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Top news in India
March 21, 2020 at 11:00PM
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Coronavirus update in India Today
March 21, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Kevin Bacon talks Tom Hanks' coronavirus diagnosis, reveals they exchanged emails Kevin Bacon was just as surprised as the rest of the world to learn that his friend and fellow actor, Tom Hanks, tested positive for the coronavirus.
March 22, 2020 at 01:47AM
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Jordan Goes on Coronavirus Lockdown as Iran's Death Toll Mounts
Air raid sirens echoed across Jordan's capital on Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the region's worst outbreak.
The latest deaths bring Iran's overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials.
In one of the strictest measures yet, Jordan has ordered all shops to close and all people to stay off the streets until at least Tuesday, when it plans to announce specific times for shopping. Anyone caught violating the curfew faces up to one year in prison.
Several countries in the Middle East have closed schools, universities and nonessential businesses. Many are threatening fines or jail time to those caught violating the decrees.
Egypt announced that all museums and archaeological sites, including the famed pyramids at Giza, would be closed from Monday until the end of March. Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said authorities would sterilize all sites during the closure.
The council initially said the closure would begin Sunday before issuing a corrected statement.
Iran has been much slower to take action against the virus. It has urged people not to travel during the Persian New Year, a major national holiday, but many appear to be ignoring the guidance. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the number of cases has increased in many popular tourist destinations.
Iran has not ordered businesses to close, though many have done so on their own. Authorities only began closing popular religious pilgrimage sites earlier this week, long after the first virus cases were detected. There are concerns the country's healthcare infrastructure, weakened by severe U.S. sanctions, could be overwhelmed.
Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health problems.
More than 275,000 people have been infected worldwide. The virus has killed more than 11,000 people, while more than 88,000 have recovered.
Saturday is Mother's Day in the Middle East, and many took to social media to lament the fact that they would not be able to visit family members.
Iraq, which has reported 193 cases and 14 deaths, has struggled to maintain a weeklong curfew in Baghdad as religious pilgrims have continued to try to visit a major Shiite Muslim shrine in the capital.
The tiny, energy-rich nation of Qatar is warning citizens and residents to honor home quarantine rules. The state-run Qatar News Agency said authorities "captured 10 people" who broke the rules. It said those who disobey the orders could face prosecution.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian security forces arrested 20 Muslim preachers for allegedly violating a ban on holding Friday prayers, the Voice of Palestine reported. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has closed mosques and barred all group prayers.
Abdallah Kmail, the governor of Salfit, said a village in the northern West Bank was locked down after a man who returned from Pakistan and tested positive for the virus participated in prayers held in violation of the ban. The man was an adherent of Salafism, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam, Kmail told the Voice of Palestine.
The governor said 250 people from the village of Qarawa Bani Hassan will be tested Saturday.
The Palestinian Authority has reported 52 confirmed cases, including 17 who recovered. Jordan has reported 85 infections, including one who recovered. Qatar has reported 460 cases, including 10 who recovered.
Even the authorities in eastern Libya, who have yet to report any cases, suspended all public transportation and ordered the closure of nonessential businesses. The government there is allied with Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control much of the war-torn country.
In Egypt, which has reported 285 cases and eight deaths, there are growing calls for a more general lockdown.
Health Minister Hala Zayed urged the public to stay at home and practice social distancing after large crowds gathered for Friday prayers in different parts of the country.
Such gatherings "are very serious," she said in televised remarks late Friday. "People should do their part. It's not only their lives, but also the life of the community and the state itself."
Religious authorities have already restricted Friday prayers — which in normal circumstances can last an hour or more — to 15 minutes or less. They have also urged people to avoid mosques. On Saturday, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, suspended prayers and all congregations at the famed Cairo mosque for two weeks.
The Coptic Orthodox Church on Saturday announced the closure of all churches and cancelled all services and wedding parties. It said funeral possessions would be limited to the family of the deceased. The Catholic Church also cancelled all services in Egypt.
Coptic Christians make up around 10% of the population in Muslim-majority Egypt, which has smaller communities from other Christian denominations.
Lawmaker Mohammed Fouad called on the government to impose a curfew.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country, with more than 100 million people. Cairo, the capital, is one of the most densely populated cities on earth, with more than 20 million residents.
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Tucker Carlson: Burr had coronavirus info that might have helped people. He hid it and helped only himself Sen. Richard Burr hid what he knew about the coronavirus threat and then lied about it at length to the nation.
