From drug dealers to loan sharks: how coronavirus empowers organised crime | Misha Glenny

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From drug dealers to loan sharks: how coronavirus empowers organised crime | Misha Glenny

At the outset, Covid-19 and the lockdown disoriented organised crime and its activities as much as the rest of us. But organised crime is not only adapting to the present, it is preparing to carve a lucrative future out of the crisis.

A week before lockdown in the UK, many drug dealers noticed a massive surge in panic buying of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Drugs were the toilet rolls of Britain’s criminal world. With good reason: a “county lines” operator in west London who normally supplied cocaine and heroin to towns in Hampshire explained that, as soon as the government ordered people to stay at home, these drug networks closed down because it was too risky for the dealers to move around.

Cocaine and heroin prices registered the sharpest increase in the pre-lockdown period on the reasonable assumption that there would be a massive disruption to the supply chain from overseas. “The prices for heroin and coke have definitely gone up in my city,” said a darknet vendor, CocaineBrain. “Everyone I know has had a harder time getting the supply they need but they are paying more.” Sales of marijuana, by contrast, have been largely unaffected. “Business is booming for me. People mainly buying weed and benzos,” said DWtripadvisor. “My weed is grown in the UK so the price has stayed the same for now.” Drugs sold online over the darknet have seen a significant uptick in activity. Vendors on these markets, which are mainly based in the UK and the Netherlands, are doing a brisk business. Their top sellers are synthetic drugs such as MDMA, ecstasy, which can be produced in local laboratories.

The National Crime Agency has scored significant successes in slowing down the traffic in class-A drugs (chiefly cocaine). Since lockdown, it has seized 25 tonnes and £15m in cash, which is notably more than during the first three months of the year. “Covid-19 restrictions have made criminal groups take additional risks in moving cash around,” according to an NCA statement. “The closure of many cash-based businesses in recent weeks has robbed OCGs [organised crime groups] of an opportunity to stash or launder their cash, making it harder for criminals to conceal the proceeds of their crimes.”

When it became clear how serious Covid-19 was, there was an immediate drop in the level of organised criminal activity in the UK, Germany and France of around 20%. “Criminals are humans too,” said Graeme Biggar, economic crimes lead at the NCA, “and they are abiding by the rules.” He added that a disproportionately high percentage of the agency’s organised crime targets suffer from underlying medical conditions and are taking self-isolation seriously.

Not surprisingly, the first sign that organised crime was adjusting to the new circumstances was to be found on the internet. Online crime has been rising steadily for some years now but Covid-19 is accelerating the trend. Just two weeks into lockdown the NCA reported a huge increase in Covid-19-related scamming sites: 70,000 sprang up, selling everything from personal protective equipment and hand gel to snake-oil remedies. These goods were either stolen, counterfeit or non-existent, ie simple scams to lure cash from people desperate to protect themselves from the virus.

The shift to working from home has placed a strain on IT security teams. A company office will have a well-defined network perimeter that security engineers can monitor easily. At home, employees may be sharing sensitive data with their main system across routers through which their teenagers are downloading dodgy content. This drastically multiplies the vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit to enter a company’s system. This in turn increases the threat from ransomware, malware that can lock computer files and open them only on payment of a ransom.

In Italy, where the lockdown was much more rigorously enforced than here, Covid-19 contributed to an unexpected success in the fight against organised crime. On 12 March, police noticed a car driving to an abandoned house near Locri on the Calabrian coast. That evening they spotted the light from a cigarette and raided the property to discover 42-year-old Cesare Antonio Cordì, a senior boss of Calabria’s notorious crime group, the ‘Ndrangheta, and one of Europe’s most wanted men.

Law enforcement officers around the world need no reminding that the initial hiatus in activity was always going to be temporary: major political or economic crises represent a huge opportunity for organised crime. A pandemic with a cataclysmic impact on the global economy is the jackpot. There is massive disruption to supplies of all manner of goods and services both licit and illicit, which leads to dizzying growth in the black market. This in turn generates secondary markets in counterfeit and fake products.

This combines with a second catalyst: the resources of the state, including the police, are being diverted to cope with the consequences of the disease. While officers are busy stopping members of the public from congregating in parks, they have less time to track down criminals. Meanwhile, in countries where the state is weak and unable to provide essential goods and services to distressed communities, organised crime will step into the vacuum. There is already plenty of evidence that this is taking place across southern Italy, the favelas of Brazil and the extensive territories controlled by the Mexican drugs cartels.

The other major activity the major Italian mafias have been engaging in from the start is money-lending. Nicola Gratteri investigates the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria. Talking to the Global Initiative against Organised Crime last month, he explained that “the usurers from the ‘Ndrangheta initially come in with offers of low interest rates, because their end goal is to take over the business, via usury, and use it to launder their illicit proceeds.” It’s a watertight business model because, as Gratteri added: “Their collateral is the borrower’s life.”

