monday evening.Â
The order follows mounting pressure to respond to the ballooning COVID-19 numbers that followed his accelerated reopening plan, which he announced in May.
“Arizonans have been, by and large, terrific, fantastic and responsible,” the governor said Monday. “But, we have found some situations in categories where we need to take more aggressive actions, and that’s what we’re going to do today.”
Arizona has confirmed more than 74,000 cases, with 3,000-plus new cases reported on five of the past seven days.
— Maria Polletta, Arizona Republic
Arkansas
Nearly two weeks after moving into phase two, which allowed for two-thirds capacity in restaurants and other businesses, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he’s not ready to ease business restrictions further as the state experiences a spike in coronavirus cases.
As of Monday, the state has recorded over 20,000 confirmed cases, more than a quarter of which are currently active.
California
As California faces an explosion of new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered seven counties to shut down bars, including Los Angeles County and the hard-struck Imperial County, where 23% of those tested, per LAist, are positive.
The ban, however, doesn’t apply to restaurants that serve alcohol or bars that serve food.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the state set its record for the most cases confirmed in a day Monday, with more than 8,000. More than a third of those took place in Los Angeles County.
Delaware
Delaware did not move into phase three of its economic reopening plan as scheduled on Monday. The announcement, issued by Gov. John Carney Thursday, postponed official action until this week so that officials “can get a better handle on what’s going on in Delaware and around the country.”Â
“Too many Delawareans and visitors are not following basic public health precautions,” Carney said.
The state reported 150 new cases on Monday, the highest one-day total since late May. But through Sunday, Delaware remained at 507 deaths, marking four consecutive days without a new coronavirus death. Hospitalizations through Sunday were at 72, the lowest since the pandemic began to hit Delaware hard in late March and early April.
— Jeff Neiburg, Delaware News Journal
Florida
Florida has ordered bars to stop serving alcohol effective immediately.
Halsey Beshears, the department secretary, said the action was taken because of an increase in COVID-19 cases and noncompliance by some businesses. But the order only applies to bars — restaurants that happen to serve alcohol will be allowed to stay open.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Florida increased by another 5,226 on Monday, rising to a total of 146,341 cases. That means Florida has the fifth most cases in the U.S., ahead of Illinois.Â
— Dave Osborn, Naples Daily News; Jane Musgrave, Palm Beach Post
Gov. Brad Little announced last week that the state will remain in phase four of its reopening process, after a nearly monthlong spike in COVID-19 cases. Phase four allows for visits to senior living facilities and corrections facilities, and lets nightclubs and sporting venues to open with limited capacity. It is the last stage before full reopening.
The state confirmed more than 200 cases a day for five out of six days last week, totaling 5,752 cases as of Monday, Boise State Public Radio reported. That includes a state high of 263 cases last Friday.
Kansas
Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday she plans to sign an executive order this week that would mandate mask use in public spaces statewide, in time for the Fourth of July weekend.
The governor pointed to an upward trend in new coronavirus cases in the state as a reason for mandating mask use.
The mandate follows a recommendation last week that communities remain in phase three of reopening, which allows for bars, nightclubs and personal care facilities such as nail salons and barber shops to remain open with reduced capacity. However, the governor cannot enforce this statewide.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 14,443 positive COVID-19 cases Monday — an increase of 905 cases since Friday, Kelly said. The agency has reported 270 deaths across the state.
— India Yarborough, The Topeka Capital-Journal Â
Maine
Last week, Gov. Janet Mills postponed the reopening of indoor bar service indefinitely. The policy change comes as an uptick of cases nationwide were reported to be attributed to reopened indoor bars, the state’s CDC director Nirav Shah told WMTW-TV in Poland, Maine.
More venues in the state, including movie theaters and museums, can reopen Wednesday as part of its third phase of reopening — with a 50-person cap and a checklist of requirements.
As of Monday, the state has 3,219 cases and 105 deaths. Â
Several metro Detroit gyms opened prematurely — and illegally — early in the week in anticipation of the now-canceled restart date, risking potential misdemeanor charges.Â
— Miriam Marini and JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press
Nevada
Gov. Steve Sisolak will sign an emergency directive extending phase two of the state’s COVID-19 recovery plan through the end of July, according to a Monday news release from the governor’s office. Churches, salons, bars and gyms, all at limited capacity, were part of the state’s second phase.