March 21, 2020 at 10:26PM
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Actor, Singer, 'The Gambler': Kenny Rogers Dies at 81
Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as "Lucille," "Lady" and "Islands in the Stream" and embraced his persona as "The Gambler" on record and on TV died Friday night. He was 81.
He died at home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, representative Keith Hagan told The Associated Press. He was under hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.
The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys and was the star of TV movies based on "The Gambler" and other songs, making him a superstar in the '70s and '80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer.
Rags to riches
"You either do what everyone else is doing and you do it better, or you do what no one else is doing and you don't invite comparison," Rogers told The Associated Press in 2015. "And I chose that way because I could never be better than Johnny Cash or Willie or Waylon at what they did. So I found something that I could do that didn't invite comparison to them. And I think people thought it was my desire to change country music. But that was never my issue."
A true rags-to-riches story, Rogers was raised in public housing in Houston Heights with seven siblings. As a 20-year-old, he had a gold single called "That Crazy Feeling," under the name Kenneth Rogers, but when that early success stalled, he joined a jazz group, the Bobby Doyle Trio, as a standup bass player.
But his breakthrough came when he was asked to join the New Christy Minstrels, a folk group, in 1966. The band reformed as First Edition and scored a pop hit with the psychedelic song, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." Rogers and First Edition mixed country-rock and folk on songs like "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town," a story of a Vietnam veteran begging his girlfriend to stay.
After the group broke up in 1974, Rogers started his solo career and found a big hit with the sad country ballad "Lucille," in 1977, which crossed over to the pop charts and earned Rogers his first Grammy. Suddenly the star, Rogers added hit after hit for more than a decade.
'The Gambler'
"The Gambler," the Grammy-winning story song penned by Don Schlitz, came out in 1978 and became his signature song with a signature refrain: "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." The song spawned a hit TV movie of the same name and several more sequels featuring Rogers as professional gambler Brady Hawkes, and led to a lengthy side career for Rogers as a TV actor and host of several TV specials.
Other hits included "You Decorated My Life," "Every Time Two Fools Collide" with Dottie West, "Don't Fall In Love with a Dreamer" with Kim Carnes, and "Coward of the County." One of his biggest successes was "Lady," written by Lionel Richie, a chart topper for six weeks straight in 1980. Richie said in a 2017 interview with the AP that he often didn't finish songs until he had already pitched them, which was the case for "Lady."
"In the beginning, the song was called, 'Baby,'" Richie said. "And because when I first sat with him, for the first 30 minutes, all he talked about was he just got married to a real lady. A country guy like him is married to a lady. So, he said, 'By the way, what's the name of the song?'" Richie replies: "Lady."
Duets with Dolly
Over the years, Rogers worked often with female duet partners, most memorably, Dolly Parton. The two were paired at the suggestion of the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb, who wrote "Islands in the Stream."
"Barry was producing an album on me and he gave me this song," Rogers told the AP in 2017. "And I went and learned it and went into the studio and sang it for four days. And I finally looked at him and said, 'Barry, I don't even like this song anymore.' And he said, 'You know what we need? We need Dolly Parton.' I thought, 'Man, that guy is a visionary.'"
Coincidentally, Parton was actually in the same recording studio in Los Angeles when the idea came up.
"From the moment she marched into that room, that song never sounded the same," Rogers said. "It took on a whole new spirit."
The two singers toured together, including in Australia and New Zealand in 1984 and 1987, and were featured in a HBO concert special. Over the years the two would continue to record together, including their last duet, "You Can't Make Old Friends," which was released in 2013. Parton reprised "Islands in the Stream" with Rogers during his all-star retirement concert held in Nashville in October 2017.
Rogers invested his time and money in a lot of other endeavors over his career, including a passion for photography that led to several books, as well as an autobiography, "Making It With Music." He had a chain of restaurants called "Kenny Rogers Roasters," and was a partner behind a riverboat in Branson, Missouri. He was also involved in numerous charitable causes, among them the Red Cross and MusicCares, and was part of the all-star "We are the World" recording for famine relief.
A brief comeback
By the '90s, his ability to chart hits had waned, although he still remained a popular live entertainer with regular touring. Still he was an inventive businessman and never stopped trying to find his way back onto the charts.
