LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 25/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
The angel Gabriel Delivers the Godly Message To Virgin Mary
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/26-38/:”In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 24-25/2020
Assassinations resume in Lebanon, against old foes of Hezbollah/Dr. Walid Phares/March 22/2020
Coronavirus: Lebanon records 37 new cases bringing total to 304
Hariri Hospital: Three patients have completely recovered, 64 confirmed cases remain in isolation
Aoun Holds Video Talks with RHUH, Red Cross Crews
Presidency Denies Aoun Opposed to Declaring Emergency for Political Reasons
Berri Says State of Emergency Must Be 'Instantly' Declared
Cabinet concludes meeting, Abdel Samad stresses strict measures to counter coronavirus epidemic
Diab meets Banking Association delegation
Musharafieh chairs meeting of technical committee in charge of following up on urgent social affairs
Foreign Minister receives call from German counterpart, stresses need to provide aid to poor families
Information Minister: PM Diab stresses state's duty to help citizens, people’s need to show social solidarity
Othman meets new U.S. Ambassador
Jumblatt reiterates call for state of emergency
IMF sees a recession at least as bad as global financial crisis
Report: Lebanese Army Receives Military 'Gift' from France
ABL Unveils $6 Million Grant to Fight Coronavirus
Geagea Denies Having Coronavirus, Says Taking Precautions
Kataeb Party Stresses Need to Declare a State of Emergency, Says Curfew Not Enough
Hariri Lauds China's Efforts against Coronavirus
Jumblat Urges Economic Plan alongside Coronavirus Measures
Chidiac Says She Tested Positive for Coronavirus
Lebanese industrialists and engineers to start manufacturing ventilators locally/Tala Ramadan/Annahar/March 24/2020
Jihad Azour, the IMF Mideast and Central Asia department director sees Middle East facing 'big drop in growth this year'
The desperate final days of a domestic worker in Lebanon/Timour Azhari/Al Hazeera/March 24/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 24-25/2020
Pope calls on Christians to direct prayers toward Heaven
Priest Who gave Respirator To Young Patient Dies/Coronavirus: Giuseppe Berardelli among 50 priests killed
US Department Of State/Iran: COVID-19 DISINFORMATION FACT-SHEET
Coronavirus: Iran’s death toll reaches 1,934, total cases 24,811
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards founding member Habib Barzegari dies of coronavirus
Trump Warns Coronavirus Shutdown Could 'Destroy a Country'
G20 Video Talks on Coronavirus Set for Thursday
French Coronavirus Lockdown Should Last 'at Least 6 Weeks', Govt. Advisers Say
On the 10th Day of Lockdown, Madrid Shaken by Deaths
Israel Right-Wing Parties Boycott Parliament Re-Opening
U.N. Calls for Syria Ceasefire to Tackle Virus Threat
At Least 70 Nigerian Soldiers Killed in Jihadist Ambush
Three US sailors on aircraft carrier test positive

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 24-25/2020
How Canada approved an Assad loyalist to serve the country’s terrorized Syrian refugees
Amanda Coletta/The Washington Post/March 24/2020
US, UAE troops hold major exercise amid virus, Iran tensions/Jon Gambrell/AP/March 24/2020
New Iraqi Prime Minister-Designate Poses Threat to Iran, Opportunity for U.S/John Hannah/FDD/March 24/2020
Iran manoeuvres to get US sanctions lifted by rejecting US, international help/Thomas Seibert/The Arab Weekly/March 24/2020
What are millions of refugees to do in this pandemic if we do not help them?/Kareem Shaheen/The National/March 24/2020
Presidential election to decide which path US takes on Iran/Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/March 24/2020
World needs a plan to prevent post-virus economic chaos/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/March 24/2020
Coronavirus Could Very Well Slow by the Summer/David Fickling/Bloomberg/March 24/2020
Coronavirus Triggers the Worst Market Crash Since 1987/Mark Gongloff/Bloomberg/March 24/2020
How Iran Became a Global Vector of Infection for COVID-19/The authoritarian theocracy faces specific challenges in dealing with the coronavirus/Noam Blum/The Tablet/March 24/2020
Coronavirus: Should the U.S. Lift Sanctions on Iran?/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 24/2020
Turkey: Violence against Women Continues to Escalate/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute./March 24/ 2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 24-25/2020
Assassinations resume in Lebanon, against old foes of Hezbollah
Dr. Walid Phares/March 22/2020
We’ve learned that Antoine Hayek, a shopkeeper in Mye-Mye town in East Saida, was assassinated today. He was allegedly an ex assistant to US citizen Amer Fakhoury who was recently repatriated by the US Government back to America after being jailed for six months in Lebanon for having served as a member of the defunct South Lebanon Army. SLA. Hayek has allegedly served under Fakhoury before 2000 in south Lebanon, during the war between the SLA and US designated terror group Hezbollah.
This assassination took place just few days after the US military extracted Fakhoury from Lebanon. Social media supporting Hezbollah is hailing this murder as a retaliation against what they describe as an “agent” of Israel, but had lived in Lebanon peacefully for the last 20 years.
Early assessment indicate that Hayek was killed in retaliation to the repatriation of Fakhoury to the US, to satisfy heavy criticism by many followers and members of Hezbollah against the liberation of Fakhoury. The cold blood assassination of a Lebanese citizen living under the protection of the state, is endangering thousands of Lebanese civilians originating from the south, who live across the country.
Some believe this is also a message to the US that if Washington protects its citizens in Lebanon, it cannot protect the friends and relatives of its citizens. This is a dangerous development, which eventually will have consequences.
The assassinations between 2005 and 2008 are not forgotten. There an International Tribunal prosecuting one major crime. Now there is a Corona virus challenge, but after the challenge is over, justice will continue to march.
Dr. Walid Phares/My take on the face off between Hezbollah and the Lebanese American community, under Trump: Lebanese-Americans and their friends in the US are not intimidated by the Iranian backed militia, do not support its agenda and work on implementing UNSCR 1559 to disarm the militia and back the Lebanese Army, as much as they can. Lebanon’s war between militias is over. The war with Palestinian organizations is over. The war with Syria’s regime and Israel is over. What is not over is Hezbollah’s endless war against all other people.

Coronavirus: Lebanon records 37 new cases bringing total to 304
Joanne Serrieh, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Lebanon recorded a total of 304 coronavirus cases after a new 37 infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry. A state of health emergency was declared last week initiating a two-week lockdown as part of the country’s efforts to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International airport was shut down in addition to the sea and land ports. Businesses were also ordered to close, with the exception of food supply stores. Gatherings in public and private places were banned as well.Residents are required to stay home except for urgent trips. No curfew has been announced.

Hariri Hospital: Three patients have completely recovered, 64 confirmed cases remain in isolation
NNA /Tuesday 24 March 2020
The Rafic Hariri University Hospital issued its daily report on the latest coronavirus developments. It read as follows: "The total number of laboratory cases -- confirmed to be infected with coronavirus and isolated at the hospital's quarantine unit -- has reached 64, of which 6 were transferred from other hospitals.Three patients have fully recovered, testing negative twice and showing no more symptoms of the disease. All those infected with coronavirus are receiving the necessary care in the isolation unit, and their condition is stable except for three patients who remain in critical condition. To find out the number of infections on all Lebanese territories, please follow the daily report issued by the Ministry of Public Health."

Aoun Holds Video Talks with RHUH, Red Cross Crews
Naharnet/March 24/2020
President Michel Aoun on Tuesday followed up on the work of the crews of the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital and the Lebanese Red Cross in the face of the coronavirus crisis and heard their concerns and demands, the National News Agency said.
The talks between Aoun and the two sides occurred through separate video calls via the Skype application, NNA said. The president assessed their situations and readiness against the coronavirus pandemic and hailed “the efforts that the medical body in Lebanon and the Red Cross volunteers are carry out in order to triumph over the pandemic and safeguard the safety and health of the Lebanese,” the agency added. “Today, you are the source of reassurance for the Lebanese. Your efforts are sacred because you give unconditionally and risk your lives. Today only a few people are subjecting themselves to danger like you are doing,” Aoun told the crews. Lebanon has so far confirmed 304 coronavirus cases among them four deaths and eight recoveries. It has declared a so-called state of general mobilization in bid to limit the spread of the virus.

Presidency Denies Aoun Opposed to Declaring Emergency for Political Reasons
Naharnet/March 24/2020
The Presidency on Tuesday issued a statement in which it denied claims that President Michel Aoun is opposed to declaring a state of emergency over coronavirus for political considerations. “All information and stances attributed to the president are totally baseless and aimed at harming the unity of constitutional, executive and military institutions, especially the army,” the Presidency said. Slamming the allegations as “cheap incitement,” the Presidency said those launching them are seeking to drive a wedge between Aoun and certain institutions. “This will not happen, because laws govern the relation between the president and the rest of the state institutions,” it emphasized. “Enough with manipulation and toxicity, because the country can no longer withstand such vengeful adventures and policies or the settling of personal scores,” the Presidency added. Media reports had claimed that Aoun and his political party are opposed to tasking the army with enforcing the state of emergency over reasons related to the presidential chances of its commander General Joseph Aoun. The government has declared a so-called state of "general mobilization" in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and not a state of emergency or a curfew. The Free Patriotic Movement on Monday said it supports the government in its decision to declare a "health emergency" rather than a "security or military state of emergency," noting that "the declaration of a state of emergency has legal and procedural requirements that obligate the State to secure people’s livelihood, issue permissions to leave houses and find ways to penalize violators."