The move fulfills a promise Sisolak made last week, when he announced a statewide mask-wearing mandate and said “any discussion of entering phase three will be tabled†until further notice.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nevada hospitals has reached 373 cases, the second-highest mark since the outbreak began.
— Brett McGinness, Reno Gazette Journal
New Mexico
New Mexico’s coronavirus spread is trending upward, state health officials said at a press conference June 25, leading the state to put the next phase of reopenings on hold. According to New Mexico’s phased reopening plan, Phase 2 could include limited reopenings of theaters, casinos and bars.
The number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 has been declining in recent weeks. A week ago, the number of people hospitalized was 134. A month ago it was 196. However, the number of cases of COVID-19 has not been declining, with 192 additional cases announced Sunday, bringing the total up to 11,809.
— Michael McDevitt and Lucas Peerman, Las Cruces Sun-News
Cooper vetoed another attempt by Republican legislators to accelerate the speed in which North Carolina commerce is being restored through his COVID-19 executive order, which went into effect June 26.
Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a 28-day order last week to keep the state in phase two of reopening rather than move to phase three as he had hoped. Phase two allows restaurants, malls, gyms, theaters, museums, bars and other businesses to open at 50% capacity.
“The fact of the matter is we’re not getting better; we’re getting worse,” Edwards said Friday. “Before it gets out of control we have to get better compliance.
The state reported 845 new cases Monday for a total of 57,081.
Tennessee will remain in a state of emergency until at least Aug. 29, according to Lee’s latest order. The state of emergency expanded access to telehealth services, allowed restaurants to offer take-out and delivery alcohol services, and eased access to unemployment benefits.Â
As of Monday, Tennessee had 14,743 active cases of coronavirus, with 592 deaths and nearly 2,600 hospitalizations since the outbreak began. The latest figures show the state is averaging about 43 new virus-related hospitalizations per day — the highest rate since early May.
— Joel Ebert, Nashville TennesseanÂ
Texas
Rolling back an aggressive reopening process, Gov. Greg Abbott paused reopening plans for the state Thursday, including prohibiting elective surgeries. One day later, he closed Texas bars and limited restaurant occupancy.
State health officials reported 5,913 COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals Monday, a record for the state and a 416-person increase from the day before.
Hospitalizations have climbed over the last month, with Sunday marking the end of a 16-day streak for record numbers of patients in Texas hospitals. Texas surpassed 5,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients for the first time Friday.
– Nicole Cobler, Austin American-Statesman
Utah
Troubling numbers prompted Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to mandate masks at all state facilities on Thursday. Earlier this month, he announced a pause to reopening.
Utah health officials have reported the most coronavirus cases in one week since the pandemic began as a surge in infections continues across the state.
“Rising cases across the state and concerns about the spread of the COVID virus have made Phase 4, which would essentially mean no restrictions, impossible at this time,†the governor’s office wrote.
As of Thursday, 17 of Washington state’s 39 counties had moved into phase three of Inslee’s four-part coronavirus recovery plan, which allows for gatherings of no more than 50 people, more outdoor recreation, and theaters, museums.
Washington had more than 30,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 480 new cases were reported on Friday.
— Austen Macalus, Kitsap Sun
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote
Chase Rice will continue to tour despite facing backlash from fans and peers for his packed concert in east Tennessee over the weekend. However, the country music star said he’ll be taking additional safety precautions moving forward.
“What’s up y’all, Chase here. I just want to address my show on Saturday night,†Rice told his 1 million Instagram followers.
The “Lonely If You Are†singer stirred up controversy for sharing footage from his first in-person concert in months that showed hundreds of fans singing along without masks. No one appeared to be social distancing.
“Everybody had a blast, but then once I posted the video a lot of people seeing that online had a big problem with how the show looked, how the show went down,†Rice continued.
Chase Rice responds to backlash over playing a crowded concert amid coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Redferns)
“I understand that there are a lot of varying opinions, a lot of different opinions on COVID-19, how it works with live music, crowds and what all that looks like,†he added. “My biggest thing is y’all. Y’all are why I get to write songs, why I get to tour the country, why I get to do live shows and sing these songs to you guys and you guys sing them back. You guys are everything to me so your safety is a huge, huge priority.â€
The “Eyes on You†crooner announced his next live performance in Kentucky on Friday will be a drive-in show in order to ensure the safety of fans.
“Take your trucks, take your cars, you have your own space, you can get out of your cars, you can get out of your trucks and party with me. Please do sing the songs, but stay in your own space, stay with the people you came with,†he said.