At the age of 61, Rogers had a brief comeback on the country charts in 2000 with a hit song "Buy Me A Rose," thanks to his other favorite medium, television. Producers of the series "Touched By An Angel" wanted him to appear in an episode, and one of his managers suggested the episode be based on his latest single. That cross-promotional event earned him his first No. 1 country song in 13 years.
Rogers' family is planning a private service "out of concern for the national COVID-19 emergency," a statement posted early Saturday read. A public memorial will be held at a later date.
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Jenna Laine
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North Korea Launches More Ballistic Missiles, Even During Pandemic
North Korea has test-fired what appear to be two short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said Saturday.
The weapons were fired from North Pyongan province and splashed into the sea off North Korea's east coast, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It is not clear what kind of missiles were tested or how far they traveled. But Japan's defense ministry said the weapons were not estimated to have fallen in Japan's territory or exclusive economic zone.
North Korea has conducted three rounds of short-range rocket tests this month, even while fighting off a potentially disastrous coronavirus outbreak.
Everything's fine?
Pyongyang, which has called coronavirus prevention a matter of "national survival," has reported no infections. Even as cases swell across the globe, North Korea is in some ways projecting an image of normality.
This month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has observed multiple "artillery fire competitions" between Korean People's Army units. In state media photos, Kim has not worn a mask, though top officials around him sometimes do.
In what appears to be another show of confidence in its ability to handle the pandemic, North Korea on Saturday announced it would go ahead with a major meeting of hundreds of political leaders. The Korean Central News Agency reported the plenary session of the Supreme People's Assembly would be held April 10.
North Korea attempted to seal its borders to keep out the coronavirus in late January, just after the outbreak emerged in neighboring China. That move foreshadowed the severe immigration restrictions later seen in countries around the world. But completely sealing North Korea's borders would be difficult, since its economy relies on both formal and informal trade with China. Many experts say the coronavirus has almost certainly reached North Korea.
Humanitarian aid
A North Korean outbreak could quickly lead to a humanitarian disaster, since the country lacks adequate medical supplies and infrastructure. Global aid agencies have begun supplying medical aid to North Korea, though the process has been complicated by international sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week said Washington has offered humanitarian help to North Korea amid the crisis. Pompeo said it was the "right thing to do," despite "deep differences" between Washington and Pyongyang.
Stalled talks
Even before the outbreak, U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks had been stalled for months. North Korea has boycotted the talks, after the U.S. refused to meet its demand of sanctions relief and other concessions.
As negotiations broke down in 2019, North Korea began a series of regular, short-range missile and artillery tests.
Analysts say the missile tests may be designed to keep up pressure on the U.S. or may serve as a show of strength for a domestic audience. Another reason: North Korea is simply trying to produce more advanced weapons.
North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under U.N. Security Council resolutions. But U.S. President Donald Trump says he is not concerned about North Korea's short-range tests. Trump has not responded to the latest launches, but earlier this month said he had "no reaction" to what he called "short-term missiles."
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US Central Bank Pulling Out Stops to Try to Calm Market Amid Coronavirus Crisis
As the global coronavirus pandemic wreaks economic destruction around the world, the U.S. government has taken a number of dramatic steps to keep money moving through the U.S. economy.
The Treasury Department on Friday announced that it would postpone the deadline for filing 2019 income taxes to July 15, from April 15. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates and taken a number of steps that will allow it to continue pushing money into the hands of businesses and individual borrowers through all means available — some of which it has not yet activated.
So far, the Fed's actions have done little to calm the stock market, which in the past week has wiped out the record gains achieved since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. But the Fed and the Treasury still have a few more financial and monetary tools at their disposal to try to still the panic of investors.
The Treasury Department's decision to delay the tax filing deadline could ease liquidity pressure on businesses and individuals who will be hit hard by the economic contraction the United States will inevitably suffer in the coming weeks and perhaps months.
Similar tactics from 2007-08 crisis
Many of the moves the Fed has made so far to respond to the crisis will be broadly familiar to people who remember how the central bank handled the fallout of the 2007-08 financial crisis. The Fed kept interest rates as low as possible and launched a bond-buying program that was designed to help ensure that there was no cash shortage in the marketplace.
In that vein, the Fed announced on March 15 that it would cut the target for its benchmark interest rate to a range of zero to 0.25% and would purchase as much as $700 billion in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities in the coming months.