Berri Says State of Emergency Must Be 'Instantly' Declared
Naharnet/March 24/2020
Speaker Nabih Berri said he deliberated with Prime Minister Hassan Diab the need to declare a state of emergency over coronavirus fears which has become a necessity in light of an increase in the number of people infected with the virus, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.
Berri said that Diab had vowed, during their talks on Saturday, he would declare a state of emergency, “but I do not know why this decision has not been taken yet,” said Berri. “The situation is unbearable, a state of emergency must be immediately and urgently declared,” he emphasized, likening the “general mobilization” state announced last week by the government to a “light emergency.”“Measures must be strict to the utmost extent in obliging citizens to adhere to orders similar to what is applied in the countries of the world, at least a curfew must be imposed,” said Berri.
“The government’s responsibility is to strive to secure the people's need for food, medicine and unconditional aid, especially for the poorest,” he concluded.

Cabinet concludes meeting, Abdel Samad stresses strict measures to counter coronavirus epidemic
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Following are the Cabinet meeting decisions read by Minister of Information, Manal Abdel Samad:
Prime Minister Hassan Diab first pointed out that strict measures to counter coronavirus epidemic, which began on Sunday, have clearly increased people’s level of commitment in most regions of the country, adding that it is important to continue implementing these measures in order to ensure that the situation does not get out of hand, although in many areas the commitment has been relatively weak. Therefore, it is essential that military and security forces impose more stringent measures in areas where commitment remains incomplete.
He then underlined: “there have been several and repeated calls for the declaration of a state of emergency, my answer is my call to read the law and relevant statement of reasons.”
Regarding the other aspect of the measures, it is our duty to find a way to help people whose work has been disrupted as a result of confinement, and to look into their difficult social and living conditions.
Of course, it is the duty of the State to help people. That is what we have to do. But at the same time, social cohesion among Lebanese people is particularly essential. Throughout history, the Lebanese have shown cooperation and solidarity in situations of danger.
Today we are facing a new type of crisis. However, I am confident that we will overcome it with the least possible losses, and we will work our way out of the crisis through cooperation and solidarity.
PM also called the Ministers to take decisions within each ministry to suspend payment at maturity, and to postpone the payment of duties and taxes related to electricity, water, telephones, social security fund, mechanic and judicial taxes.
The main decisions that were taken:
An urgent draft law for non-imposing the value-added tax (VAT) for a period of six months, on donations made to public administrations, public institutions, and municipalities, funded from sources in Lebanon as a result of the spread of the coronavirus.
An urgent draft law for suspending some provisions of Article 32 of the Budget Law 2020, allowing all public institutions, municipalities, unions of municipalities, councils, funds, independent professions, and persons under the public law to spend, contribute, or finance, either in cash or in kind, donations to any public or private body, provided that this money is exclusively given to secure health or food aids of all kinds in the face of the emerging coronavirus, and it will not be spent or allocated to any other party. The Cabinet also decided to reduce tariffs on the international, local and additional hours required from internet, as well as DSP and ISP carriers companies, exceptionally and for a limited period, to their subscribers under the general mobilization conditions for coronavirus (after consulting with the State Council).
The Cabinet decided to extend until June 3rd, 2020, the provisions of Decree No. 6036 of December 23, 2019, related to the extension of the effect of the clearance issued by the National Social Security Fund.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs discussed Lebanese students' affairs abroad, and means of providing them in-kind and material assistance, and he will submit a social assistance plan for them.
The Minister of Social Affairs presented the Ministry's work plan, which he is also discussing during the meeting of the Technical Committee in charge of following up on urgent issues related to social affairs, in order to submit urgent recommendations and practical and quick steps that meet urgent needs. As for the Capital Control project, the Ministers' remarks were taken into account, and discussions will continue to complete this project. -- Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Diab meets Banking Association delegation
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab met this morning with President of the Banking Association, Salim Sfeir, in the presence of General Mohammad Kheir, Head of the Higher Rescue Committee, members of the Association Nadim Kassar, Chahdan Jbeily, Antoine Habib, and PM advisors Lina Oueidat and Mohammad Alamuddin. During the meeting, Sfeir offered the donation of 6 million dollars in the name of the Banking Association to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Salim Sfeir's speech:
"Mr. Prime Minister
Excellencies,
Distinguished audience,
Today Lebanon is enduring a great national trial. Such trials can only be faced with solidarity and subsidiarity between the State and all the active forces in our society.
The banking sector has never failed to perform its duty to help the Lebanese State and people deal with tough times and get over painful hardships for the last few decades. Today, despite the difficult economic conditions in Lebanon, which have also turned into a global crisis, the banking sector is renewing its commitment to serve the people and ought to take every step that would contribute to alleviating their suffering.
The only way we will defeat this epidemic is to increase immunity, and we can only relieve the plight by national immunity Lebanon has acquired over time. All Lebanese remember that the banking sector has contributed several times, in the modern history of Lebanon, to mitigating the effects of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and has stood by the State and the people in every crisis and ordeal the country have experienced.
Today, we publicly announce that the Lebanese Banking Association will contribute to the provision of medical and hospital equipment to treat people suffering from coronavirus, at a cost of about USD 6 million. We were keen on having this in-kind donation ready and delivered in a few days to the different governmental hospitals officially accredited as treatment centers. It is with a strong sense of national duty that we are launching this initiative today, which is neither a charity nor a favor. There will be other initiatives in the next few days.
Mr. Prime Minister, Trials can only be faced with solidarity, coordination and consultation between the government and the active and productive sectors of the society. On this occasion, I pay tribute to the doctors and nurses who have been on the front lines of facing this epidemic.
I would also like to thank Dr. Lina Oueidat, Advisor of the Prime Minister, for engaging in communication and fruitful efforts to ensure that Lebanon gets the equipment in the best possible way and within a standard time frame.
Mr. Prime Minister,
We assure you that we will be at the side of the State institutions until we overcome this crisis. We pledge to the Lebanese people our commitment to placing the banking sector at the forefront of institutions seeking to restore normal life in the country and overcome the effects of the ordeal.
Therefore, we add our voice to yours in calling on the Lebanese to unite and support each other in order to overcome this difficult ordeal with the least possible human losses. Lebanese people are the real wealth of the nation. Everything else is just compensable.
May God protect Lebanon and the Lebanese people."
Prime Minister's speech:
"First of all, allow me to thank the Banking Association and its Chairman, Dr. Salim Sfeir, for this initiative, as well as the promise he made today that there will be other initiatives to face this creeping epidemic seeping into our nation.
Lebanon is enduring a distressing ordeal, and the Lebanese people are starting to feel the brunt of an accumulation of economic, livelihood and financial crises, in addition to the current coronavirus threat.
The current situation requires joint efforts, without unnecessary commotion and calculations. The whole country is under severe pressure, and no one can carry the burden of such pressure alone. Even the State, given its present potential, finds it difficult to fulfil its full obligations to its citizens. Therefore, we rely on the solidarity of the Lebanese society and cooperation with the State, for there is no recourse but to resort to the State being the sole incubator for all the people, without discrimination.
Today, we must rally around the State and its institutions, and strengthen its capabilities, since only the State confers immunity to the Lebanese against all viruses posing a threat to the nation's health, security or existence.I take this opportunity to call on everyone to become more united and proactive in increasing the State's resilience, so that it may form a protective wall for the Lebanese. I thank the Banking Association as well as every good initiative standing with the State to save Lebanon." ---Grand Serail Press Office

Musharafieh chairs meeting of technical committee in charge of following up on urgent social affairs
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Social Affairs Minister, Ramzi Musharrafieh, chaired the meeting of the Technical Committee in charge of following up on urgent issues related to social affairs, in the presence of Minister of Labor Lamia Yammine and Head of the Higher Rescue Committee, General Mohammad Kheir.
After the meeting, Musharrafieh noted that: “in view of the exceptional circumstances the country is going through, notably the major economic and social pressures on the Lebanese and on a large number of families under severe living conditions, and with the aggravation of the current situation due to the actual crisis, after the announcement of the general mobilization and relatives measures to face the coronavirus, which prevented a large number of people from securing their basic daily needs, the Ministry of Social Affairs held several meetings with the ministries of Industry, Agriculture, Defense, Interior and Municipalities, Labor, Economy and Trade, Finance and Information, in order to develop a joint plan for emergency intervention and provide steadfast support for families that have been affected, provided that the implementation would be carried out through municipalities and different village councils, under the supervision of development services centers and their branches, as well as the Lebanese army. This plan aims at helping the vulnerable communities by providing two baskets for each family, the first one for food, and the second for cleaning and sterilization materials, based on scientific studies and research.
Our concern for the Lebanese citizen motivates us to work in solidarity to help those affected economically and financially by the emerging crisis. We will work on providing assistance for citizens to help them overcome the critical stage." -- Grand Serail Press Office

Foreign Minister receives call from German counterpart, stresses need to provide aid to poor families
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Nassif Hitti, on Tuesday received a phone call from his German counterpart, Heiko Josef Maas, during which the former thanked the latter for the assistance provided by Germany to Lebanon.
Hitti briefed Maas on the difficult economic conditions that Lebanon was going through as a result of the economic crisis and the novel Coronavirus outbreak. He also stressed the need to provide aid to the poorest families, especially those that can only survive through their daily income.
The Minister also pointed out that the Lebanese government was in the process of developing programs that include plans to combat corruption and carry out structural economic reforms. For his part, the German Foreign Minister affirmed that his country was ready to help Lebanon cope with its economic crisis and contribute to overcoming the financial and economic distress it was witnessing. He pledged to support Lebanon in implementing structural reform once the Lebanese government's program in this regard crystallizes. The German official also expressed hope to keep the channels of communication open with the minister Hitti, especially on matters of common concern, in a bid to enhance cooperation between the two countries and help Lebanon out of its crisis.