The weakness of state structures is critical for criminals involved in one of the most damaging trades of all, the trafficking in endangered wildlife species. An early theory about the virus was that it originated with pangolins whose meat is illegally sold in Chinese wet markets. A critically endangered species, these weirdly beautiful creatures’ protective scales, made from keratin, are used in traditional Chinese medicine, despite having no pharmaceutical properties. Along with rhino horn (also keratin, just like our finger nails), ivory and tiger bones, hundreds of tons of pangolin scales have been seized by authorities in China, Laos and Vietnam in the past three years.

The Wildlife Justice Commission in The Hague, which maintains a remarkable intelligence network tracking the trade, has warned that criminals are stockpiling material and that lockdown is allowing poachers in sub-Saharan Africa a free rein. There is an overwhelming moral and environmental case for a multilateral effort to stifle this business. It is also worth remembering that Ebola, HIV, Sars, H1N1, Mers and Sars-CoV-2 are all reportedly zoonotic diseases, which jumped species because of intense proximity between humans and the original carriers. We must now recognise a hitherto relatively unimportant branch of organised criminal activity has the capacity to bring the entire world to a standstill.

• Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia, and a Fellow at the Berggruen Institute thinktank

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California Was Set To Spend Over $1 Billion to Prevent Wildfires. Then Came COVID-19

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California Was Set To Spend Over $1 Billion to Prevent Wildfires. Then Came COVID-19

After a series of devastating wildfires, like the 2019 Kincade Fire, California had planned on spending billions to prepare for climate-driven disasters.

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After a series of devastating wildfires, like the 2019 Kincade Fire, California had planned on spending billions to prepare for climate-driven disasters.

Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

With the coronavirus pandemic eroding state budgets across the country, many communities risk having this disaster make them less prepared for looming climate-driven disasters.

Still recovering from devastating wildfires, California was poised to spend billions of dollars to prepare for future fires and other extreme weather disasters. The infrastructure projects, designed to make communities and homes more resistant to wildfire, have long been overlooked, fire experts say.

But with a $54 billion budget deficit, the programs are being put on hold.

“It’s really a shame,” says Alexandra Syphard, a fire scientist at Sage Underwriters, a wildfire insurance company. “Obviously COVID has been a shame on so many different levels. We were ramping up to provide what I believe is one of the most progressive and important investments in terms of fire risk that there could be.”

With more than 25,000 homes and buildings lost over the last three years, California has focused recent spending on adding new firefighting crews and emergency response capacity. This year, the state planned on investing in something that could lessen the need for fire-fighting: “hardening” millions of homes to make them more resistant to burning.

Similar home-retrofitting programs, piloted in communities around the state, have been very popular.

“Up here in the mountains, a wood-shingled roof is another name for a matchbook,” says Bill Seavy, a homeowner in South Lake Tahoe.

Until a few years ago, Seavy had a wood-shingled roof, but he replaced it through a program that incentivized homeowners to install fire-resistant roofing. The local fire agency, the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, created the program after the 2007 Angora Fire, which destroyed almost 300 buildings and homes in the region.

“In Lake Tahoe, we’re vulnerable, and there’s three million people in California that live in areas like this where you’re vulnerable,” says Seavy. “So we’ve got to do everything we can.”

Through federal funding from FEMA, homeowners could get 70 percent of their cost covered for a replacement roof. Wood roofs can fuel the spread of wildfires by catching burning embers.

“Most homes are not burned by fires just marching up to them and burning them down,” says Syphard. “Most are destroyed because the fires are occurring during really high wind conditions and there tend to be these burning embers that can fly kilometers ahead of the fire front. And it’s these burning embers that tend to get into all the little nooks and crannies of a house.”

Even small fixes to a house can make a big difference, like putting mesh screens on attic vents or covering the eaves under a roof.

“Things that in particular would prevent embers from penetrating the house are super significant in making a difference between whether a home survives a fire or not,” says Syphard.

Last year, California lawmakers approved the first major statewide program for incentivizing such home-retrofits. In January, Governor Gavin Newsom announced $100 million in state and federal money to help homeowners replace roofs and make their homes more fire-resistant, particularly in low-income communities where upgrades may be out of reach for many.

But in May, Newsom proposed suspending the program, citing the need for deep budget cuts to offset the falling tax revenue from the economic downturn.

“We learned that in the Paradise fires, homes built or retrofitted with home-hardening materials and features often withstood the deadly flames and stood to live another day,” says California Assemblymember Jim Wood, who authored the bill to create the program. “It is a sorry state when we refuse to acknowledge the importance, and financial benefits, of investing in prevention.”

A test house hit by blown embers at a research facility run by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety in South Carolina last spring. Half of the test home has cedar siding and other common combustible building materials. The other half has common fire-resistant materials such as cement siding.

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Two other substantial climate initiatives were also put on hold in the Governor’s revised budget, which would have funded projects to prepare for fires, droughts, floods and sea level rise. Those include a $4.75 billion Climate Resilience Bond scheduled for the November ballot and $1 billion in state funding over five years for climate-related projects. State lawmakers are still trying to push ahead with a bill that would put a $7 billion climate and economic recovery bond on the ballot.