The ultra-low interest rate target will be a familiar one to most market participants, because it matches the level at which the Fed held rates for roughly seven years after the financial crisis, from late 2008 to late 2015. The rate change brings the U.S. central bank more closely in line with its European counterparts, some of which have had effectively negative rates since well before the onset of the novel coronavirus.
A return to 'quantitative easing'
The bond-buying program effectively restarts the program of "quantitative easing" that the Fed pursued throughout the recovery from the financial crisis. By entering the market and buying up securities, the Fed will put further downward pressure on interest rates at the same time that it is pumping cash into the economy, both of which are meant to stimulate economic activity.
In addition, the Fed is reducing the rates at which it lends to banks through its "discount window" to 0.25% and extending the maturity of those loans to 90 days, in order to assure financial institutions across the country that they will have access to liquidity if and when they need it. The central bank also gave banks express permission to use their capital and liquidity buffers – funds held to protect against unexpected losses – to extend credit to borrowers in need of cash.
Big banks turn to the Fed
Early in the week, eight of the nation's largest banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, announced that they would borrow from the Fed – a move that will give smaller banks confidence to follow suit. In the past, banks have been reluctant to access the discount window, because investors viewed it as a sign of weakness.
In announcing its actions early in the week, the Fed issued a statement saying that the U.S. economy "came into this challenging period on a strong footing" and that the central bank is prepared to take further action if necessary. "The Federal Reserve is prepared to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses and thereby promote its maximum employment and price stability goals."
It also signaled to investors that the drastic measures are not a short-term measure. "The committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals."
Other Fed tools
While slashing interest rates and buying bonds are the most obvious weapons the Fed has at this time, there are a few other things in the central bank's arsenal. This week it announced a series of other moves meant to help stabilize the economy against the expected shock when businesses are forced to close down in order to avoid spreading the virus.
On Wednesday, the Fed announced that in conjunction with the Treasury Department, it would launch a Commercial Paper Funding Facility, which will allow businesses to retain access to short-term funding and provide liquidity for the money market funds where many Americans keep some of their savings. At the same time, it announced the launch of a Primary Dealer Credit Facility, another way of providing liquidity to large financial institutions.
Assisting other central banks
On Thursday, the central bank announced that it was establishing a Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, which will make it easier for commercial banks to push cash into money market funds by purchasing assets held by those funds. At the same time, the Fed announced that it had expanded a program that allows other central banks around the world to trade their own currency for dollars in order to keep the global flow of dollars – in which many international transactions are denominated – flowing smoothly.
On Friday, the Fed announced an expansion of its program to ensure the flow of dollars through international markets, through a joint agreement with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to increase the frequency of dollar swap transactions.
Also on Friday, the central bank signaled that it would extend the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility to include financing for asset purchases from state and tax-exempt municipal funds.
Pushing interest rates below zero
Looking further ahead, there are a few more things the Fed could consider doing. Other central banks, primarily in Europe, have pushed interest rates below zero – effectively charging a fee rather than interest on deposits.
Other central banks have also launched programs that tie long-term low-cost funding to specific kinds of loans, such as those made to small businesses and individuals. Alternatively, the Fed could provide funding for those loans by accepting asset-backed securities based on them as collateral.
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Reporter's Notebook: Paris Under Lockdown
Like many Parisians who could, I fled the capital on Day One of the coronavirus lockdown. Green space, even a garden, sounded a whole lot better than being stuck in a small apartment for weeks and maybe more.
As people packed train stations, desperate to join family in the countryside, I headed out by bike to the Paris suburb of Neuilly Plaisance. My boyfriend and cats awaited. So did a garden sprouting spring flowers.
I crossed a deserted capital. Gone were the tourists, the aggressive motorbikes, the insouciant teens on skateboards, the families toting tots and baguettes — the cocktail of daily life here.
Homeless people wandered empty sidewalks. A few joggers coasted down carless streets — although tougher government guidelines issued since are further limiting our movements to just a few blocks.
I biked through the Bois de Vincennes where, in normal times, strollers and prostitutes peacefully coexist. Both were absent. Then I pedaled along the Marne River, teeming with birds clearly enjoying the absence of humans.
The government has issued strict coronavirus rules. No going out without an authorization that fits a few narrow criteria: to buy essentials like medication or food; to go to a doctor; to take a brief stroll or run. Violators risk a hefty, $140-plus fine.