Information Minister: PM Diab stresses state's duty to help citizens, people’s need to show social solidarity
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Minister of Information, Dr. Manal Abdel Samad Najd, said in the wake of the Cabinet session held this Tuesday at the Grand Serail, that Prime Minister Dr Hassan Diab has stressed that it is the duty of the state to help people and that social solidarity among the Lebanese is also essential. Minister Abdel Samad also stressed the need for the military and security forces’ to maintain further firmness in the areas where people did not adhere to the quarantine to prevent corona virus spread. Abdel Samad also pointed out that the Cabinet has taken note of the ministers’ remarks on the Capital Control Project, with discussions to be continued later.

Othman meets new U.S. Ambassador
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Internal Security Forces chief, Imad Othman, met Tuesday in his office with new U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, accompanied by officials from the embassy, who came on a protocol visit aimed at cooperation and coordination. Talks reportedly touched on the general security situation in the country.

Jumblatt reiterates call for state of emergency
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Jumblatt, on Tuesday said via his twitter account: “Some municipalities have been blocking roads and setting up barriers, which is a form of self-security; however, this may cause many problems. The best solution is for the security forces and Lebanese army to take over these roads and adopt the necessary measures against those who violate the traffic ban.” In his tweet, Jumblatt also reiterated calls for declaring a state of emergency in Lebanon whilst ensuring the basic needs of citizens.

IMF sees a recession at least as bad as global financial crisis
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
The International Monetary Fund said it expects a global recession this year that will be at least as severe as the downturn during the financial crisis more than a decade ago, followed by a recovery in 2021. Nearly 80 countries have asked the Washington-based IMF for emergency finance, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement following a conference call of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers. Georgieva said the fund strongly supports extraordinary fiscal actions already taken by many countries and welcomes easing moves by major central banks.
“These bold efforts are not only in the interest of each country, but of the global economy as a whole,” she said in the statement. “More will be needed, especially on the fiscal front.”  The Institute of International Finance said earlier Monday that it projects a 1.5% contraction in the global economy this year, with advanced economies shrinking 3.3%. Updated IMF forecasts are usually released in April with the fund’s World Economic Outlook. “The pace of deterioration in expectations is breathtaking. Even so, it’s important to keep in mind that -- in contrast to the Asian financial crisis, the great financial crisis, or the European sovereign debt crisis -- the coming contraction is not a reflection of underlying economic imbalances. When the outbreak is over, that means there’s hope growth can get rapidly back on track.” —Bloomberg

Report: Lebanese Army Receives Military 'Gift' from France
Naharnet/March 24/2020
France has reportedly “gifted” the Lebanese Armed Forces with four “sophisticated” warships that will join the fleet of the Lebanese Navy, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. Unnamed diplomatic sources told the daily that the French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher has “personally supervised the operation which took place in the past few hours.”Foucher has boarded one of the French battleships that transported the warships accompanying them from the Toulon arsenal military base in southern France to Beirut, which arrived in the past few hours, according to the sources.

ABL Unveils $6 Million Grant to Fight Coronavirus
Naharnet/March 24/2020
The Association of Banks in Lebanon announced on Tuesday a $6 million grant to fight coronavirus. An ABL delegation led by its chairman Salim Sfeir met with Prime Minister Hassan Diab and handed him the cheques of the amount. In a press conference, Sfeir said: “Today Lebanon is enduring a great national trial. Such trials can only be faced with solidarity and subsidiarity between the State and all the active forces in our society. The only way we will defeat this epidemic is to increase immunity, and we can only relieve the plight by national immunity Lebanon has acquired over time. Our initiative today is a national duty. There will be other initiatives in the next few days."

Geagea Denies Having Coronavirus, Says Taking Precautions
Naharnet/March 24/2020
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday denied social media rumors claiming that he has contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus, as he reassured that he is taking precautions. “It is not shameful for any person to be infected with coronavirus these days,” Geagea added, in a phone interview with MTV. Lamenting that some political rivals have more than once circulated rumors about his health, Geagea urged them to practice “honorable political rivalry.” Asked whether he is staying home this period and whether he is engaging in any political activities, Geagea said: “I’m staying home and at my office simultaneously, seeing as they’re next to each other. I’m also carrying out political activities in a normal manner but through the available electronic means.” “When necessary, I’m holding some small and limited meetings with a limited number of individuals while taking all the necessary measures,” he explained. The rumors apparently started circulating after ex-minister May Chidiac of the LF announced Monday that she had tested positive for the virus.

Kataeb Party Stresses Need to Declare a State of Emergency, Says Curfew Not Enough
Kataeb.web site/March 24/2020
The Lebanese Kataeb party on Tuesday called on officials to announce a state of emergency as soon as possible in response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying that a curfew is not enough to curb the spread of the virus. “The State must improve hospital capabilities and quarantine areas with clear conditions and standards in a bid to ease the spread of the virus,” said a statement issued following the weekly meeting of the Kataeb's politburo that was held online. “Protecting the Lebanese’ health is no different than protecting them socially and that's by helping them stay at home," the statement added.
The party praised the municipalities’ effective role in responding to all health and social requirements despite the lack of potentials, recalling those concerned to transfer all the municipalities’ entitlements to the cities’ treasury.
The politburo called on the government to address the social crisis that is prevailing over Lebanon, saying that there are many ways that can help speed-up the country’s productivity growth.
“This can be achieved through activating a program for the poorest families, updating data, assessing needs, and securing a minimum level of income so as to avoid a wave of hunger and starvation,” the statement added. The party also urged the Education ministry to provide the students with all the needed means so as to continue their studies, saying that they should offer them free internet service that would help them in their online courses. The politburo blamed Hezbollah, the ruling authority as well as the Lebanese banks for the situation the country is going through today, calling them to stop messing with the depositors’ funds. “How come there is yet no economic plan that would contain the crisis the Lebanese are facing daily with the banks regarding withdrawing their money and collecting their rights?” the statement added. The party stressed the need to adopt a transparent and comprehensive reform view that would boost the country’s economy, saying that such plan will help restore the local and international confidence which remains the base for attracting the necessary aid and investments.

Hariri Lauds China's Efforts against Coronavirus
Naharnet/March 24/2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has sent a reply letter to the head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Song Tao, in which he expressed his great appreciation for the coordinated efforts of the Chinese officials to confront the coronavirus pandemic, lauding China's contribution in helping Lebanon combat this virus, his office said. “I express to you, on my behalf, and in the name of the Future (al-Mustaqbal) movement, and through you to the Communist Party of China led by its Secretary General, Chinese President Xi Jinping, the great appreciation for the coordinated efforts of the party, the government and the people, and for the transparent humanitarian responsibilities to face the coronavirus, on the human, health, economic and social levels,” Hariri said in an English-language statement distributed by his office.
“We are pleased to note the good points achieved in your country, and the experiences and approaches from which all humanity can benefit,” the ex-PM added. He said: “We in Lebanon are facing the spread of the pandemic. And from our political and public position, I announced and worked on the necessity of Lebanese solidarity, from all popular, official and governmental forces, to take the appropriate measures at all levels to succeed in the battle of limiting the losses, combatting the virus and ensuring the health of the citizens, despite the current conditions of Lebanon.”Hariri also lauded China's contribution through its embassy in Beirut, as well as China's contributions in many countries of the world. He concluded by saying: “I would like to express my personal desire, and that of the Future movement, to pursue and activate communication with the Communist Party of China in all forms and at all levels. I also express my wishes for direct communication with you and the party's Secretary-General, when circumstances allow it, after humanity’s victory over the epidemic and the return of global stability and direct interaction.”

Jumblat Urges Economic Plan alongside Coronavirus Measures
Naharnet/March 24/2020
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Tuesday wondered whether the government has an economic plan in parallel with the emergency measures it has declared to fight the coronavirus pandemic. “The most important question, along with the coronavirus crisis, is that where is the government’s reformist economic plan?” Jumblat tweeted. “Are we still in quarantine as to taking any decision starting from the electricity sector?” he wondered. “Have the recommendations of the CEDRE (conference) and the technical recommendations of the International Monetary Fund been forgotten?” Jumblat went on to say, saying “support for the army of needy and unemployed” might have become a “priority.”

Chidiac Says She Tested Positive for Coronavirus
Naharnet/March 24/2020
Former minister and prominent journalist May Chidiac announced Monday that she has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “After my return from the French capital Paris last week, I developed some symptoms similar to those of coronavirus, which required immediate home isolation,” she said in a statement. “On Saturday, I underwent medical examinations at the Hotel Dieu hospital to identify the reason behind the symptoms, and after the results of the tests came out a while ago, I was asked to head to hospital for treatment after my infection with the virus was confirmed,” Chidiac added. She also noted that her condition “is not critical,” adding that she will soon join the ranks of those who recovered from the disease. Chidiac survived an assassination attempt in September 2005 but she lost her left leg and left arm in the attack. She served as state minister for administrative development in Saad Hariri’s government between 2019 and 2020. Lebanon has so far confirmed 256 coronavirus cases among them eight recoveries and four deaths.