Rice told his fans “the safer we are now, the quicker that we get to go to actual normal live shows, which I know we all want.
“So, thank you guys for understanding, please go by the rules, please go by the laws on this Friday show coming up and the shows moving forward,†he concluded.
Singer Kelsea Ballerini was among the country singers who slammed Rice for “being selfish†and putting “thousands of people’s health at risk†with Saturday’s performance.
Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people’s health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now. @ChaseRiceMusic, We all want (and need) to tour. We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait. 🤷🏼♀️ https://t.co/eJaLnGu28k
— Kelsea Ballerini (@KelseaBallerini) June 28, 2020
A spokesperson for the venue where Rice played told theLos Angeles Times “numerous†safety precautions were taken.
“All local requirements were abided by for the recent concert, and numerous precautions were taken. We drastically reduced our maximum venue capacity of 10,000 to 4,000 maximum capacity (lower than the state’s advisement of 50 percent) with less than 1,000 in attendance Saturday night, providing ample space in the outdoor lawn area for fans to spread out to their own comfort level,†a representative for the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary said. “All guests were given temperature checks prior to entering the venue and free hand sanitizer was provided to everyone at entry.â€
Tennessee has allowed concert venues to open at below 50 percent capacity.
The Brushy Mountain spokesperson added they “were unable to further enforce the physical distancing recommended in the signage posted across the property and are looking into future alternative scenarios that further protect the attendees, artists and their crews and our employees.â€
Another country star, Chris Janson, was also slammed for playing a jam-packed festival on Saturday night in Idaho. Organizers of the event told Billboard all legally required precautions were taken.
Watch — Chase Rice called out for crowded concert footage:
SIALKOT     –     Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) President Muhammad Ashraf Malik had welcomed a reduction in the interest rate by 100 basis points, lowering it to 7% by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). In a press statement issued here on Monday, he said that it was the most constructive decision for the business community taken by the government. He said the whole business community had welcomed the decision, as it would provide relief to the export industry of Pakistan.The chamber president said that the fifth time reduction in the interest rate in four months would provide immediate liquidity to homes and businesses to avoid defaults and contain unemployment. He said the business community was satisfied with overall reduction of 625 basis points from March 17 to June 25, from relatively high 13.25% to as low as 7%. However, the SCCI president expressed his concerns on sudden and drastic increase in petroleum prices, saying that the whole business community was looking towards the government to provide relief for sustainability of the businesses amidst COVID-19 pandemic. He said the government should reconsider its decision of increasing prices of petroleum products.
Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath won the Democratic nomination to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November after holding off a late charge from progressive state Rep. Charles Booker in Kentucky’s Democratic Senate primary.
The Associated Press declared McGrath the winner on Tuesday, a week after voters cast their ballots on June 23 in a primary election delayed and altered by the coronavirus pandemic. McGrath led Booker by roughly 7,000 votes ― 44.9% to 43.5% ― with more than 90% of ballots counted when the race was called. Mike Broihier, a retired Marine and farmer who waged his own progressive campaign, finished a distant third, with about 5% of the vote.
McGrath claimed victory in an email to supporters Tuesday afternoon, saying that she was “humbled to be your nominee†against McConnell and that she “can’t wait to get started in sending him into retirement.â€
McGrath’s victory is the latest in a string of wins for Democratic establishment leaders, whose preferred candidates have repeatedly held off progressive insurgents like Booker in the 2020 election cycle. But the results also demonstrate the first major challenge facing McGrath in November: She lost Kentucky’s two largest counties and will need to reenergize voters who preferred Booker in both locations to have any shot at ousting McConnell this fall.Â
McGrath will enter the general election armed with a massive campaign war chest after raising more than $40 million during the primary. Her robust fundraising ability has helped fuel hopes among Democrats that McGrath can mount an aggressive bid to unseat the six-term Republican senator who has long been the bane of Democrats and is now an even bigger target as one of President Donald Trump’s chief Washington allies.