The wildfire funding left in California’s budget this year will likely go to firefighting and emergency response.

“We’re staring down the barrel of another intense wildfire season given how dry it was this winter,” says Wade Crowfoot, California’s Secretary for Natural Resources. “So we are anticipating actually having to juggle disaster response from different disasters.”

Supporters of the resiliency initiatives say spending money to prepare for disasters in advance is substantially more economical than waiting for them to hit.

“A dollar spent today saves you about six dollars in future emergencies,” says Kate Gordon, director of California’s Office of Planning and Research. “And if you think about that, it’s really logical. The cost of emergency response is enormous. Look at Paradise — rebuilding an entire town and relocating folks.”

State officials say they’re looking for other ways to fund climate preparation in hopes of preserving momentum after the recent disasters.

“We are retooling in real time to really continue to drive forward those same priorities, particularly climate resilience, in a more constrained fiscal environment,” says Crowfoot. “Our residents get it. Californians want us actually to do more to protect communities from impacts.”

California, like many states, is looking to federal stimulus funding to fill in the gaps, since climate-related projects could qualify as infrastructure spending. They’re also looking at partnerships with private industry.

“There is a moment at which this kind of economic disaster creates opportunity for thinking differently about how to build forward,” says Gordon. “Not to bounce back, but bounce forward.”

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American Police Are At War With Democracy Itself

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American Police Are At War With Democracy Itself

American schoolchildren learn at an early age that the federal government has three branches intended to check and balance each other: legislative, executive and judicial. Over the past two weeks, we have witnessed a fourth unelected branch assert its supremacy over all others: the police.

The protests that have swept U.S. cities began as a denouncement of police brutality. But what is happening in our streets has become a political power struggle over the legitimacy of democratic government itself. On one side are the police, asserting the right to ignore any command from democratically elected officials if they so please. On the other side are the people, demanding democracy and respect.

Police in city after city have made it very clear that they simply do not care if they are exposed as lawless brutes. On Thursday night alone, police in Buffalo, New York, shoved a 75-year-old man to the ground and left him motionless, blood spilling from his ear and pooling around him, while police in Indianapolis groped a woman’s breasts and beat her savagely with batons. Images of police cruelty and contempt for the law poured out of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and several other cities.

The police violence is not restricted to Black protesters, or even protesters in general. On Saturday night, officers in Brooklyn brutalized a hospital worker walking home from his job of managing the COVID-19 crisis, leaving his hospital ID smeared with blood. Police are arresting journalists, legal observers and even food deliverers — all of whom are permitted to be on the streets after locally imposed curfews — just for doing their jobs. 

All of these actions were not only outrageous, but flagrantly illegal, and dozens of similar horror stories are emerging every night. The police know the whole world is watching, and the message they are sending is very clear: We’re in charge, not your laws or your elected officials.

This is authoritarianism. And it is disgraceful. There’s something profound about witnessing it erupt across the country around the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, where the Chinese government rolled out tanks and murdered thousands of peacefully protesting students. Police in U.S. cities today are not standing up for law and order — they are expressing violent contempt for democracy itself.

For a long time, police have dismissed documented cases of abuse as the excesses of “a few bad apples,” insisting to the public that officers are generally an upright bunch who want to live in harmony with their communities. This crisis has rendered that excuse simply laughable. In dozens of cities, police are all doing the same things ― beating citizens for the sake of beating them, and publicly demonstrating their eagerness to flout the law and democratic will.

In the face of this assault on the nation’s democratic traditions, Democrats and Republicans alike have been exposed as either cowards or as figureheads without real power. On Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) publicly humiliated himself by denying that documented cases of police aggression had in fact taken place at all: “Police bludgeon peaceful protesters with batons for no reason? That’s not a fact. They don’t do that. Anyone who did do that would be obviously reprehensible if not criminal.” 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has been reduced to a laughingstock, drawing boos and jeers at public appearances where he carries on at length about his “white privilege” but refuses to take any substantive action to restrain New York police officers, who at least nominally report to him.

The grim fact is that police have historically exercised authoritarian dominion over Black neighborhoods all over the country. What’s been happening the last couple of weeks is an attempt by the police to expand their jurisdiction deeper into American life. As David Stein, a historian of mass incarceration at the University of California Los Angeles, observed: “The police are extending their authoritarian jurisdiction — from South Los Angeles and Skid Row, to everyone allied with the people of South LA and Skid Row.” And it is happening in nearly every city, large and small, extending even into the pleasant, gentrified urban playgrounds of the upper-middle class. 

Americans who were able to look the other way on police abuse for decades will not be able think about the police in the same way whenever this crisis eventually passes. The police are not only at war with mayors, governors, legislators and city councils ― they are at war with the American people and the very idea of America as a nation where citizens govern themselves.