Lebanese industrialists and engineers to start manufacturing ventilators locally
Tala Ramadan/Annahar/March 24/2020
Health officials are becoming increasingly alarmed about the bleak reality of not having enough ventilators for patients who might need it.
BEIRUT: As COVID-19 spreads across the country, health officials are becoming increasingly alarmed about the bleak reality of not having enough ventilators for patients who might need it.
Accordingly, a new and potentially life-saving initiative that seeks to manufacture ventilators locally was launched by the Lebanese American University Medical Center-Rizk Hospital, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Polytextile, S&AS controllers, and Technica.
Barbar Akle, Assistant Provost at the Lebanese American University, told Annahar that this project will help build ventilators in a short period of time.
“As clinical staff and engineers, we offered some technical advice to the different teams working on this project,” Bassam Tabshouri, head of AUB's Medical Engineering Department told Annahar.
Ventilators are in short supply in many parts of the world. Physicians rely on them to help treat patients who have contracted the virus in which, in most severe cases, damages healthy tissues in the lungs, making it hard for it to deliver oxygen to the blood. The machines are also used routinely to help other hospital patients breathe, namely those undergoing surgery while under general anesthesia.
“This is a stellar example of intersecting the skillsets and capabilities of academia from all over Lebanon, with those of leading industrialists and entrepreneurs including Polytextile, S&AS controllers, and Technica, to face a critical challenge,” said Joseph G. Jabbra, President of LAU, in a statement.
The teams working on the initiative include Barbar Akle, Michel Khoury, and Ali Ammouri from the engineering school at LAU; Fayez Abillama, a specialist in Intensive Medicine at LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital; Paul Abi Nasr from Polytextile; Bassam Tabshoury, head of their Medical Engineering Department at AUB; and Mohammad Khatib, professor of Anesthesiology at AUB.

Jihad Azour, the IMF Mideast and Central Asia department director sees Middle East facing 'big drop in growth this year'
AFP/The Arab Weekly/March 24/2020
The International Monetary Fund called Tuesday for urgent action from Middle East governments as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a persistent slump in oil revenues and a "big drop" in growth.
The IMF said a dozen Middle Eastern and North African countries had already approached it for financial support. It urged governments across the region to swiftly draw up rescue packages to head off a protracted recession.
"The region is likely to see a big drop in growth this year," the IMF's regional director for the Middle East and Central Asia, Jihad Azour, said in a report. The fund had already substantially cut its growth projections for the region over low oil prices, civil unrest and US sanctions against Iran. The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a 50% fall in oil prices that has slashed government revenues across the region.
"The coronavirus pandemic has become the largest near-term challenge to the region," Azour said. Moody's Investors Service estimated on Tuesday that oil income for crude-exporting nations will decline this year by between four and 10 percent of gross domestic product.
Kuwait and Iraq will see their oil revenues dive by more than 10 percent of GDP, while the decline for Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain will be between four and eight percent, it said in a report. It did not provide estimates for the UAE. Moody's said it based its estimates on the assumption that Brent oil prices will average between $40 and $45 a barrel in 2020, although prices currently hover at a round $28 a barrel.
Earlier this week, Standard and Poor's ratings agency lowered its projection for average oil price this year to $30 a barrel, which would signal a greater decline. The coronavirus has shattered global demand for oil due to weak growth, at a time when businesses from hotels and shopping malls to airlines have virtually ground to a halt.
"The pandemic is causing significant economic turmoil in the region through simultaneous shocks -- a drop in domestic and external demand, a reduction in trade, disruption of production, a fall in consumer confidence, and tightening of financial conditions," Azour said.
The coronavirus shutdown is hurting sectors that are major sources of employment like tourism, hospitality and retail, with rising joblessness and falling wages the likely results, he said.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said March 23 that world economic growth will be negative this year and could be worse than the 2008 global financial crisis, further sapping demand for Middle East oil.

The desperate final days of a domestic worker in Lebanon
Timour Azhari/Al Hazeera/March 24/2020
Faustina Tay's body was discovered in a car park under her employers' fourth-storey home in Beirut.
Beirut, Lebanon - On the morning of March 13, Faustina Tay sent a final desperate message to an activist group she had contacted about the abuse she was suffering at the hands of her Lebanese employers.
"God please help me," the 23-year-old Ghanaian domestic worker wrote.
About 18 hours later, she was found dead.
Tay's body was discovered in a car park under her employers' fourth-storey home in Beirut's southern suburbs, between 3 and 4am on March 14. A forensic doctor who examined her body found that her death was caused by a head injury "as a result of falling from a high place and crashing into a solid body". The doctor found "no marks of physical assault". A search of Tay's employers' home found no signs of a struggle, and the death was being investigated as a suicide, according to a police report.
Hussein Dia, whose home Tay had lived and worked in for 10 months at the time of her death, told Al Jazeera he and his family had been sleeping when she died. Dia said he did not know what had driven the 23-year-old to take her own life, and denied he ever physically assaulted her - "I never laid a hand on her." But in the week before her death, Tay sent dozens of texts and more than 40 minutes of voice messages to Canada-based activist group, This Is Lebanon, and her brother in Ghana, providing detailed accounts of recurrent physical abuse.
This Is Lebanon names and shames employers accused of maid abuse online in an attempt to resolve issues facing domestic workers on a case-by-case basis.
Human Rights Watch found in a 2010 report that Lebanon's judiciary fails to hold employers accountable for abuses, while security agencies often do not "adequately investigate claims of violence or abuse".
Tay told the group that Dia and Ali Kamal, the owner of the domestic worker's agency that had brought her to Lebanon, had each beaten her twice between January 16 and March 6. Kamal had beaten her along with one of his employees, Hussein, she said. In the messages, Tay repeatedly expressed concerns that speaking about her ordeal could lead to more abuse, and the confiscation of her phone, which she said had taken place once before.
She also feared much worse.
"I'm scared. I'm scared; they might kill me," she said, in a chilling voice note to activists.
'Modern-day slavery'
The manner of Tay's death is not uncommon in Lebanon, a country with about 250,000 domestic workers. Two die each week, according to the country's General Security intelligence agency, with many falling from high buildings during botched escape attempts, or in cases that are ruled suicides. Domestic workers like Tay are employed under the country's notorious kafala system, which ties their legal residence to their employer, making it very difficult for them to end their contracts.
This sponsorship system, which is in place in several Middle Eastern countries, has facilitated a range of abuse, such as non-payment of wages, a lack of rest time and days off, and physical and sexual assault.
Lebanon's former Labour Minister Camille Abousleiman likened the system to "modern-day slavery," and began a process of reform that is still in its early stages. Women who come to Lebanon for domestic work from a host of Southeast Asian and African countries such as the Philippines, Nepal and Ethiopia are usually looking to support their families back home and eventually return. Tay's case sheds light on the type of abuse that ends with many returning to their families in coffins.
From Accra to Beirut
A little more than 10 months before her death, Tay had been running a small noodle business in Ghana's capital Accra, with financial help from her brother Joshua Demanya, who works as a driver. Demanya told Al Jazeera that he had advised his sister against going to Lebanon "because there have been stories of people who go there and suffer so much they run away". Tay ignored her brother's advice and arrived in Beirut on May 5 to begin working at Dia's apartment, where he lives with his wife, Mona, and their three children.
There, she did not have her own room, instead, she slept on a sofa in the kitchen. She complained that she was overworked, had no days off and was usually only able to get to sleep at 2am and was woken up at 8am.
'I should have stayed'
She quickly regretted her decision to leave Ghana. In November 2019, she texted her brother: "I should have stayed [and] continued with my business." In January, she told her employers that she could not work for them any more, and asked to be sent back home. They refused - "I paid $2,000, and I said, 'Take it easy on us, we'll let you travel after Ramadan,'" Dia recalled telling her.
That was when Tay said Dia beat her for the first time, on January 16, before taking her to Kamal's agency, where she said Kamal and Hussein beat her. Both denied the claims when contacted by Al Jazeera. Kamal said his agency, established in 1992, brings roughly 1,000 domestic workers into Lebanon every year. "The state would have closed us a long time ago," if they mistreated domestic workers, he said.
Kamal informed Tay that the only way she would get back home was if she worked two more months with the Dia family, to pay for her ticket back to Ghana. She agreed.
But when the agreement came due in March, she contacted This Is Lebanon and said Dia was refusing to let her leave. A few days later, on March 10, she said Dia, Kamal and Hussein beat her again.
"My boss beat me mercilessly yesterday [and] dis (sic) morning he took me to the office [and] I was beaten again, this is the second time they beat me up in the office."
Dia said he had taken Tay to the agency with the intent of letting her travel, but received a call two hours later from the agency: "We've worked it out, she'll travel in July."
Demanya said his sister had agreed "out of fear".
'I don't want to die here'
Al Jazeera informed Lebanon's Labour Ministry of Tay's case. An adviser to Labour Minister Lamia Yammine said that the names of Tay's employers had been noted and the ministry would be informed if they applied to be allowed to employ another domestic worker.
She said they would be permanently blacklisted "if it is proven later on that the suicide was caused by abuse". On March 12, Tay sent a series of pictures to her brother, appearing to show an inflamed hand, a bruise on her forearm and a scratch underneath her eye that she said were caused by the beatings. She also shared a picture of a bloody tissue that she said was the result of a nosebleed. Despite the abuse, she described, Tay expressed a strong will to live.
"I'm very, very weak," she said in a voice message, describing pain in her wrist, legs and neck. "Please, help me. Help me to go back to my country for treatment. Please, I don't want to die here."