The primary victory gives McGrath a second chance to win a seat in Congress after she narrowly lost the race for a central Kentucky House seat to GOP Rep. Andy Barr in 2018.Â
McGrath emerged as a prominent and promising new face in Kentucky politics during that earlier Democratic primary. Her long-shot bid for a House seat focused heavily on her experience in the Marines and her status as an outsider.Â
This time, she had to hold off her own insurgent challenger. Booker, a freshman state legislator from Louisville, emerged as a real contender in the primary after taking a leading role in racial justice protests that broke out in his hometown and across Kentucky. Those demonstrations highlighted the March police killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman in Louisville.Â
Booker, who became Kentucky’s youngest Black state lawmaker elected in nearly a century in 2018, ran on a slate of progressive proposals that included the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.†He broke into the national conversation amid the protests, receiving numerous endorsements from state lawmakers and national progressive leaders ― including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Kentucky’s two largest newspapers also endorsed Booker in the contest’s closing stages.
“Like so many Kentuckians, I was and am inspired by the powerful movement Charles Booker built toward the causes of defeating Mitch McConnell and fighting systemic racism and injustice in our country,†McGrath said in the email to supporters. “He tapped into and amplified the energy and anger of so many who are fed up with the status quo and are rightfully demanding long-overdue action and accountability from our government and institutions.â€
The Kentucky primary was originally scheduled to take place on May 19 but was delayed for more than a month over concerns about COVID-19. After Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and Secretary of State Michael Adams (R) reached a bipartisan agreement to expand absentee voting with no-excuse mail-in ballots and to allow a week of early voting, the election drew record turnout for a Kentucky primary. Total votes surpassed the number cast in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama dueled for the Democratic presidential nomination.Â
Although there were concerns about voter suppression due to most counties’ decision to limit in-person voting to a single location, the expansion of mail-in voting proved largely successful in driving turnout. Some voters, however, faced delays in receiving their ballots and there were notably long lines at the polls in Lexington, pointing to issues that Kentucky needs to address before November’s election.
“Our campaign has heard from voters across the state who had trouble making their voices heard, and their votes counted,†Booker said in a statement that highlighted confusion among voters about whether their mailed-in ballots had been received and whether there had been problems with those ballots that rendered them unintentionally invalid.Â
“I want to be clear: this isn’t about me and Amy,†Booker said. “I accept the results of this election, and concede this race. But we will push in the coming days to ensure transparency and accountability in our state’s electoral system, because it is essential that every single Kentuckian has faith in our democracy as we go forward.â€
Booker’s late surge in the race pushed him to the lead among Kentuckians who cast ballots in person on Election Day. He won those voters by 65 percentage points in Louisville and 50 points in Lexington, the state’s two largest cities. But McGrath’s advantage with mail-in votes, which made up roughly three-quarters of the ballots cast in the race, earned her the victory. Booker’s final margin of victory in Lexington, for example, shrank to roughly 6 percentage points, and absentee ballots swung many of Kentucky’s rural counties sharply in McGrath’s favor.Â
Bryan Woolston/ASSOCIATED PRESS
McGrath’s missteps allowed state Rep. Charles Booker to make a large charge in the Democratic Senate primary.
McGrath’s entry into the race against McConnell last July generated an immediate wave of national interest in Kentucky’s Senate race. She smashed Kentucky fundraising records and sparked visions of a potential Democratic victory over the Senate leader, who ranks, by some measures, among the least popular lawmakers in the country.
Again, she leaned on her military experience and her outsider status. But early missteps ― including a waffling position on whether she would have supported Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court ― caused some angst among Democrats about her candidacy and helped create the atmosphere in which Booker’s progressive campaign later thrived.
Over the race’s final days, Booker hit McGrath for being a “pro-Trump Democrat,†an allegation based on an earlier comment in which she’d blamed McConnell for standing in the way of parts of Trump’s agenda, and for choosing not to attend protests over Taylor’s killing.
McGrath, who supports an Obamacare expansion to include a public option, legislation to lower the price of prescription drugs and federal infrastructure investments, particularly in Kentucky’s rural areas, came out late in the race to back existing Senate legislation to reform police. She also touted her Democratic bona fides in a late advertising push.Â
In the end, McGrath won handily in many of Kentucky’s rural counties, as well as in some suburban areas.
But the enthusiasm around Booker may have dampened support for her among progressive voters, who’ve long wanted to see a candidate like him take on McConnell, and among Black voters, who form a small but potentially powerful bloc of support for Democratic candidates in Kentucky’s biggest cities. Booker’s victories in Louisville and Lexington, as well as his better-than-expected performance in some key rural and suburban counties, show where McGrath needs to make up ground in the general election.