For all of its very obvious flaws, the United States does have strong democratic traditions. Even the far-right fringe in our country uses the language of freedom, liberty and democracy to defend its values and ideas. Democracy in this country will not go down without a fight. But the only people who can save a democratic vision for America are the people themselves, in the streets, night after night. It is a fight they cannot afford to lose.

Zach Carter is the author of “The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes,” available now from Random House.



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Scotland’s Golf Courses – Breathtaking Hidden Gems You Need to Include in Your Travel Plans

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Scotland’s Golf Courses – Breathtaking Hidden Gems You Need to Include in Your Travel Plans

Even though the origins of the game are unclear, most historians accept that modern-day golf originated in Scotland during the middle ages.

Various early versions of golf existed throughout Europe, where the objective was to put a ball inside a hole a few hundred yards away with the least number of strokes. In Scotland, the game was first played on linksland, a specific kind of coastal land with a wind-sculpted terrain, near present-day Edinburgh. The first documentation of golf in Scotland was in 1457 when King James II banned the sport because it was leading to a neglect of military practices. However, people mostly ignored the ban.

Golf gained the royal popularity when King James IV of Scotland became the first monarch to play golf. In the modern world, everyone who has even yielded a golf club has a wish to visit the Scottish golf courses. Scotland is not only famous for its golf courses located at spectacular locations, but also for the taste of Scottish hospitality at the clubhouses, also known as the 19th hole.

When golfers from all over the world consider a visit to Scottish golf courses, the immediate names that come to mind are the historic layouts of St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Dornoch, and Muirfield. Then on the list would be Troon, Prestwick, Turnberry, Kingsbarn, and Castle Stuart, not necessarily in that order. Scotland has over 600 golf courses, packed into a small country.

When someone is making a trip of a lifetime across the Atlantic, it is natural to wish to tick the iconic golfing destinations off your list. But if you are looking for an alternative golf tour experience at a much more serene and quieter location, there are many hidden gems with stunning views and unsurpassable quality. Many companies provide tailor-made luxury golf tours of Scotland. These Scotland golf packages are made to satisfy every golfer’s requirements and their budget. So next time you are planning a golfing tour to the land where the game was born, look out for these names.

 

Nairn Golf Course

Nairn is a small town situated on the edge of Moray Firth, 16 miles away from Inverness. Nairn is home to a championship links course which hosted the Walker Cup in 1999 and is one of the finest courses located in the highlands. The course has an interesting variety, with stunning views of the water throughout the course. It is a must-play for anyone planning to visit Dornoch or Castle Stuart.

 

The Balcomie Links at Crail Golf Club

Many visitors notice Crail along the coastline when they are at the 12th tee at Kingsbarns Links. But sadly most of them do not think of coming over to the 7th oldest golf club of the world. Crail golfing society has two spectacular courses. Balcomie Links is the older of the two and can boast of stunning vistas of the Firth of Forth.

 

Shiskine

The 12 hole course at Shiskine located on the Isle of Arran will make you want to forget everything about conventional golf. You will be blown away by the beautiful scenery around you as much as the design of the course. Tucked away in a small coastal village of Blackwater foot, the course overlooks the Mull of Kintyre. It was designed by Willie Fernie who is well known for designing Royal Troon and Turnberry. The layout climbs over Durmadoon point to the top of the cliff and then slopes down along the coastline.

 

Brora Golf Club

Brora is a classic links course that might be a little out of the way but is worth it as a phenomenal course. It is located a bit far north, about 16 miles from Dornoch. The small village of Brora is a wonderful experience in itself. The course is said to be one of James Braid’s finest and has been preserved in its original condition which gives you a sense of stepping back into time when the game was just invented.

 

Glen Golf Course, North Berwick

The county of East Lothian is one of the most famous golfing destinations in the world. Therefore it is quite surprising that there are still a few hidden gems along this glorious golfing coastline. Glen is a perfect example of an extraordinary course existing in the shadows of a famous one. The reference is meant for the North Berwick golf course. Glen might not be a very long course, but it certainly makes up for that with exhilarating views of the Bass Rock with Firth of Forth in the backdrop.

 

Boat of Garten

The course is dubbed as the Gleneagles of the north. With a backdrop of the Cairngorms mountains, Boat of Garten is situated right in Scotland’s most popular winter sports destination. A series of holes spread across a gorgeous undulating terrain with the mountains in the background might just give you the sense of playing in paradise.

 

Just a Few of the Hidden Gem of Scotland Golf Courses

Although these are only a few of the hidden gems amongst Scotland’s golf courses, they deserve to be included in your itinerary as much as the well-known ones. Each of these golf courses is beautifully located, challenging, and is worthy of ranking amongst the best golf courses in the world that offer a true taste of golf.

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Doctors Race For Answers As Kids Fight Rare Inflammatory Syndrome Tied To Coronavirus

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Doctors Race For Answers As Kids Fight Rare Inflammatory Syndrome Tied To Coronavirus

Two nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., communicate via walkie-talkie, as one helps on floor with COVID-19 patients and her colleague stands by to assist.

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Two nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., communicate via walkie-talkie, as one helps on floor with COVID-19 patients and her colleague stands by to assist.