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 24-25/2020
Pope calls on Christians to direct prayers toward Heaven
NNA/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Pope Francis wrote on Twitter: “Let us stay united. I invite all Christians to direct their voices together toward Heaven, reciting the Our Father tomorrow, 25 March, at noon. #PrayTogether #PrayForTheWorld “

Priest Who gave Respirator To Young Patient Dies/Coronavirus: Giuseppe Berardelli among 50 priests killed
BBC/24 March 2020
An Italian priest who gave a respirator to a younger coronavirus patient he did not know has died of the disease. Father Giuseppe Berardelli, 72, died in hospital in Lovere, Bergamo - one of the worst-hit cities in Italy.
At least 50 priests have reportedly been killed by coronavirus in Italy. The world's worst affected country with 6,077 deaths so far, Italy has been under prolonged lockdown as it tries to stop the spread of infections from the worst-hit northern region of Lombardy. Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly across the globe, affecting more than 160 countries and claiming more than 16,000 lives. There are more than 360,000 confirmed cases worldwide. Europe is now at the epicentre of the crisis and the US is facing a surge in cases.
Who was Fr Berardelli?
Giuseppe Berardelli, the main priest in the town of Casnigo, died last week in Lovere hospital. According to the hospital, he refused to use a respirator his parishioners had bought for him - choosing to give it to a younger patient, instead. Residents of Casnigo were reported to have applauded from their windows and balconies as the coffin was taken for burial. There was no funeral. On Tuesday, Pope Francis led a prayer for the deceased doctors and priests, "thanking God for their heroic example in serving those who were sick".
What is the situation in Italy?
Italy shut down most businesses and banned public gatherings nationwide on 12 March as it tried to halt the spread of the virus.
Bars, restaurants and most shops have closed, as have schools and universities. The lockdown has been extended, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said it has helped prevent "the collapse of the system". On Tuesday, it reported a slight slowdown in the rate of infection for a third day in a row. But at more than 600 deaths a day, it is far from bringing the pandemic under control.
Italy has 63,927 people with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. So far it has reported 6,077 deaths and 7,432 people who have been discharged from hospital after recovering.
But the number infected could be far higher. Angelo Borrelli, Italy's civil protection chief, told newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday it was "credible" to estimate the numbers are 10 times higher in reality.
"In the next few hours… we will see if the growth curve is really flattening," he told the paper.
What is the situation worldwide?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed. It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just four days for the third 100,000. But WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was still possible to "change the trajectory".
He urged countries to adopt rigorous testing and contact-tracing strategies. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday night that, with immediate effect, "people will only be allowed to leave their home...for very limited purposes". The number of people who have died in the UK rose to 335 on Monday.

US Department Of State/Iran: COVID-19 DISINFORMATION FACT-SHEET
FACT SHEET
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON
MARCH 23, 2020
“I also want to call attention to the Iranian regime’s misinformation campaign surrounding the origination of the Wuhan virus. Instead of focusing on the needs of the Iranian people and accepting genuine offers of support, senior Iranians lied about the Wuhan virus outbreak for weeks.”
The Iranian leadership is trying to avoid responsibility for their grossly incompetent and deadly governance. Sadly, the Iranian people have been suffering these kinds of lies for 41 years. They know the truth: The Wuhan virus is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice.”
-Secretary Pompeo, Remarks to the Press March 17, 2020
FACTS
Iran’s lack of transparency about its coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a catastrophic public health risk to the Iranian people, as well as to Iran’s neighbors.
Instead of halting flights to China when the risk of contagion was clear, the regime threatened and imprisoned dozens of Iranians who told the truth about the outbreak. The regime encouraged large public gatherings to try to bolster its legitimacy, with no regard for the health risk to Iranian citizens.
The regime is hiding a significant amount of information about the coronavirus outbreak. It is likely far worse that the regime is admitting. This lack of transparency poses a significant health risk to the Iranian people, as well as to Iran’s neighbors.
Reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens. Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions poses a serious health risk and undermines their basic human dignity.
The United States has and continues to offer humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people to help address the coronavirus outbreak. It is unfortunate for the Iranian people that their government has rejected this offer. Our priority has been to stand with the Iranian people – and this offer is still on the table.
U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran. The United States maintains broad authorizations that allow for the sale of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices by U.S persons or from the United States to Iran.
The media should know better than to believe and propagate Chinese and Russian propaganda that misleads the public into believing U.S. sanctions are to blame.
Now, regime officials make false claims that the U.S. engineered the virus – focusing their time and resources attempting to deflect blame instead of taking responsibility and providing for the health, prosperity, and rights of Iranians, who deserve far better.
For years, the Iranian regime has prioritized its proxies over the Iranian people and stolen the money the Iranian people deserve and expect to go for their healthcare. In July 2019, one billion euros intended for medical supplies “disappeared” and another $170 million dollars allocated for medical goods were instead spent on tobacco. Since 2012, the regime has spent over $16 billion on terror abroad – the Iranian people know that any sanctions relief would go to sponsor terrorist, not humanitarian activities.
If regime officials are looking for funds to combat the outbreak, they can start by returning money they stole from the Iranian people. Supreme Leader Khamenei runs a hedge fund worth tens of billions of dollars, much of which was “earned” by confiscating resources from the Iranian people.
DISINFORMATION AND MISMANAGEMENT
Instead of taking appropriate precautions against the spread of COVID-19, Iran’s terrorist airline, Mahan Air, operated at least 55 flights between Tehran and China in February, according to public reports.
On February 10, Deputy Health Minsiter Ali-Reza Raisi told reporters: “I declare that there are no cases of coronavirus in the country and our citizens should only follow news released by the Health Ministry on the coronavirus.” The same day, a 63-year-old Iranian woman died from the coronavirus.
The Iranian regime only admitted that coronavirus had entered Iran on February 19, nine days after the first reported death.
On March 5, the head of Iran’s cyber police announced the arrest of 121 Iranians for “spreading rumors” about the coronavirus. The regime also reportedly threatened medical staff against revealing accurate statistics of coronavirus cases and deaths.
In March, the head of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, claimed the spread of COVID-19 in Iran might be due to a U.S. biological attack, and an advisor to the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament claimed coronavirus was being used as biological warfare by the United States.
On March 12, Ayatollah Khamenei falsely claimed that there is evidence that COVID-19 might be a “biological attack.”
On March 17, Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif falsely claimed U.S. sanctions are killing Iranian “innocents” with its sanctions. He failed to note the Department of State has offered aid through Switzerland dating back to February.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also falsely accused the United States of hampering Iran’s epidemic by not lifting sanctions. In fact, on February 28, the Department of State offered aid to specifically address the spread of COVID-19 in Iran, an offer that was conveyed to Iran through the government of Switzerland and rejected by the regime.

Coronavirus: Iran’s death toll reaches 1,934, total cases 24,811
Reuters/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Iran's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak increased by 122 in the past 24 hours to1,934, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said onTuesday. The total number of people diagnosed with the disease increased by 1,762 in the past 24 hours, to 24,811, he added onstate TV.
Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards founding member Habib Barzegari dies of coronavirus
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday 24 March 2020
Habib Barzegari, a founding member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has died of coronavirus, state media reported on Tuesday. Barzegari was a founding member of the IRGC in the city of Meybod in Iran’s central province of Yazd, according to state media.
Visit our dedicated coronavirus site here for all the latest updates. Barzegari was also an advisor to the representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Meybod. At least 16 Iranian regime figures have died from coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak in the Islamic Republic.

Trump Warns Coronavirus Shutdown Could 'Destroy a Country'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 24/2020
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he wants the coronavirus lockdown relaxed in the United States by mid-April, warning that keeping the measures in place could "destroy" the country.
"A lot of people agree with me. Our country -- it's not built to shut down," he said on Fox News. "You can destroy a country this way by closing it down." "I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," Trump said. Easter is on April 12. Social distancing and quarantine measures have been instituted across much of the United States, bringing the world's biggest economy to an abrupt halt. Health experts have advised the measures are the only way to prevent the easily transmitted, potentially fatal illness from multiplying uncontrollably.
In the chat show format interview with Fox at the White House, Trump made it clear that he thinks the shutdown has been an overreaction. "We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu. We don't turn the country off," Trump argued. "We lose much more than that to automobile accidents. We didn't call up the automobile companies to say, 'Stop making cars. We don't want any cars anymore,'" he said. With his November reelection campaign also on hold, Trump is eager to get back into the fray. One of his main claims to a second term, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, was the strong economy and low unemployment. "We can't lose a Boeing, we can't lose some of these companies," he said. "If we lose those companies we're talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs, millions of jobs."

G20 Video Talks on Coronavirus Set for Thursday
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 24/2020
Moscow on Tuesday confirmed world powers, including President Vladimir Putin, will be holding an emergency G20 online summit this week to discuss a global coronavirus response. "On March 26 the president will participate in the emergency G20 summit which will take place in a videoconference format," the Kremlin said in a statement.The conference "will be dedicated to battling the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the global economy," it said. Saudi Arabia, which currently presides over the G20, last week called for the "virtual summit" and France and China on Tuesday supported the idea as the global toll from COVID-19 surged close to 16,000 and over 1.7 billion people were confined to their homes. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Tuesday evening that the Russian leader was preparing to join the video conference while on a working visit to Saint-Petersburg.