To beat McConnell in November, McGrath must rack up huge margins in Jefferson and Fayette counties, where Louisville and Lexington, respectively, are home to the state’s largest bases of reliable Democratic voters. Booker also won Warren County, a western Kentucky area that has begun to trend toward Democrats.Â
McGrath made efforts to appeal to Booker’s supporters as she declared victory.Â
“No one needs to convince me of the urgency to address the issues of equal pay and equal justice, affordable health care for all, real action on voting rights, and ending the corrosive grip that corporate special interests have on our federal government,†she said in a statement. “But there can be no removal of Mitch McConnell without unity. … The differences that separate Democrats are nothing compared to the chasm that exists between us and the politics and actions of Mitch McConnell.â€
Broihier called on his backers to support McGrath in a Tuesday afternoon tweet, while Booker urged his supporters to maintain their enthusiasm for ousting McConnell in November.
“We’ve proven Kentuckians are hungry for a new kind of leadership, one that puts working people and their struggles before corporate special interests and the corrupt politicians who serve them,†Booker said in his statement. “Let’s dedicate to the work of beating Mitch, so that we can get him out of the way.â€
McGrath outpaced her progressive challengers in two suburban northern Kentucky counties that are also vital in November, and she will be buoyed by the national Democratic interest in knocking off McConnell and wresting away his control of the Senate, which should help her continue to raise staggering amounts of cash. She exited the primary with nearly $20 million left, and McGrath can point to polls to bolster hopes that she has a chance to pull off the upset. In the closing days of the primary, her campaign touted a May poll showing her running dead even with McConnell, although national observers still rate McConnell as the favorite to win re-election.Â
This story has been updated with comments from Amy McGrath and Charles Booker.
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Countering China as an economic power and alternate political and development model is a centerpiece of US national security policy. Countering China in the Middle East, however, has proven challenging due to inconsistencies within US policy and with the growing perception of China’s attractiveness to the region. Framing the discussion of China’s rise or role in the Middle East to a zero-sum game of choosing either US or Chinese patronage and partnership has served rhetorically only to increase China’s stature among the region’s political leadership. And relatedly, the US security strategy that explicitly mentions the importance of allies and shared values has failed to rely on those strengths in counterarguments to the Chinese “choice.”
The United States has failed to make its own case in the Middle East, mostly because the current administration has undermined the importance of shared values and institutions that demonstrate its superior development model to China’s and then failed to demonstrate empirically how it is better. The reality is there is no stark choice for the Gulf states or governments of the broader Middle East to decouple from either the United States or China. The plan to counter China has never been to do it alone. The Trump administration’s failure to elevate and amplify its own strategy to rely on allies and shared institutions is an Achilles heel that China and adversaries like Russia see as an easy target.
China cannot compete with the present, consistent US security architecture in the Gulf, but it can needle the sense of US disengagement in the region. And China can alter the framing of how its own presence in the region is measured. China has moved the goal post. By focusing on state investments and publicizing them widely, China has made the US litmus test in the region about bilateral, state finance. In contrast, what the United States and its allies offer the region is a system of access to international capital, to institutions that reward governance, rule of law and ultimately local job creation, rather than the enrichment of state entities, contracts that boost state bank balance sheets, and volatile project flow that rarely creates lasting local growth or employment.
The United States may be a superpower, but it stands on the shoulders of other states, namely the other large economies of the world. The other G7 members are US allies and countries that separate the state from the market and reject state capitalism and authoritarianism. As Zack Cooper has neatly articulated in his examination of weaknesses of the United States’ current strategic approach to China, “Many of America’s friends are frustrated that Trump has not united US allies and partners in pursuit of a common goal.”
The United States has not recognized how its own presence in the Middle East works in partnership with its allies and how nongovernmental investment, trade and ideas work in parallel and in direct evidence of an alternative to China. It is the movement of capital from non-state actors nurtured and nestled in US institutions and those of its allies that are most active as investors and a force for growth across the Middle East. We should elevate and amplify our collective strengths rather than reduce the choice to a simple “us or them” mentality.
Trump has consistently undermined the constructive role of the United States in the international system. China has seized the opportunity. Growing, developing states in the region are made to think there are two options rather than a whole set of partners and supporting institutions that stand in contrast to what China is selling. Opponents of a “New Cold War” fret the United States is pushing China into a corner and that confrontation with China will undermine diplomatic success in bringing China into the fold of international norms and increased economic liberalization. But really it is China that benefits from pushing developing countries into a false dichotomy.