Eman Mohammed for NPR

The first sign that something was wrong came with stomach pains. It was April 30, and 9-year-old Kyree McBride wasn’t feeling well.

His mother, Tammie Hairston, thought it might have been something that he ate. But soon, young McBride was battling a 102-degree fever.

Worried he may have contracted the coronavirus, Hairston took her son to the hospital. “It was a quick in and out of the emergency room,” she said. Doctors told her to take him home and monitor him.

The fever, though, didn’t break. In a telemedicine call with McBride’s doctor a few days later, Hairston was told to hang tight. Then the stomach pains came back, stronger this time. Then vomiting. Later, Kyree’s skin began to develop a reddish hue.

What Happens When Your Kid Develops MIS-C, A Rare COVID-19 Complication

D.C. Hospital Trying To Understand Rare COVID-19 Complications In Children

By the time he was finally admitted to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., more than a week later, doctors determined that although he was negative for COVID-19, he had developed antibodies for the coronavirus.

It was a sign he’d already been infected and recovered from COVID-19. And it mirrored what they had been seeing in dozens of young patients who since the start of the pandemic have been diagnosed with a condition known as Multisystem-Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C.

Since April, when cases of the syndrome were first detected in Europe, doctors have been puzzling over the mysterious new condition, one they’re attributing to complications linked to COVID-19. While early research suggests the condition is rare, experts are still racing to answer even the most basic questions about the illness, such as why some children are more susceptible than others, how to safely treat it and what it might mean for their long-term health.

The connection to COVID-19

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, young children have been the least likely of all age groups to become seriously ill with the virus, though they can still become infected and spread it.

When they do become infected, they often don’t exhibit symptoms, making it nearly impossible for parents to know whether they have the coronavirus or may be at risk for MIS-C.

The majority of known cases have been concentrated on the East Coast. New York state has reported more than 150 cases. Washington has seen more than 30 cases, according to Children’s National. Cases have also been reported in a handful of other states, including California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Washington state.

The youngest confirmed patient was just a few weeks old. At least four children — one in Louisiana and three in New York — are reported to have died from the condition.

“A new phenomenon for us”

Children’s National has been one of the leading hospitals in the nation treating patients with MIS-C. Doctors there have seen 35 patients with the syndrome since the end of April, according to a hospital spokesperson. But the exact number has been difficult to pinpoint, in part because the condition is so new and because the diagnostic guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are still loosely defined.

“It’s definitely a new phenomenon for us, and it definitely has a lot of implications that we are all quite concerned about,” said Dr. Michael Bell, the chief of critical care medicine at Children’s National.

Mystery Inflammatory Syndrome In Kids And Teens Likely Linked To COVID-19

Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, the hospital’s chief of pediatric infectious diseases, says staff has seen the syndrome manifest itself in a variety ways.

The first, which has drawn the most attention, appears to mimic Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory illness that causes inflammation in the blood vessels, particularly the coronary arteries.

Patients showing these symptoms are “the most obvious type” of cases, said DeBiasi. “They may have very high fevers, red eyes, red lips, red tongue. They may have a rash over their body. They may have a swollen lymph node, swelling of their hands and feet.”

In other cases, patients might exhibit “lots of inflammation,” according to DeBiasi. Like McBride, they may also experience severe abdominal pain.

The many unknowns

The good news at Children’s National is that they have not had a child die from MIS-C.

“We really have a way of … identifying them early, treating them early so that kids don’t get sicker,” said Karen Smith, the chief of hospitalist medicine at Children’s.

Despite that success, doctors are still trying to understand a key question about the condition: when children are getting it.

“Is this acute viral? Is this post-infectious? Is it a combination? We’ve got to figure this out in our patient cohort,” DeBiasi said.

The majority of the hospital’s MIS-C patients do not test positive for the coronavirus, yet they have the antibodies that signal they’ve recovered from the virus. That implies a post-infection response in which kids’ immune systems are overreacting to the coronavirus after fighting off an active infection, DeBiasi said.

A nurse prepares to process a COVID-19 testing kit for results at the laboratory at Children’s National.

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A nurse prepares to process a COVID-19 testing kit for results at the laboratory at Children’s National.

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A rapid-testing device is used to test patient’s samples for COVID-19 at a laboratory at Children’s National.

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A rapid-testing device is used to test patient’s samples for COVID-19 at a laboratory at Children’s National.

Eman Mohammed for NPR

Doctors are also trying to figure out which children are getting MIS-C. Initially, there were no reported cases of the condition in China or on America’s West Coast. One possible explanation for the regional disparity in the U.S., DeBiasi said, could stem from the theory that the West Coast was hit by a variant of the coronavirus from China, while the East Coast was hit by one from Europe

DeBiasi also wonders whether some kids, as with adult populations, are more vulnerable as a result of health disparities.

“There does seem to be more infection and severity in some of the racial or ethnic groups or perhaps even genetic predispositions,” she said.