French Coronavirus Lockdown Should Last 'at Least 6 Weeks', Govt. Advisers Say
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/March 24/2020
The lockdown imposed last week in France to battle the coronavirus should last at least six weeks in total, a committee of scientific experts advising the government on the outbreak said on Tuesday. The warning on the potential length of the lockdown came as the coronavirus killed another 240 people in France, bringing the death toll in the country from the pandemic to 1,100. "The confinement will likely last at least six weeks from the moment it was put in place (on March 17)," said the scientific council, adding it was "indispensable" to extend the measure from its initial duration of two weeks. The council of doctors and sociologists was created by the health ministry to advise President Emmanuel Macron and the government on the best way to combat the coronavirus. The lockdown, already in place for a week nationwide, orders all in France to stay inside except for essential trips outside such as shopping.
Speaking after talks with the experts at the Elysee Palace, Health Minister Olivier Veran said that the figure of six weeks was an "estimation" and no one knew at this stage how long the confinement would last. "They said that we need to be prepared that the confinement will last more than two weeks and that maybe it could be even more like five or six weeks," he said. "It (the lockdown) will last as long as it needs to," he added.
The experts said that the lockdown was currently the "sole strategy that is realistic in operational terms," adding that other strategies like mass testing or isolating all those who may have the virus were not realizable on a national scale. It said three weeks of lockdown would be needed before an estimation of its impact can be made. Top French health official Jerome Salomon told reporters that 22,300 people had been registered as testing positive for the virus in France, with a total of 10,176 hospitalized of whom 2,516 people are in intensive care.  Officials believe that the published number of those infected largely underestimates the real figure, as only those showing severe symptoms are usually tested. Salomon also emphasized that the death toll of 1,100 includes only those recorded to have died of the coronavirus in hospitals and not those who die in old people's homes. He said that the hospital deaths were only a part of the total toll and vowed to give data on mortality in old people's homes in the next few days.

On the 10th Day of Lockdown, Madrid Shaken by Deaths
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/March 24/2020
At the foot of the skyscrapers in Madrid's business district, the streets are empty as the city silently marks day 10 of lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. The only signs of life are those coming and going at a nearby hospital where another five people died overnight, raising the body count to 1,535 in the Madrid region. The coronavirus epidemic has hit particularly hard in this normally bustling city of 6.5 million, where ambulances now sweep through its wide streets and boulevards without even sounding their sirens as they rush ever more people to hospital.
Spain has so far lost 2,696 people to the virus, with 60 percent of the deaths in Madrid and the surrounding region. At the gates of La Paz university hospital in the north of the city, staff are unloading dozens of bottles of oxygen as doctors wearing masks and gloves come and go from a recently-erected white tent. "The (reception) tent opened yesterday for possible COVID-19 patients and those with mild symptoms," explains a spokeswoman. "Our staff are up to their eyes in work. We've been getting protective suits and masks but we're still short."
'Five died in A&E'
After completing a night shift in the hospital's A&E department, Guillen del Barrio sounds completely empty as he relates what happened overnight.
"It is really hard, we had feverish people for many hours in the waiting room, sometimes we had to give them oxygen, some of them very old people," he told AFP by telephone. "Just in A&E we had five people die of coronavirus overnight, the 30-year-old added..
"Many of my colleagues were crying because there were people who are dying alone, without seeing their family for the last time, and we hardly even had time to keep them company."Last week, a 52-year-old nurse in the northern Basque Country died, becoming the first coronavirus victim among healthcare workers. "It reminded us that we are very much in danger," said Del Barrio whose partner is a nurse who "has tested positive and is at home in quarantine." For him, the main thing is to recognize the importance of the public health system. "The number of beds have been reduced a lot because of budget cuts during the economic crisis," said Del Barrio, a union member. "And right now we are really missing all those nurses and doctors who went to work abroad."
Ice rink as morgue
Inside the city's vast IFEMA exhibition hall, the army has rapidly set up "the biggest hospital in Spain" -- a field hospital with an intensive care unit which may eventually accommodate up to 5,500 patients and where ambulances can be seen going in and out. Just two kilometers (less than a mile) down the road, red trucks carrying soldiers in protective suits can be seen driving into the Palacio de Hielo (Ice Palace) shopping center, whose ice skating rink is being used to store dead bodies because the city's morgues are overwhelmed. In front of a nearby building, several undertakers are cleaning their hands after unloading a body from their grey lorry. "This one died a normal death," not due to coronavirus, one of them explains. "It's crazy, we have so much work," he adds, before being hurried away by his colleagues.
Bread, papers and letters
In the city center, however, postmen are still delivering letters, bakers are selling bread and newspapers kiosks remain open. "I'm not selling anything, it means people are being very careful and going out very little," shrugs Carlos Garcia at a newsstand in the city's famed Puerta del Sol.
Now deserted, the huge square is normally buzzing with life, with tourists snapping pictures of the towering statue of a bear grasping onto a strawberry tree -- the emblem of the city. "Am I afraid? No. If I was afraid, I wouldn't be here," said this white-haired 58-year-old. "But I do worry about my family because nobody knows where this virus will strike next."Under the lockdown, Spain's 46 million population has been ordered to stay home with people only allowed out to buy food or medicine, to walk the dog or in limited cases, to go to work.
"The city is desolate," says Jesus Santa Rosa, a 33-year-old Venezuelan who is delivering food by bike. "I have to work to be able to send something back to Venezuela. I got here only a month ago and now I'm working through an epidemic." Near Gran Via, in the middle of a pedestrianized street without pedestrians, a group of construction workers are standing around a cement mixer. "Building and renovation work is still going on," sighs Ruben Sanchez, 42, who manages the site.
"Why don't they just shut it down?" he wonders. "I'm in charge but I'd much rather be at home."

Israel Right-Wing Parties Boycott Parliament Re-Opening
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 24/2020
Israeli right-wing parties backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boycotted the re-opening of parliament Monday to protest what they called the "dictatorial" conduct of their centrist rivals. The dramatic move came after a year of political turmoil that saw three inconclusive elections, and as Netanyahu has imposed strict legal and security measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party accused the centrist Blue and White, led by ex-military chief Benny Gantz, of breaching standard practice in parliament, the Knesset, following March 2 elections.
The row centered on whether Gantz would use his bloc's slight majority of lawmakers to shape the composition of a powerful parliamentary committee. Noting the "severe health crisis" -- with 1,442 confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel -- Likud accused Blue and White of "hate-driven, dictatorial and destructive conduct".The election early this month saw the anti-Netanyahu parties claim a narrow lead of 62 seats. Right-wing and ultra-Orthodox factions that back the caretaker premier claimed 58. Gantz was last week tasked with forming a government, something that had proved impossible following the last two votes given deep divisions within the anti-Netanyahu camp. There was no guarantee Gantz would fare better this time.
'Disgraceful process'
Monday's spat centered on the key arrangements committee, which is responsible for forming other parliamentary committees. When the new Knesset was sworn in last Monday, lawmakers failed to agree on the committee's composition, which is traditionally negotiated among different Knesset factions. But Blue and White declared it would put the issue to a majority vote. Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, a Likud member and Netanyahu ally, scheduled the vote for Monday. Hours before the chamber was due to re-open, Likud announced its boycott, saying it would not take part in the "disgraceful process." Gantz's bloc voted despite the boycott, creating an arrangements committee that will see Knesset business move forward, including the formation of a new body to tackle the coronavirus.Gantz accused Netanyahu of trying to "paralyze the Knesset," in a speech to a near empty chamber on Monday.
Virus surveillance
Netanyahu has repeatedly called for Gantz to join him in a unity government, with the premier's job rotating between them, and President Reuven Rivlin has backed such calls amid the pandemic. Israel has imposed severe restrictions to contain coronavirus, including banning non-essential movements. Netanyahu had also enlisted the Shin Bet internal security agency to track possible virus carriers through their mobile phones -- without a court order. That move triggered outrage over alleged national security over-reach, with the supreme court ruling last week such surveillance could not go ahead without Knesset oversight.
The committee tasked with overseeing the Shin Bet, the foreign and defense committee, was scheduled to be formed in the coming days.
Speaker showdown
A dispute also escalated over the powerful job of Knesset speaker.
Likud has argued that its member and Netanyahu loyalist Yuli Edelstein should remain as speaker until a new government is formed. Blue and White asked the supreme court to weigh in. On Monday, judges told Edelstein he had two days to schedule a vote for a new speaker.
Edelstein rejected what he described as the court's "ultimatum," saying it was not the role of judges to set the Knesset agenda. Blue and White in a statement warned Edelstein that he would be "shamefully remembered" for defying the court. Netanyahu is also facing criminal corruptions charges, allegations he denies, but which could soon leave him vulnerable: MPs who oppose him have backed legislation that would bar anyone under criminal indictment from serving as prime minister.

U.N. Calls for Syria Ceasefire to Tackle Virus Threat
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 24/2020
The United Nations top envoy for Syria on Tuesday called for a nationwide ceasefire to allow for a better response to the threat of the novel coronavirus. The government in Damascus has so far only reported one case of COVID-19 but fears are high that the virus could spread rapidly among the war-battered country's most vulnerable communities. "Syrians are acutely vulnerable to COVID-19. Healthcare facilities have been destroyed or are degraded," Geir Pedersen said. "There is a shortage of key medical equipment and health professionals."
The aid community has warned that Syria, where around a million people have been displaced by conflict in the northwest since December alone, is particularly vulnerable. "To confront this danger, the long-suffering Syrian people desperately need a sustained period of calm throughout the country respected by all parties," Pedersen said. He called for the mass release of detainees, demanded full and sustained humanitarian access to all parts of the country and urged donors to heed dedicated funding appeals. The International Rescue Committee this week warned that an outbreak of novel coronavirus in northern Syria could be one of the worst the world has seen.

At Least 70 Nigerian Soldiers Killed in Jihadist Ambush
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 24/2020
At least 70 Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush on their convoy by jihadist fighters in the restive northeast of the country, military and security sources said Tuesday. Two military officers told AFP on condition of anonymity that Islamist insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy guns at a truck carrying troops as it travelled near Gorgi village in Borno state on Monday.