As a journalist, I am lucky. I can go out for reporting, which is considered a "vital" activity. Even so, most days are spent at home.
Cruelly, the weather under lockdown has been spectacular. After weeks of rain, sunny day has followed sunny day.
And this being France, with a healthy history of flouting authority, people quickly learned to stretch the new restrictions. Police have already handed out thousands of fines.
Still, many French are following orders, sobered by President Emmanuel Macron's warning of this invisible, deadly enemy. They wait in snaking lines in front of supermarkets and still-open boulangeries — the daily baguette considered as vital as water.
They stay home, trying to juggle tending to out-of-school kids with working remotely. They remain hooked to the news, with the ever-growing coronavirus cases and deaths reported.
We are lucky; we are together, still healthy, with no extra demands beyond a pair of hungry cats. We have a pile of books to read. My boyfriend, a sports doctor, has decided to use his shortened work days to learn electric guitar. Friends and family are setting up Skype and Zoom sessions to stay in touch.
"Relearn what is essential," Macron urged the nation as he announced the lockdown March 16, advising French to use their time in confinement to tighten bonds and explore new subjects.
Maybe we will emerge a kinder, wiser nation — although this is also a nation of skeptics.
Still, at 8 p.m. precisely, French are increasingly throwing open their windows to applaud the country's overstretched health workers.
Now there are "balcony concerts." Last night, we, too, cracked open a window. And down the silent suburban street came the sound of clapping.
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Kidnapped, Blindfolded, Tossed in Jail: An Azerbaijani Reporter's Exclusive Tale
On the day that he was abducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli said he thought he would be killed. Instead, his captors drove him blindfolded to the Azerbaijan border and handed him to authorities, who charged Mukhtarli with crossing the border illegally and sentenced him to six years in prison.
The journalist's case shows the extreme lengths to which Azerbaijani authorities appear willing to go to retaliate against their critics.
In his first media interview since his early release from prison on March 17, Mukhtarli told VOA's Azeri service about how he was abducted in Georgia — to which he and his family had fled in 2014 — and jailed for nearly three years in Azerbaijan.
Speaking from Germany, Mukhtarli appeared relieved and calm as he recounted his experiences and disputed the government's account that he crossed the border illegally.
"The Azeri government spent a lot of money to kidnap me. They spent a lot of money to disperse Azerbaijani activists in Georgia," Mukhtarli said.
The journalist recalled how, in an interview with VOA's Azerbaijani service before his abduction and arrest, he had said the Azeri government was following activists in Georgia.
"[The] Azerbaijani government spends millions of dollars to go after its opponents in Georgia and abroad," Mukhtarli said.
Mukhtarli, who was a freelancer for Meydan TV, had fled to Georgia after receiving threats over his work. He'd reported critically on the Azerbaijani government, including allegations of corruption.
Before his disappearance and arrest, he was investigating the finances of the family of President Ilham Aliyev for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the BBC reported.
On the night of his abduction, Mukhtarli said he was in downtown Tbilisi, where several government buildings are located. He said the people who took him captive wore Georgian police uniforms.
"I initially thought they were going to murder me and blame it on robbers. I asked them to use a gun. Instead, they told me that they would hand me over to the Azerbaijani security forces," Mukhtarli said. "I was driven blindfolded to the Lagodekhi border post where I was handed over to the border patrol in the Azerbaijani region of Balaken."
The journalist said that the Azerbaijani officers who took him into custody later testified against him in court.
"This incident has affected Georgia's image as a law-abiding country," Mukhtarli said.
"The Georgian officials were persuaded by the Azeri government that my abduction would not cause too much ruckus. But they were proven to be wrong thanks to the international attention."
In a statement emailed to VOA on March 18, the Azerbaijan Embassy in Washington said that Mukhtarli "was detained while trying to illegally cross the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia."
The embassy has not yet responded to VOA's request for further comment on the situation.
Mukhtarli spent nearly three years in prison in Azerbaijan. He'd been sentenced to six years on the border-crossing charge and for allegedly bringing in contraband.
On Tuesday, his imprisonment ended when a court ordered his release and Mukhtarli was able to fly to Germany and reunite with his wife and daughter.
"The Azerbaijani government released me on the condition that I would not stay in Azerbaijan," Mukhtarli said. "I was hastily driven to the airport 15 minutes after the snap trial, where my own lawyers did not participate. I was greeted by representatives of the German Embassy, flown to Moscow and then to Berlin."