But she suspects the answer might be simpler. Children could be getting sick as a result of continued exposure to the coronavirus spreading in their community.

“I think what’s happening here is these kids that are being re-exposed out in the community to a virus that they saw and made an appropriate immune response to, initially,” she said, adding that now, “that immune response is just inappropriately revved up.”

However, given the uncertainty, doctors at Children’s say they are trying to be conservative when it comes to diagnosing MIS-C because the treatments involved can strain young, growing bodies.

Nurses from the pediatric intensive care unit put away protective equipment in order to sanitize it after being used by a staff member at the Children’s National Hospital.

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Nurses from the pediatric intensive care unit put away protective equipment in order to sanitize it after being used by a staff member at the Children’s National Hospital.

Eman Mohammed for NPR

There are also concerns about possible long-term risks from the illness.

The children with MIS-C who end up in critical care often have inflammation in their heart and in other organs, said Bell of the hospital’s critical care division. He considers, as one example, the lifelong effects on a 5-year-old who has MIS-C.

“If she has some terrible swelling from it, which could be coronary arteries that get dilated, and might have heart attacks when she’s 6, that’s going to affect her for 70 years of life expectancy,” he said. “Yes, fewer kids get this. Fewer kids get critically ill with it. But it’s not like there’s not a huge impact to child’s health.”

“I try to keep an eye on him”

Kyree McBride is feeling better, but he’s still low energy. At a recent checkup, doctors gave him a heart monitor because his heart is arrhythmic.

Hairston, his mother, continues to frantically monitor him.

“I’m always feeling his head and making sure he don’t have any more fevers and asking him, you know, every hour on the hour, ‘Are you OK? Are you feeling OK? Let me feel your head,’ ” she said.

The hospital was a scary time for McBride, and she worries that he’ll be hesitant to tell her if something else goes wrong.

“I try to keep an eye on him,” Hairston said.

She advises other parents to be watchful, and, if in doubt, to take their child to the hospital.

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Protesters topple Confederate statue in Richmond

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Protesters topple Confederate statue in Richmond

In 2017, some of Wickham’s descendants urged the city to remove the statue.

Confederate monuments are a major flashpoint in Virginia and elsewhere in the South. Confederate memorials began coming down after a white supremacist killed nine black people at a Bible study in a church in South Carolina in 2015 and then again after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that a state-owned statue of former Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee would be removed from its perch on the famed Monument Avenue “as soon as possible.”

The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, a prestigious residential street and National Historic Landmark district. Monuments along the avenue have been rallying points during protests in recent days over Floyd’s death, and they have been tagged with graffiti, including messages that say “End police brutality” and “Stop white supremacy.”

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney last week announced plans to seek the removal of the other Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, which include statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Gens. Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. Those statues sit on city land, unlike the Lee statue, which is on state property.

Stoney said he would introduce an ordinance July 1 to have the statues removed. That’s when a new law goes into effect, which was signed earlier this year by Northam, that undoes an existing state law protecting Confederate monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate.

Wickham’s statue stood in Monroe Park, about a mile away from the Lee statue and surrounded by the Virginia Commonwealth University campus.

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Amit Shah sounds Bihar poll bugle: State has come from loot-and-order to law-and-order phase

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Amit Shah sounds Bihar poll bugle: State has come from loot-and-order to law-and-order phase

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |

Updated: June 7, 2020 5:03:28 pm





Amit Shah addressing Bihar Jan Samvad rally. (Twitter/BJP)

Launching the BJP’s election campaign in Bihar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the virtual rally was not a political rally but a medium to bring the people of the country together in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Bihar is scheduled to go to the Assembly polls in October-November this year.

“This rally has nothing to do with elections. The BJP believes in democracy. I want to salute the crores of corona warriors who are fighting against the virus by risking their lives. Health workers, police personnel and others, I want to acknowledge their contribution,” he said.

Addressing the ‘Bihar Jansamvad Rally’ through video conferencing, Shah also took a dig at the Opposition RJD and Congress, who protested earlier in the day by beating utensils.

“Some people welcomed our today’s virtual rally by clanging ‘thalis’. I am glad they finally heard PM Modi’s appeal to show gratitude towards those fighting COVID-19,” he added.

Protesting against Shah’s rally, RJD, led by former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and party chief Tejashwi Yadav, observed “Garib Adhikaar Diwas” by beating utensils while the Congress took to posters to urge citizens to mark “Shraddhanjali Diwas“. The posters read ‘virtual se actual muddon ka encounter‘.

The BJP had on Saturday announced that Union Home Minister and former BJP chief Amit Shah would address party workers at approximately 72,000 booths to reach out to its cadres and workers. In Bihar, BJP’s organisational structure includes 45 organisational districts, 1,100 mandals, 9,000 shakti kendras and 72,000 booths.

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Watch: Here’s how Boston Dynamics’ robot dog encourages social distancing [video]

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Watch: Here’s how Boston Dynamics’ robot dog encourages social distancing [video]

South Africa is still dealing with the fallout caused by the deaths of citizens at the hands of the SANDF and a shortage of PPE that has put soldiers and police at risk.