Three US sailors on aircraft carrier test positive
AP/March 24, 2020
WASHINGTON: Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly says three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus. The aircraft carrier at sea in Asia last made a port call 15 days ago in Vietnam. The chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, says there currently is no plan to pull the carrier from its mission. He says the three sailors are being removed from the ship and admitted to a Defense Department hospital. Navy officials say those who came in contact with the trio are in isolation aboard the ship, as best they can do that while at sea. But the officials couldn’t say say how many are in isolation.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 24-25/2020
How Canada approved an Assad loyalist to serve the country’s terrorized Syrian refugees
Amanda Coletta/The Washington Post/March 24, 2020
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was foreign minister when her department approved the appointment of Assad loyalist Waseem Ramli as Syria’s honorary consul in Montreal.
Montreal businessman Waseem Ramli is so devoted to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that his red Hummer — custom license plate “1SYRIA” — features the leader’s portrait splashed across a side window.
So when Maclean’s magazine reported in September that Canada had approved Syria’s nomination of Ramli to the post of honorary consul in Montreal,some members of the Syrian diaspora were frightened.
Since 2015, Canada has resettled more than 50,000 refugees who have fled Syria’s bloody civil war. They included members of the White Helmets, a volunteer group that has rescued thousands of civilians harmed by Syrian and Russian airstrikes.
Ramli has described the White Helmets as a “terrorist organization” — echoing unsubstantiated claims made by Assad and his backers in Russia. As honorary consul, Ramli would have authority over renewing passports, notarizing documents and helping Syrians secure legal representation, among other services.
While other countries turn Syrian refugees away, Canadians are taking them home
Then-Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she hadn’t been informed of Ramli’s appointment. She called Ramli’s views “shocking and unacceptable,” condemned her department for signing off, and withdrew the approval.
Ramli declined to comment. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that his political views wouldn’t interfere with his ability to execute his duties fairly. Freeland announced the revocation of his status on Sept. 25.
But a question remained: How did it happen in the first place?
Documents obtained by The Washington Post under an access to information request reveal deficiencies in what was a quicker-than-average vetting process.
They show that the officials who vetted Ramli knew of his support for Damascus but didn’t discover views they considered “extreme” enough to forestall approval. They show that officials fielded queries from concerned Syrians well before Ramli was to take up his post but struggled to respond and pushed ahead anyway.
Members of the White Helmets recover bodies in Maarat Misrin, Syria, following government airstrikes.
Members of the White Helmets recover bodies in Maarat Misrin, Syria, following government airstrikes. (Ahmad Al-Atrash/AFP/Getty Images)
Canada joined several other countries, including the United States, in ejecting all Syrian diplomats after the massacre of 108 civilians in the Syrian area of Houla in 2012. Since then, honorary consuls in Vancouver and Montreal have operated intermittently to provide consular services to Syrians in Canada and the United States.
Canadian government guidelines for honorary consuls direct the Foreign Ministry to avoid “controversial or politically active persons” in favor of individuals “of good standing and reputation in the local community.”
Thomas Juneau, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, said locals considered Ramli a “thug” of Assad. Aside from the appointment’s “abysmal optics,” he said, there was fear that the personal information of Syrians who opposed Assad might make its way back to him or that they could be targets of retribution.
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Approving an honorary consul application in Canada typically takes four to six weeks. Ramli’s took less than three.
Canada began vetting the restaurateur on July 25. Sébastien Beaulieu, then executive coordinator for Syria, based in Beirut, wrote colleagues an email on Aug. 7.
Given the “context of our administrative and consular engagement with the Syrians, and given that this is effectively the only service and document delivery point for Syrians in Canada and the U.S.,” he wrote, “we favor the prompt review/approval of this request, barring any real adverse information related to the proposed candidate . . . other than expected proximity/alignment with Damascus.”
Beaulieu, now Canada’s ambassador to Senegal,hand-delivered the note of approval to a Syrian official at the United Nations in New York on Aug. 14.
Five days later, Robin Wett­laufer, then Canada’s head of political affairs for Syria in Istanbul, forwarded colleagues a message from a Syrian contact in Montreal. The person described the appointment as “really scary,” and said he or she had flagged concerns about Ramli to the Canadian Foreign Ministry the month before.
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Wettlaufer sought help from officials in the protocol and Middle East relations offices in crafting responses to messages she continued to receive about the appointment. On Sept. 20, in light of new information (redacted in the documents released to The Post), she recommended officials “set the record straight.” She attached to the email photos of Ramli’s Hummer and social media comments she translated from Arabic to English.
“I don’t know how the Canadian government allows this monster and real threat to be [an] honorary [consul],” one person wrote.
On Sept. 22, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, asked colleagues for guidance over the “unfolding situation.” Members of her team were off to Syria that week.
Sandra McCardell, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for the Middle East, said she would bring up Ramli’s “inappropriate and provocative conduct” with Syrian officials at the United Nations in New York that week.
The Maclean’s story landed the next day.
Senior managers immediately requested a review of the appointment, and the department prepared to revoke Ramli’s status before he took up his post on Oct. 1. Those involved in the approval process drafted a chronology of events.
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In one email, Sean Boyd, executive director for Middle East relations, was asked for bullet points on “what happened to let this one pass.” He said the “vetting of business relationships and social media” didn’t flag anything “of significant concern or that could be construed as extreme views.” He said social media posts in Arabic weren’t searched.
It appeared “the concerns of the local community” and the degree of Ramli’s “political ­activism” had not been “sufficiently probed/broadly known” before his appointment, Boyd said.
But another email noted that Ramli’s support for the regime, including on social media, and experience helping to organize a demonstration against U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria in 2018 were flagged as early as the first week of August.
“His tone was, however, not as strong as other pro-regime Canadians in Canada,” one person wrote, andan online search did not reveal Ramli’s position on the White Helmets.
The Washington Post found an article Ramli shared on his Facebook page in 2018 from the Russian state-sponsored media outlet RT describing Canada’s decision to resettle the White Helmets as “dangerous and criminal.”
The Office of Protocol said revoking Ramli’s approval would bring “relief” to Syrians, who had highlighted Ramli’s attempts to “intimidate” them and his “self-acknowledged financial support for an organization accused of diverting humanitarian aid funds to the Syrian regime.”
Some Syrian refugees in Canada already want to return to the Middle East
Foreign Ministry spokeswomanBarbara Harvey said the ­department’s processes “clearly” were “not sufficient.” The ­ministry has since revised the vetting process to include “social media and language requirements.”
The incident highlights a broader conundrum: how to ensure that Syrians have access to key consular services without exposing refugees to the Assad regime, which is responsible for the nominations.
“On the one hand, you don’t want to legitimize the regime in any way and to approve an individual [who] will very much intimidate the population,” Juneau said. “At the same time, by not appointing anyone, you are penalizing Syrians who need access to services.”
It’s a “difficult situation” for the government, he said, but doesn’t excuse Ramli’s approval.
“Considering that it is Syria, the speed at which it was delivered was somewhat worrisome,” said Ferry de Kerckhove, a former Canadian diplomat.
He said the vetting process was “conducted as usual” — and that might have been the problem.
“In my view, I would have said, ‘If it’s Syria, make sure the minister signs off,’ ” de Kerckhove said. “That’s my bottom line.’ 
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*Amanda Coletta is a reporter based in Toronto who covers Canada for The Washington Post. She previously worked in London, first at the Economist and then the Wall Street Journal.Follow

US, UAE troops hold major exercise amid virus, Iran tensions
Jon Gambrell/AP/March 24/2020
AL-HAMRA MILITARY BASE, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Marines and Emirati forces held a major military exercise Monday that saw forces seize a sprawling model Mideast city, a drill conducted amid tensions with Iran and despite the new coronavirus pandemic.
Troops raced over the dunes of the Al-Hamra Military Base to take the model city, complete with multi-story buildings, an airport control tower, an oil refinery and a central mosque. Controlled explosions rang out as Emirati troops rappelled from hovering helicopters and Marines searched narrow streets on the Persian Gulf for “enemy” forces.
The biennial exercise, called Native Fury, shows the close ties between American forces and the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi, the capital, and Dubai, its financial heart.
It also comes after the U.S. killed Iran’s most prominent general in a drone strike in January, and Tehran retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on American forces in Iraq. While acknowledging the tensions, U.S. officials dismissed the idea of Tehran viewing such an exercise with suspicion, only some 300 kilometers (185 miles) from its shores.
“Provocative? I don’t know,” said Brig. Gen. Thomas Savage of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, the ranking U.S. commander at the event. “We’re about stability in the region. So if they view it as provocative, well, that’s up to them. This is just a normal training exercise for us.”
The exercise saw 4,000 U.S. troops from the Army, Marines and Navy position armored vehicles and other equipment from Kuwait and the island of Diego Garcia in al-Hamra using a portable pier system. The barren desert, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Abu Dhabi, is home to the UAE’s vast oil reserves as well as its new Barakah nuclear power plant.
The combined U.S. forces and the Emirati troops then stormed the imaginary city of al-Hamra, whose blocks of stand-alone houses, hotels and apartment complexes include an unfinished gas station with a sign for the fast-food chicken restaurant Popeyes on it.
While the gunplay included mostly blanks, the practice remains deadly serious for the UAE, which has spent billions on its military — including the Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters that circled overhead, the armored carriers that splashed into the city’s canals and the facility itself.
The UAE deployed forces into Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S. invasion targeting al-Qaida following the 9/11 attacks. Its day-to-day ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has sought to project Emirati military power in the Mideast and into East Africa as well. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis famously proclaimed the Emirates “little Sparta” for its posture.
That military push has included taking part in the long-running Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has seen sexual abuse at a UAE-controlled prison and the Emirates paying off members of al-Qaida’s local branch there. The UAE since has pulled its troops out of Yemen, calling for a political settlement to end a conflict between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels there and its Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government.
Emirati military officials at the base in al-Hamra on Monday declined to speak to Associated Press journalists. U.S. Ambassador John Rakolta Jr., on hand for the event, praised the UAE.
“Partnerships are based on many aspects, many fundamentals, and this happens just one of them,” he said when asked about Yemen. “Trust is a huge, huge factor. Transparency, common values all work into a partnership.”
Rakolta also described the exercise as “defensive in nature” when asked about Iran.
“I don’t believe that they’re intended to demonstrate a provocative act to the Iranians to say we’re coming,” he said. “Rather, we’re protecting ourselves and we want to sit down at the conference table and negotiate a lasting peace settlement.”
There was no immediate reaction in Iranian state media to the exercise. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also a concern is the ongoing outbreak of the new coronavirus. Rakolta said no U.S. diplomat in the UAE had contracted the virus. Savage said those U.S. forces involved had had little contact with the outside world after shipping out for the event and none had tested positive since. However, he said the military remained vigilant in terms of sanitation while living at the desert base.
“This has been an incredible training opportunity for us to go through this and practice how we would do something if, God forbid, we are forced to go fight in this region again,” Savage said.
*Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