Often cited as the region’s most important source of foreign direct investment, China is really only active as a source in a few key states, mostly in the Gulf. The reasons for the Chinese presence as a contractor in the Gulf and co-investor in Gulf infrastructure and energy projects are simple. The Gulf oil exporters want to maintain a good customer service relationship with China, state-to-state investments can avoid the public scrutiny of bond offerings and disclosures to international investors, and sometimes the deals are just faster and easier to close. China is a good partner in some investments and loans that don’t make economic sense otherwise, serving as an alternate balance sheet for state entities on both sides.
Chinese foreign direct investment across the Middle East and North Africa is not consistent over time, tends to be concentrated in a few key locations and creates few jobs (mostly because large contracting projects rely on imported labor in the Gulf or itinerant labor in other countries.) Data compiled from fDi Markets and AEI’s China Global Investment Tracker comparing Chinese capital expenditure and job creation in Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Ethiopia demonstrate how combined private investment from the United States, United Kingdom and European Union consistently outweigh Chinese investment over time, looking at the period between 2014-2020. Interestingly, so does investment from Gulf Arab states. China gets all the credit by framing foreign investment as a bilateral phenomenon rather than facilitated and amplified by shared institutional norms and regional priorities.
The problem is that the US-China dichotomy is self-defeating. From its beginning, the Trump administration has seen international political economy from a statist perspective, not from an institutional perspective in which an array of US interests are served. The United States does not command its investors, its firms or their interests. It defends an environment, including in the Middle East, that is conducive to their growth. This environment is a set of institutional norms, practices and beliefs that open markets, rule of law, and free movement of ideas, people and goods make us all better off.
In essence, the Trump administration has been as much of a proponent of state-led growth as the Chinese, who are now discovering the use of their own entrepreneurial class to advantage “going out” across Africa and the Middle East. The Middle East has choices, its own regional development actors, and a set of consistent and engaged sources of investment and engagement from the United States and the largest economies (and strongest militaries) in the world. There is no logic to a choice between the United States and China, only opportunities lost.
The government has signalled it is set to take a tougher line against Chinese telecoms equipment-maker Huawei.
A review is under way into how forthcoming US sanctions would affect the UK’s continued use of its products.
“Given that these sanctions… are extensive, it is likely to have an impact on the viability of Huawei as a provider for the 5G network,” said Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden.
He added he wanted Samsung and NEC to become 5G network kit providers.
They would help make the UK’s mobile networks become less dependent on the other two suppliers: Ericsson and Nokia. Mr Dowden said the current situation represented a “market failure”.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace added that the sanctions – which are set to come into effect in September – had specifically been designed to force the UK into a rethink.
“It is a better set of sanctions than the earlier set, and it’s specifically clearly designed in a smarter way to put countries that have high-risk vendors – specifically Huawei – under greater pressure.”
The sanctions forbid Huawei and the third parties that manufacture its chips from using “US technology and software to design and manufacture” its products.
The US cites national security concerns as the cause for its intervention. American politicians have suggested that Beijing might exploit Huawei to spy on or even sabotage communications.
But Huawei denies claims that it would help the Chinese government compromise its clients or otherwise deliberately harm them.
“We are investing billions to make the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘connected Kingdom’ a reality so that British families and businesses have access to fast, reliable mobile and broadband networks wherever they live,” said the firm’s UK chief Victor Zhang following the hearing.
“We have been in the UK for 20 years and remain focused on working with our customers and the government.”
Feeling ‘cagey’
The two cabinet ministers were giving testimony to the House of Commons Defence sub-committee.
Mr Dowden noted that it was already the government’s ambition to remove Huawei from the UK network “over time”.
However, under plans announced in January, current plans are limited to excluding the company from the most sensitive parts of the network – the so-called core – and capping Huawei’s market share of base stations and other equipment at the “edge” to 35% by 2023.
Image copyright Parliament TV
Image caption
It is unusual for two cabinet ministers to give evidence at the same committee hearing
Mr Dowden said this might now change.
“We won’t hesitate in taking decisions that will impose additional costs on mobile network operators, the primary consideration is national security,” he said.
But he added he was “a little cagey” about providing further detail as final “decisions haven’t been made” and “any changes in policy would be exceedingly market sensitive”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is still studying what impact excluding Huawei altogether or other new restrictions might have.
Backbench threat
The DCMS has also asked GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre to advise it on the security implications of the US sanctions.
NCSC has previously raised concerns about the “shoddy quality” of Huawei’s hardware and the potential for vulnerabilities this creates. But it currently manages the risk by carrying out checks on the products.
