Archives for September 2020

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced a new countrywide lockdown will be imposed amid a stubborn surge in coronavirus cases, with schools and parts of the economy expected to shut down in a bid to bring down infection rates.

Beginning Friday, the start of the Jewish High Holiday season, schools, restaurants, malls and hotels will shut down, among other businesses, and Israelis will face restrictions on movement and on gatherings.

“Our goal is to stop the increase (in cases) and lower morbidity,” Netanyahu said in a nationally broadcast statement. “I know that these steps come at a difficult price for all of us. This is not the holiday we are used to.”

The tightening of measures marks the second time Israel is being plunged into a lockdown, after a lengthy shutdown in the spring. That lockdown is credited with having brought down what were much lower infection numbers, but it wreaked havoc on the country’s economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing.

The lockdown will remain in place for at least three weeks, at which point officials may relax measures if numbers are seen declining. Israelis typically hold large family gatherings and pack synagogues during the important fast of Yom Kippur later this month, settings that officials feared could trigger new outbreaks.

A sticking point in government deliberations over the lockdown was what prayers would look like during the holidays. While the details on prayer during the lockdown were not nailed down in the government decision, what were expected to be strict limits on the faithful. That prompted Israeli Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman, who represents ultra-Orthodox Jews, to resign from the government earlier Sunday.

Israel has had more than 150,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 1,100 deaths. Given its population of 9 million, the country now has one of the world’s worst outbreaks. It is now seeing more than 4,000 daily cases of the virus.

Israel earned praise for its initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak, moving quickly to seal the country’s borders and appearing to bring infections under control. It has since been criticized for opening businesses and schools too quickly and allowing the virus to spread unchecked.

Much of that criticism has been aimed at Netanyahu, who has faced a public outcry over his handling of the crisis and has seen thousands of protesters descend on his Jerusalem residence every week. While lauded for his decisive response following the spring outbreak, Netanyahu appeared distracted by politics and personal matters, including his trial for corruption allegations, as infections rose over the summer.

Netanyahu has also been lambasted for seeming to cave to pressure from various interest groups, including most recently his ultra-Orthodox governing partners, who appeared to have convinced him to relax a pinpointed, city-based lockdown plan that would have mostly affected ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities.

At the press conference Sunday announcing the lockdown, Netanyahu defended his response, saying Israel’s economy had emerged from the first lockdown in a better state than many other developed nations and that while cases were high, the country’s coronavirus mortality numbers were lower than other countries with similar outbreaks.

The country’s power-sharing government, made up of two rival parties who joined forces in a stated aim to combat the virus, has also been chided for the new outbreak. The government has been accused of mismanagement, failing to properly address both the health and economic crises wrought by the virus and leading the country to its second lockdown.

Some government ministers meanwhile have pointed fingers at what they’ve called an undisciplined public, who they have accused of violating restrictions against public gatherings and mask wearing.

The flames have destroyed neighborhoods, leaving a barren, gray landscape in their wake, driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and cast a shroud of smoke over the region.

SALEM: Nearly all of the dozens of people reported missing after a devastating blaze in southern Oregon have been accounted for, authorities said, as crews continued to battle wildfires that have killed at least 33 victims from California to Washington state.

The flames have destroyed neighborhoods, leaving a barren, gray landscape in their wake, driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and cast a shroud of smoke over the region.

The crisis has come amid the coronavirus outbreak, the economic downturn, and nationwide racial unrest that has led to protests in Portland for more than 100 days.

“What’s next?” asked Danielle Oliver, who had to flee her home outside Portland. “You have the protests, coronavirus pandemic, now the wildfires. What else can go wrong?”

Late Saturday, the Jackson County Sheriff’s office said that four people had died in the wildfire that burned in the Ashland area. Authorities earlier this week said as many as 50 people could be missing from the blaze. But they said the number of people unaccounted for is now down to one.

At least 10 people have been killed in the past week throughout Oregon. Officials have said more people are missing from other blazes, and the number of fatalities is likely to rise. Twenty-two people have died in California, and one person has been killed in Washington state.

Among the people killed was Millicent Catarancuic, who was found near her car at her five-acre home in Berry Creek, California. At one point she was ready to evacuate with her dogs and cats in the car. But she changed her mind as the winds seemed to calm and the flames stayed away.

Then the fire changed direction, rushing onto the property too quickly for her to leave. She died, along with her animals.

“I feel like, maybe when they passed, they had an army of cats and dogs with her to help her through it,” said her daughter, Holly Catarancuic.

George Coble lost everything just outside Mill City, Oregon — his fence-building business, five houses where his family lived and a collection of vintage cars, including a 1967 Mustang.

“We’ll just keep working and keep your head up and thank God everybody got out,” Coble said.

In a town nearby, Erik Tucker spent the day coated in ash and smudged with charcoal, hauling buckets of water through what remained of his neighborhood to douse hot spots.

“No power, debris everywhere, smoke, can’t breathe,” he said, the air thick with ash.