His wife left Georgia for Germany in October 2017. In an interview with Index on Censorship last year, Leyla Mustafayeva said she believed she was being stalked. Mustafayeva, who is also a journalist, said she filed a complaint with Georgia police but they did not investigate.
Responding to a question about Mukhtarli's abduction at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in April, Georgia's Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said that an investigation into whether Georgia was involved was ongoing.
Stefan Schennach, the PACE co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, said the Azeri government was ignoring the issue.
Azerbaijan has extradited or attempted to arrest at least four other journalists and bloggers living overseas, including from Turkey and Ukraine, according to reports and rights groups.
The U.S. State Department report on human rights in Azerbaijan noted "multiple reports of government abuse of international law enforcement tools, such as Interpol, in attempts to detain expatriate activists."
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported in 2017 that between 2012 and 2014, Azerbaijan's leaders used a multibillion-euro slush fund to target critics. The OCCRP reported that over 90 journalists, activists and critics were jailed on politically motivated charges during the same period.
"Unlike the Georgian government, the Azerbaijani government is no longer concerned about its image abroad. Many in Europe recognize it as a dictatorship," Mukhtarli said.
Gulnoza Said, the head of CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program, told VOA, "Azerbaijan authorities have for years cracked down on independent media by harassing, jailing, surveilling journalists and forcing them into exile where harassment often continues."
She added, "Mukhtarli's release came after a lot of international pressure. However, other journalists are still languishing in jail simply for doing their job — reporting. Injustice continues in their cases."
People responsible for Mukhtarli's abduction in Georgia and unlawful imprisonment in Azerbaijan have not been held accountable, she said.
Now that he is free, Mukhtarli said he intends to raise the fates of other Azerbaijani journalists.
They include Mehman Galandarov, a blogger who was found dead in a prison cell in 2017. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Institute of Peace and Democracy, have described his death as suspicious.
"I intend to bring this matter to light," Mukhtarli said.
This story originated in VOA's Azeri service.
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US Moves to Further Isolate Itself Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
The United States is moving to further isolate itself from the world amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico will close to nonessential travelers from midnight on Saturday.
"All of those measures that we're putting in place will protect the health of all three nations and reduce the incentive for a mass global migration that would badly deplete the health care resources needed for our people," President Donald Trump said Friday.
The announcement came a day after the State Department issued an unprecedented global Level 4 travel advisory warning Americans not to travel abroad and for those in other countries to return immediately unless they plan to stay outside the United States for an extended period time.
A nationwide internal lockdown is not under consideration, Trump told reporters.
"I don't think we'll ever find that necessary," said the president.
The border restrictions will last as long as needed to protect the American people, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, alongside Trump.
"Let me be clear that neither of these agreements with Canada or Mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce. Essential commercial activities will not be impacted," said Chad Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary. "We will continue to maintain a strong and secure economic supply chain across our borders."
The president, in response to questions from reporters, said the Defense Production Act, which he invoked this week, is now being used to secure ventilators, masks and other critical equipment for health workers.
There was a clear difference of opinion at the briefing between the president and one of his coronavirus task force members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, about whether a drug called chloroquine should be quickly dispensed to COVID-19 patients.
The immunologist, who is the head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, twice attempted to caution that it was premature to call the anti-malarial safe and effective for treating COVID-19 patients.
Reports of the medicine helping coronavirus patients get better in China and Australia are "anecdotal. It was not done in a controlled clinical trial. So you really can't make any definitive statement about it," said Fauci.
Trump insisted that he had "a feeling" that the drug would work and "we sure as hell ought to give it a try."
The president also used the briefing to again verbalize his concerns about the loyalty to his administration among career bureaucrats.
The president, with his secretary of state on the podium, called for Pompeo to take additional questions from reporters before he returned to the "Deep State Department."
Asked about whether it was appropriate to besmirch his department at a time thousands of U.S. foreign service officers are working at the State Department and in missions abroad during this crisis, Pompeo replied: "I've worked with the president for three years now. I know how much he values the people on my team."
Trump then chimed in: "What a good answer. Very true, too."
Interactions with reporters
Trump, during the 93-minute briefing, also lashed out at reporters.
Asked by NBC's Peter Alexander what he would say to the millions of Americans who are scared, Trump replied: "I say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I say," calling it a nasty question from a sensationalist journalist.