One concern is that if Huawei were forced to start relying on components sourced from other vendors, NCSC would not longer believe the risks involved to be manageable.
NCSC’s chief Ciaran Martin told MPs that “the bulk of the analysis” was now done, but that further discussions with DCMS were required before a recommendation could be made to the prime minister.
Committee member Labour MP Kevan Jones raised concerns that the government was being “bullied into doing what the Americans want”.
But Mr Wallace responded: “The Americans can do what they like with their own IP [intellectual property]… it’s not an attack on us, it’s just a fact that if Huawei doesn’t work any more because it can’t use a certain type of chip or whatever… we’d have to get something else.”
Conservative MP Mark Francois also noted that the government faces a backbench revolt over its Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill if it does not commit to a ban.
“The bill is already as dead as a dodo unless it effectively excludes Huawei,” the MP said.
“Wouldn’t it just save everybody a lot of time if you came to the House tomorrow and put your hand up?”
Mr Dowden responded that he was “mindful” of the threatened rebellion but added: “You just have to wait and see,” as to what the government’s decision would be.
Ministers made clear the ambition is to not have any “high-risk vendors” like Huawei in the UK’s 5G network.
But the crucial question is whether we are about to see a firm commitment to achieve that “ambition” and within a specific time frame.
The review of the impact of US sanctions looks set to take the UK in that direction.
While there may be technical reasons for the shift, it would also prove politically convenient amid continued pressure from Washington and backbench Conservatives, as well as deteriorating relations with China.
But it still remains to be seen exactly how far and fast the government will move.
On Oct. 22, 2018, at 8:59 a.m. Pacific time, Jenny Gao, the Los Angeles-based chef and founder of the Sichuan condiment company Fly By Jing, posted a photo on Twitter: an advertisement she saw at a shop in Chongqing, China, featuring a towering swirl of soft-serve vanilla ice cream, a slick of crimson-red, debris-studded chile oil rippling down its surface and pooling at the rim of the plastic cup.
Within the next hour, I was at a local Chinese supermarket, buying four bottles of Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp that I then dropped off at my restaurant, Wursthall, in San Mateo, Calif.
By noon, my sous chef and I were cobbling together our own recipe for a spicy chile condiment, leaning heavily on one that the chef and writer Sohla El-Waylly published on Serious Eats earlier that year. Throughout the afternoon, we drizzled jarred sauces and iterations of our homemade version over spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream.
By that evening, an early take on our spicy chile crisp sundae was on our secret, word-of-mouth, late-night menu. Things move fast in the age of social media.
Like many restaurants, Wursthall has been closed to customers for the past few months because of the pandemic. But, with San Mateo now allowing safely distanced outdoor dining, my team and I have been planning for a new, casual outdoor dining format. This means revisiting our menu items, which got me thinking about that chile crisp sundae.
I first became aware of Lao Gan Ma chile crisp at a potluck baby shower in 2016, where a friend brought a bowl of chilled hand-pulled noodles that he tossed with black vinegar, soy sauce, sesame seeds, scallions and a ladleful of the sauce. (That noodle dish has made an appearance at every baby shower I’ve been to since.)
I took note of the jar, which featured a photograph of the company founder, Tao Huabi; she started as a street vendor selling noodles and sauce to students near her hometown in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou, before pivoting to bottled sauces in the mid-1990s. She is an icon in China, and her chile oil is beloved around the world, particularly among homesick overseas Chinese students. The Chinese state media reported that Lao Gan Ma had more than $700 million in revenue in 2019.
Articles about chile crisp, as well as recipes for homemade versions and tips on how to use the jarred sauces, have been popping up on English-language websites for the past decade, especially in the past few years. (The condiment was declared a must-have for quarantine cooking in The New York Times Magazine this April.)
There are a handful of chile crisp products beyond Lao Gan Ma’s version, like Fly By Jing, which embraces the funkier fermented black bean flavors of the original chile crisp and bumps it up with umami-rich mushroom powder, and Mom’s Mala, which has a straighter chile-and-spice profile. Both eschew peanuts.
But what about that ice cream?
In an article published in Food and Wine in 2018, Ms. Gao categorized ice cream with chile oil as hei an liao li, or “dark cuisine,†a Chinese internet food subculture characterized by cooks posting photos of food with bizarre flavor combinations, or foods intentionally designed to look unnerving. The article linked to a 2014 blog post on the website SoraNews24, one of the earliest documented instances I’ve seen of combining ice cream with Sichuan chile oil. The blogger described the burn of Lao Gan Ma tempered with the tongue-deadening chill of an ice cream bar: “It was kind of like what happens when a bomb goes off underwater.â€
Generally, if two ingredients sound like they’re going to taste bad together, they’re probably going to taste bad together. There are a few notable exceptions.