While we’re coming to terms with that, the Singapore government have called in help from an unlikely source to help it in its attempts to keep their citizens safe during the pandemic.

Spot, the ‘social distancing narc’

The new recruit is Spot the robot developed Boston Dynamics. For those of you who somehow haven’t heard of Spot before, you should definitely go over to YouTube now and have a look at the impressive work Boston Dynamics have done.

Spot will be deployed by the Singapore government “to assist safe distancing efforts at parks, gardens and nature reserves.” So essentially it will be roaming around open public spaces doing its best to remind Singapore citizens to maintain safe distances.

Spot is being introduced on an initial two-week pilot. For the period Spot will be patrolling during off-peak periods. Spot will play a recorded message reminding citizens to observe a safe distance.

Watch: Boston Dynamics’ Spot in action

Reducing manpower

For the length of the pilot, a human ranger will be deployed as well in case Spot runs into any unexpected problems while making its rounds. The Singapore government notes in its release:

“Spot will be controlled remotely, reducing the manpower required for park patrols and minimising physical contact among staff, volunteer safe distancing ambassadors and park visitors. This lowers the risk of exposure to the virus.”

Should the trial go well, it’s expected that the Singapore government will be considering rolling out more four-legged robots in its other public spaces.

If the videos are anything to go by though it doesn’t seem like Singapore’s population is quite ready for Spot.

Watch: Spot spotted elsewhere in public

Using tech to police the populous during the pandemic

The poor citizens can be seen getting rather uncomfortable when being followed by what looks like it could be created by Skynet as a pet for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hopefully, Spot will be able to win over the public, and we’ll see more robots roaming the streets. Spain made headlines back in March when it started using drones to shout at people who wouldn’t stay indoors.

Spot can also walk, trot, avoid obstacles, climb stairs, and much more. As much as I love drones, give me a four-legged robot dog that can open doors, jump and even rock some killer dance moves any day. Yes, dance:

Watch: A dancing UpTown Spot



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Abandoned by their employers, Ethiopian domestic workers are left stranded in Beirut – The Mail & Guardian

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Abandoned by their employers, Ethiopian domestic workers are left stranded in Beirut – The Mail & Guardian

In recent weeks, as many as 50 Ethiopian women, formerly employed as domestic workers in the homes of Lebanese citizens, have been abandoned by their employers outside the Ethiopian consulate in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Employers apparently resorted to this after being unable to pay their salaries.

The women spend their nights sleeping sprawled across cardboard laid out on the pavement, surrounded by an assortment of luggage and food packages donated from the community. They are on the consulate premises, but Ethiopian consular officials refuse to let them enter the building.

“They don’t let us in,” said Rediet, who says she spent two weeks on the pavement outside the consulate. “My employer just dropped me here and disappeared. The security guard won’t let us near the door. I have nowhere else to go.”

Rediet, like most domestic workers, refuses to give her full name, as she believes that the consulate would target her with retributive action — such as not renewing documentation — for talking to the press.

Lebanon’s economic crash of late 2019 has left citizens struggling to provide for their families, a situation since exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, many Ethiopian domestic workers have been either laid off or are labouring without pay. Rediet was owed six months worth of wages when her employer dumped her outside the consulate with her luggage late one evening. “He didn’t even say thanks or anything. He just drove off as fast as he could,” she said.

Amnesty International reported that some women were being dropped off at the consulate without their passports, and said the Lebanese government needs to intervene. “These women are among the most marginalised people in society, and are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis, which was exacerbated by Covid-19,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director.

Aya Majzoub, the Human Rights Watch researcher on Lebanon, described the practice as “inhumane and illegal, as it violates the terms of the workers’ contracts”. She added: “Lebanon should immediately establish a justice mechanism through which these workers can seek redress for human rights and labour violations.”

By Wednesday, about 35 abandoned domestic workers were still sitting on the concrete ground outside the consulate. On the same day, the consulate announced that it would suspend services indefinitely, without saying why.

Public pressure

Local Lebanese media outlets and their camera teams converged on the scene outside the consulate the same day. Images of the young women, forlorn figures in face masks, caused enough of a public outcry for the Lebanese labour ministry to intervene. “A hotel has been secured for the Ethiopian women,” Labour Minister Lamia Yammine later tweeted. Footage of the girls being bussed off and arriving at their new accommodation made the rounds on social media afterwards.

But word of the gesture appears to have had the opposite of the intended effect, encouraging more employers to abandon their employees. More domestic workers have since been dropped off and by Thursday, another 25 Ethiopian women found themselves exposed to the elements outside the consulate.

“The employers are to blame,” senior consular diplomat and communications head Befirde Dengela told the Mail & Guardian. “They can’t just throw them out here when they can’t afford to pay.”

Asked why the consulate decided to close its doors on June 3, Befirde Dengela stated that it was for the safety of the diplomats. “Some of the women this week got rowdy and attacked us. They are frustrated, but still we shouldn’t be kicked or spat at.”