Later, Yamiche Alcindor of PBS's NewsHour got a testy response from the president after she asked when would everyone in the United States "who needs a coronavirus test be able to get a test?"
"No one is talking about this except you, which doesn't surprise me," responded the president.
When the journalist pressed him specifically about those with coronavirus symptoms who could not get a test, Trump said: "Yeah, well, OK. I'm not— I'm not hearing it."
Trump also responded to a pair of questions from his former press secretary, Sean Spicer, who occupied a briefing room chair shared by two conservative media outlets: One America News and Newsmax.
Spicer, who began co-hosting an evening show on Newsmax earlier this month, asked about concern among small businesses nationwide that they have "weeks, not months," to survive amid a shutdown due to the pandemic.
Spicer also queried Trump about whether he was "concerned about members of Congress using information they learned from updates to sell stocks and profit off" that information.
"I don't know too much about what it's about," replied Trump to the second question. "But I find them to all be very honorable people. That's all I know. And they said they did nothing wrong."
Trump told reporters he had a positive telephone conversation in the morning with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about the next phase of a coronavirus economic relief package.
"We had a wonderful conversation. We both want to get to a good solution," said the president. "Seeing people that weren't speaking, getting along well, because we all have one common aim, and that's to get rid of this invisible enemy, get rid of it fast."
In excess of 15,000 people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 200 have died of COVID-19.
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NASA's Hubble space telescope spots quasar tsunamis ripping across galaxies NASA's Hubble space telescope has helped astronomers spot quasar tsunamis ripping across galaxies.
March 21, 2020 at 01:18AM
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Global Coronavirus Death Toll Passes 10,000
The global death toll for the coronavirus pandemic as it spreads around the world has surpassed 10,000 people. COVID-19 has infected more than 244,500 people.
In the United States, California Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday ordered the 40 million residents of the west coast state to stay home as part of the battle against the disease.
Newsom issued the mandate following the deaths of 19 people and 958 people who tested positive for the coronavirus in California.
The lockdown for the entire state followed a Los Angeles County order earlier Thursday that shut down all the county's shopping malls, nonessential retail stores and playgrounds.
Newsom asked Congress Thursday for $1 billion in federal funds to pay for expected medical costs related to the disease.
On Wednesday, the California governor wrote to President Donald Trump asking for the Navy's hospital ship to be deployed to the port of Los Angeles for the expected surge in infected patients
Ground zero shifts to Italy
Meanwhile, Italy is now ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic, surpassing China as the country with the most deaths.
As of Thursday, Italian officials report 3,405 coronavirus deaths while China's death toll stood at 3,248.
Over the last two days, Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began in December, is reporting no new cases for the first time. Wuhan is the capital of China's Hubei province.
Italy and Hubei province imposed total lockdowns to stop the spread; however, Italy has a large elderly population and those 65 and older are highly susceptible to the coronavirus.
Thirty-four new cases were reported elsewhere in mainland China Thursday. Authorities say people who came from other countries were infected.
South Korea reported 152 new cases Thursday, a setback after reporting fewer than 100 new cases for four days in a row. South Korea is the hardest-hit Asian country outside China.
Another hard-hit country, Germany, reported a jump of 2,800 new cases Thursday. Officials there say coronavirus could strike as many as 10 million Germans unless proper precautions are taken, including social distancing.
Spain has closed all hotels and turned a four-star inn in Madrid into a makeshift hospital.
In France, one of the world's most anticipated entertainment events, the Cannes Film Festival, has been postponed from May until possibly July.
Prince Albert of Monaco tests positive
Prince Albert of Monaco is the first head of state with a confirmed case of coronavirus.
New Zealand and Australia are closing their shores to all foreign visitors.
In North America, Mexico reported its first coronavirus death Thursday.
US Congressmen infected
Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and Democrat Ben McAdams, are the first members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus. Both are in self-quarantine.
Late Thursday, a federal judge in Seattle rejected an appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union to free nine illegal migrants who the ACLU says are at risk for coronavirus because of their age and other health problems.
The judge said he is fully aware of the seriousness of the outbreak but said there is no evidence of the virus at the holding center and said conditions are adequate.
Opera fans will have to do without their Puccini and Wagner for a while. New York's Metropolitan Opera is canceling the rest of its season because of the outbreak.