Fire-charred landscapes looked like bombed-out cities in Europe after World War II, with buildings reduced to charred rubble piled atop blackened earth. People caught in the wildfires died in an instant, overcome by flames or smoke as they desperately tried to escape.

The Democratic governors of all three states have said the fires are a consequence of global warming.

“We absolutely must act now to avoid a future defined by an unending barrage of tragedies like the one American families are enduring across the West today,” said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The dry, windy conditions that fed the flames in Oregon were probably a once-in-a-generation event, said Greg Jones, a professor and research climatologist at Linfield University in McMinnville. The warmer world can increase the likelihood of extreme events and contribute to their severity, he said.

There was some good news Saturday: The same smoke that painted California skies orange also helped crews corral the state’s deadliest blaze this year by blocking the sun, reducing temperatures and raising humidity.

Smoke created cooler conditions in Oregon as well. But it was also blamed for creating the dirtiest air in at least 35 years in some places, “literally off the charts,” the state’s environmental quality spokesperson, Laura Gleim, said.

In Portland, smoke filled the air with an acrid metallic scent like pennies. It was so thick that Ashley Kreitzer could not see the road when she headed to work as a driver for a ride-hailing service.

“I couldn’t even see 5 feet ahead of me,” she said. “I was panicking, I didn’t even know if I wanted to go out.”

People stuffed towels under door jambs to keep smoke out or wore N95 masks in their own homes.

Meanwhile, there was political turmoil as Oregon’s fire marshal was forced out while a half-million state residents were ordered to evacuate or warned to be ready to leave. Details were scarce on why he was put on leave, then resigned.

Xi, already roiling the Communist Party with a “rectification” campaign and mass persecution of foes, will launch “another brutal purge” following the Chinese army’s failures on the Indian border.

WASHINGTON: Describing Xi Jinping as the “architect” of the PLA’s recent aggressive moves against India, a leading US magazine has reported that the Chinese President has risked his future with the high-profile incursions into Indian territory that “unexpectedly flopped” in the face of ferocious fightback by the Indian Army.

Xi, 67, already roiling the Communist Party with a “rectification” campaign and mass persecution of foes, will launch “another brutal purge” following the Chinese army’s failures on the Indian border, the Newsweek said in an opinion piece

“Unfortunately for Xi, he is the “architect” of these aggressive moves into India and his People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has unexpectedly flopped.

The Chinese army’s failures on the Indian border will have consequences,” it said, adding that the recent developments give Xi an excuse to pick up the pace of replacing adversaries in the armed forces with loyal elements.

“More important, the failures motivate China’s aggressive ruler- who as chairman of the Party’s Central Military Commission, is the leader of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the ruling Communist Party of China – to launch another offensive against Indian positions,” the magazine warned.

Tensions escalated manifold along the LAC in eastern Ladakh after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details.

“China is thought to have suffered at least 43 deaths in the Galwan clash,” the magazine said.

Citing Cleo Paskal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, it said the number of Chinese killed could exceed 60.

“Indian troops fought back ferociously. Beijing won’t admit the extent of the debacle,” it said.

It said that late last month, for the first time in a half-century, India carried out an offensive against China, taking back high ground the Chinese recently grabbed.

“China’s forces were surprised when Indian troops mounted their attempt to retake strategic high points. Stunned Chinese soldiers retreated,” it said.

“China’s subsequent efforts to counter the Indian moves proved ineffective. At least for the moment, India’s troops, in the southernmost of the three areas of conflict, are in control of territory once in Chinese hands,” it added.

It said the PLA Ground Force can move against undefended targets.

However, it is not clear how effective it is in battle.

“The Ground Force does not have a track record of success in contested situations. Its last major engagement was in 1979 when, in the effort to ‘teach Vietnam a lesson,’ the Chinese troops were repelled and humiliated by their much smaller neighbour,” the magazine noted.

“India is not giving the invaders the opportunity to improve,” it said, adding that India’s troops are displaying “newfound boldness”.

“The game has changed,” Paskal said.

“You can say the Indians are more aggressive or more aggressively defensive, but they are in fact bolder and better.”

“The setback in the Himalayas poses problems for Xi, which means it poses a problem for everyone else,” it added.

It said that in China’s highly politicised system, the setbacks in Ladakh cannot be perceived as Xi’s fault, so he will almost surely purge elements of the military.

“PLA leaders begin to see little choice but to undertake offensive military actions to avoid becoming a victim of Xi’s internal terror,” said Richard Fisher of the Virginia-based International Assessment and Strategy Center.

The Indian Army and the PLA have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since early May.

Following fresh confrontation around the southern bank of the Pangong lake, India further bolstered its military presence in the region by sending additional troops, battle tanks and other weaponry.

Amidst the very tense situation in eastern Ladakh, India and China reached an agreement to resolve their border row at a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet.

The agreement included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management, and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

It also mentioned that the two sides should expedite work to conclude “new confidence-building measures” to enhance peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

However, the agreement has not mentioned any timeline for the disengagement of troops.