Betty, who is among the women who have been stranded, disputed this account. “We didn’t do anything to them. We would see them every day as they leave for their parked cars. I haven’t been paid in three months and now I’m homeless. Their job is to help us, but they do everything they can to avoid us.”

Associated Press footage of the consulate’s entrance on May 21 appears to show a Lebanese security officer standing guard while Ethiopian women, unable to enter, stand nearby. When probed as to why the consulate was denying the women access to the consulate’s facilities, including a shelter that could house several dozen of them, Befirde Dengela stated that it was to control the spread of Covid-19.

“The girls haven’t been tested yet,” he explained. “We would be endangering them and our staff in the consulate by allowing them inside. We have repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to intervene and hold these employers who abandon these women accountable. But they are slow to do so.”

But Iman Khazaal, head of the ministry of labour’s Mount Lebanon office, says the Ethiopian government is to blame for the predicament these women find themselves in. “Lebanon’s economy has been hit hard. We did what we could to facilitate the return of these women to Ethiopia by lifting the fines that undocumented migrants would normally be charged,” she explained. “But Ethiopia refuses to evacuate its citizens.”

The only available route home for Ethiopian domestic workers is aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa, with one-way tickets costing an astronomical $1 450. This is an impossible sum for domestic workers, who previously earned as little as $150 monthly.

“How can they expect anyone in Lebanon to afford tickets at that price?” Khazaal said. “We haven’t had such issues with any other embassy. I respect the ties between our countries, but we are confused with the Ethiopian government’s approach.”

Khazaal added that the government is working on bringing legal action against Lebanese employers who throw their workers into the streets, but said, “Many of the women are undocumented, and this is complicating the identification process”.

Zecharias Zelalem is an Ethiopian journalist. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZekuZelalem.



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A sleepy island paradise’s most showstopping sights

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A sleepy island paradise’s most showstopping sights

Eleuthera, Bahamas (CNN) — Friendly and unassuming, the Bahamian island of Eleuthera offers languid, daydreamy, toes-in-the-sand, drink-in-hand getaways.

The sinuous island — with a name taken from the Greek word for freedom — is also audaciously good looking.

High cliffs braced against the Atlantic line the eastern shore. To the west, clear aqua water laps sugary beaches and low rocky coastline.

Blissful average temperatures range from the low 70s F in winter to the low 80s F in summer.

And one main road runs the length of Eleuthera, which stretches 110 miles but is only two miles across at its widest point.

Stunning natural features are found up and down the island, with some of the most eye-catching sights at its narrowest and southernmost points.

A study in contrasts

The Glass Window Bridge spans a sliver of land separating the deep blue Atlantic from the Bight of Eleuthera.

Deborah Brunswick and Craig Waxman/CNN

Located on the skinniest part of Eleuthera, the Glass Window Bridge stretches across just a 30-foot sliver of land separating the dark, churning waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the smooth turquoise shallows of the Bight of Eleuthera.

The contrast is arresting, particularly from the air. With sturdy shoes, you can climb the rugged karst hill above the bridge for a wider view up and down the slim island and across the two bodies of water.

Violent storms have long since washed away a natural stone arch that once stood on the site of today’s concrete bridge. But American artist Winslow Homer was able to capture the arch in his circa 1885 painting “Glass Window.”

Rough weather and high sea swells can lead to bridge closures and dangerous situations, so it’s best to avoid the area when conditions are poor.

Soaking up nature

The Queen's Bath is a series of natural pools carved into rock by the pounding Atlantic.

The Queen’s Bath is a series of natural pools carved into rock by the pounding Atlantic.

Marnie Hunter/CNN

About a half mile south of the Glass Window Bridge, there’s another stunner well worth a visit.

The Queen’s Bath is a series of natural pools carved into rock by centuries of pounding surf on the wild Atlantic side of Eleuthera.

The surf washes into the pools for a refreshing dip when outside temperatures are warm but not blazing hot. When it gets hotter, the pools are warmed by the sun to a bath-like temperature.

It’s best to visit when the tide is fairly low and to skip it altogether when the surf is rough. The rocky “bathtub” surfaces are quite sharp and water shoes or tennis shoes are a must.

Both the bridge and the baths are about a 15-minute drive from North Eleuthera Airport, which during normal travel times welcomes direct flights from Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Castaway isolation, while it lasts

On an island that boasts more than its fair share of beautiful beaches, there’s a more-challenging-to-reach stretch of sand that warrants the extra effort.

About two hours south of the Glass Window Bridge, on Eleuthera’s southernmost tip, Lighthouse Beach boasts the kind of island isolation featured in the most seductive screen savers.

A Jeep or SUV is best for navigating the rocky, unpaved road.

The payoff? Miles of powdery pink sand on the Atlantic side of the island. An old lighthouse sits on the limestone towering above the ocean, and great snorkeling and beautiful vistas over Half Moon Cay add to the spot’s enchanting remoteness.

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