Peanut butter on a hamburger? Excellent, as anyone who’s had a guberburger in Missouri could tell you. The legions of Wendy’s diners who dip their French fries in their Frosty can’t all be wrong. Hot honey on pizza, as commonplace as a peanut butter-and-pickle sandwich these days — even Pizza Hut sold honey-and-Sriracha-topped pies for a while — turned heads when Paul Giannone first drizzled it over the Hellboy pie at his Brooklyn pizzeria Paulie Gee’s in 2010.
You can add chile and ice cream to that list of exceptions — at least when it’s done right.
After weeks of experimenting in my restaurant’s prep kitchen, we removed the allium shards from the oil itself. Instead, we infuse the oil with garlic, ginger and spices like numbing and citrusy Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, cumin and fennel, before straining it and pouring it, sizzling-hot, over toasted chiles. (We use árbol and ancho chiles that are widely available in California, though we sometimes mix it up with Sichuan chile flakes or Korean gochugaru.)
The combination of Sichuan peppercorn and chiles produces the ma-la(numbing hot) flavor that is the backbone of many Sichuan dishes. Salt, sugar, sesame seeds and a touch of monosodium glutamate (a.k.a. MSG, though you can leave it out) round out the flavors.
An ice cream sundae isn’t complete without a crunchy element. For ours, I drew inspiration from one of my favorite products in the Chinese snack aisle (where I spend a good deal of time): Huang Fei Hong-brand spicy crispy peanuts. These are roasted peanuts tossed with a hot and numbing mix of chiles, Sichuan peppercorns and spices. I packed those flavors into a crumbly peanut streusel sweetened with brown sugar and bound with flour and butter.
Incidentally, after you make the streusel, it can be cooled and stored at room temperature. Just make sure you keep it out of reach: I’d catch myself absent-mindedly crunching down ramekins full of the stuff whenever I worked after hours on writing projects at the restaurant.
We don’t have a soft-serve machine at Wursthall, but the toppings work just as well on plain old vanilla ice cream.
We’re still on the fence about whether we’ll put the sundae on our new menu, secret or no. But I’ll still be making it at home, and you should, too. Even if the combination of chiles and ice cream isn’t for you, you’ll have extra ice cream to eat and extra chile crisp to drizzle over your green beans, tofu, chicken, noodles or stir-fries, or into your peanut butter-and-pickle sandwich.
Despite recent spikes in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the country, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said Monday that the thousands of people planning to listen to President Donald Trump speak at Mount Rushmore this week will not be required to practice social distancing.  Â
“We will have a large event on July 3,†Noem told conservative TV host Laura Ingraham. “We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we will not be social distancing.â€
“In South Dakota, we’ve told people to focus on personal responsibility,†Noem said.Â
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and President Donald Trump at a meeting in December. The president is planning to speak at Mount Rushmore this week, and Noem has said she will not require attendees to wear masks or practice social distancing.Â
Health officials across the country have advised that wearing a mask and practicing social distancing are imperative steps to take toward minimizing the spread of COVID-19, which is highly infectious and spreads most easily among people in close proximity.
The president is scheduled to deliver remarks in Keystone, South Dakota, the site of Mount Rushmore, for what has been billed as a celebration ahead of the Fourth of July. There have been over 6,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and 91 deaths in South Dakota, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
Aiming to paint a picture of normalcy amid a global catastrophe, Trump has continued hosting in-person campaign events during the pandemic in defiance of public health guidance from officials.Â
At least six members of Trump’s own campaign staff tested positive for coronavirus while preparing for an indoor rally in Oklahoma, where Trump spoke to thousands who refused to wear masks. Trump later held a similar event in Arizona, and hundreds packed into a church ― without donning masks ― to listen to him speak.Â
As infections and hospitalizations increase, even some Republicans often in lockstep with Trump have had to come to terms with the absurdity of his anti-mask stance.Â
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee who will retire at the end of the year, on Sunday carefully embedded his criticism in praise for Trump.Â
“I wish the president would wear a mask when it’s appropriate because millions of Americans admire him, and they would follow his lead,†Alexander said.Â
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