New Iraqi Prime Minister-Designate Poses Threat to Iran, Opportunity for U.S.
John Hannah/FDD/March 24/2020
The March 17 nomination of Adnan al-Zurfi as Iraq’s prime minister-designate highlights the extent to which Iran’s stranglehold on Iraqi politics could be eroding. As such, Zurfi’s nomination holds out both the promise of a restoration of Iraqi sovereignty that aligns with U.S. interests, as well as the danger of escalating violence by an Iranian regime desperate to prevent such a strategic defeat.
Zurfi’s nomination by Iraqi President Barham Salih came on the heels of the failed effort of Mohammed Allawi earlier this month to replace the caretaker government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Abdul-Mahdi was forced to resign in late November under pressure from a mass protest movement demanding an overhaul of Iraq’s post-2003 political system.
Allawi’s February 1 nomination was almost entirely engineered by Iran, operating in conjunction with its Iraqi allies and Lebanese Hezbollah. It reflected a concerted effort by the Islamic Republic to shore up its position in the face of two fundamental challenges: first, the January 3 U.S. drone strike that killed both Qassem Soleimani, the mastermind of Iranian strategy in Iraq since 2003, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, Soleimani’s most powerful Iraqi agent; and second, the anti-government protests that have roiled Iraq since October, centered in the country’s Shiite heartland and propounding a distinctly nationalist narrative deeply resentful of Iranian interference.
Allawi’s failure to gain parliamentary approval marked a profound defeat for Iran. A surge in violence against protesters, ordered by extremist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (eager to prove himself as Iran’s new post-Soleimani enforcer), only bolstered the protest movement’s unambiguous rejection of Allawi. Sadr’s efforts to intimidate Kurdish and Sunni politicians into providing a parliamentary quorum for Allawi’s appointment also cratered.
Scrambling to recover, Iran dispatched the head of its national security council, Ali Shamkhani, to Baghdad on March 7 to press Iraq’s leading Islamist parties (the so-called Shiite House) to unite behind a new candidate. But to no avail. In the wake of Soleimani’s death and the collapse of Allawi’s nomination, divisions within the Shiite House only accelerated, preventing it from putting forward a new prime minister-designate by a March 17 deadline. No doubt sensing the signs of faltering Iranian clout, the pro-Western Salih stepped into the vacuum and exercised his constitutional authority to put forward a candidate of his own choosing: Zurfi.
It was a bold move. Zurfi, a Shiite, is widely viewed as pro-American in his sympathies. He spent more than a decade living in exile in the United States and holds dual U.S. citizenship. He returned to Iraq in 2003 with U.S. forces and was quickly appointed by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to serve as governor of Najaf province. After a stint working in Iraqi intelligence, Zurfi was twice elected as Najaf’s governor, where he earned a reputation as an aggressive administrator who delivered large-scale reconstruction while antagonizing Islamist parties that smeared him with corruption allegations. In 2018, Zurfi was elected to parliament as a member of the U.S.-supported list headed by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Not surprisingly, Zurfi’s appointment has elicited fierce opposition from many of Iran’s most important Iraqi allies, including former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the head of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Ameri. The full panoply of Iran-backed Iraqi militias has also targeted Zurfi’s nomination as an American plot that will not stand.
In contrast, the protest movement’s reaction to Zurfi has been far more muted and ambiguous than it was for Allawi (perhaps also a function of its increased dispersal in the face of the coronavirus crisis), while Kurdish, Sunni, and more independently-minded Shiite politicians have been favorably disposed.
The threats by Iran’s allies to derail Zurfi’s candidacy should be taken seriously. The ascendance of a genuine nationalist like Zurfi determined to restore Iraqi sovereignty, undermine militia power, and prioritize relations with the West would be one of the Iranian regime’s worst nightmares. Iran and its proxies will likely spare no effort to defeat him, whatever the cost to Iraq and despite the fact that Iran itself is now being ravaged by the coronavirus.
Already, in the days leading up to Zurfi’s nomination, Iraqi militias targeted U.S. troops and diplomats in multiple rocket attacks, a significant escalation of their efforts to force an American withdrawal and claim some semblance of strategic victory for Iran. Efforts to intimidate, blackmail, and, if necessary, violently attack those supportive of Zurfi’s candidacy – including Zurfi himself – are not only possible, but likely.
The Trump administration should understand that Zurfi’s nomination is a sign that Iran is now on the defensive in Iraq. This situation carries great dangers of violent escalation as Iran flails to reassert its dominant position, but also offers a strategic opportunity. Whether Washington has the bandwidth to take advantage as it rightly focuses on America’s own coronavirus crisis is an open question – a fact that no doubt gives Iran great heart.
Of course, if pro-Iranian militias continue to escalate their targeting of U.S. personnel, the administration will have little choice but to respond in some fashion. It should err on the side of strength, not restraint. Prominent militia leaders should be targeted a la the Soleimani strike. Sanctions should be imposed on Iran’s most prominent allies, particularly Maliki and his corrupt relatives as well as Amiri and Sadr.
Making clear that Iran’s proxies will pay a painful price for their aggression offers the best means not only of deterring further attacks on Americans, but also of keeping the pro-Iran camp on the defensive while exacerbating its divisions. The fact that it would also weaken the forces that now have a bullseye on Zurfi’s candidacy would be an added benefit, albeit one of potentially great strategic consequence for both Iraq and U.S. interests.
**John Hannah is senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more analysis from John and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Iran manoeuvres to get US sanctions lifted by rejecting US, international help
Thomas Seibert/The Arab Weekly/March 24/2020
ISTANBUL - Iran is rejecting offers of international help to fight coronavirus in hopes of getting US sanctions lifted.
The pandemic has hit Iran harder than any other country in the Middle East. Iranian Health Ministry figures March 24 said nearly 25,000 people in the country has been infected and approximately 2,000 have died since the first coronavirus case was diagnosed in Iran in mid-February. Only Italy, China and Spain have seen more fatalities. Teheran has been criticised for downplaying the threat posed by the virus and under-reporting infections and deaths. Even though the government called on citizens to stay home, thousands turned out for the funeral of high-ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Assadollahi March 23 near Tehran.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani said Iran had no intention of accepting an offer of humanitarian assistance from the United States and that the Trump administration should end its “maximum pressure campaign” instead. “American leaders are lying… If they want to help Iran, all they need to do is to lift sanctions… Then we can deal with the coronavirus outbreak,” Rohani said March 23 in a televised speech.
Rohani’s remarks echoed a statement by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said his country would never accept aid to fight the coronavirus from arch-enemy and “charlatans,” the United States. Citing a conspiracy theory that claims the virus could have been created by the United States, Khamenei asked “who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?” He alleged that the virus was “specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians that they have obtained through different means.”
Reports said Iran also rejected a plan by the medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to build a 50-bed inflatable hospital, staffed with an emergency team of nine people, in Isfahan.
MSF said the hospital had been sent to Iran from France by air but the US-financed Radio Farda reported that an adviser to Iranian Minister of Health Alireza Vahabzadeh called the MSF action “irrelevant.” MSF did not immediately respond to a question for clarification.
US President Donald Trump, who has stepped up sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, said on February 29 that Washington was ready to help Iran fight the virus if its leaders requested it.
However, there is no sign that Washington would ease sanctions. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signalled the United States was unreceptive to Tehran’s request for a loan from the International Monetary Fund, where Washington effectively holds a veto, accusing the regime of funding “terror abroad” with its resources.
Reports said there was a debate inside the Trump administration of how to respond to attacks by pro-Iran militias on US military installations in Iraq. One group of advisers, including Pompeo, argued for a forceful response while others, such as US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, said there was no clear evidence Iran ordered a recent attack that killed two US servicemen and a British soldier, the New York Times reportes.
NBC News reported that Trump “expressed concern that hitting back hard at Iran at this time would make the United States look bad given the extent to which Iran and the rest of the world are struggling to contain the spread” of the coronavirus.
More than 25 organisations, including the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and the International Crisis Group think-tank, asked Trump in an open letter to loosen sanctions for four months.
“To help stem the continued spread of the virus inside Iran and beyond, we urge you to issue a time-bound suspension of those US sanctions that make it harder for ordinary Iranians to secure basic goods and services to weather the crisis,” the letter, published on the NIAC website, read.
Some of the United States’ allies also voiced concern because Iran is a regional hotbed for the virus. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan asked Trump to lift the sanctions. “The people of Iran are facing untold suffering as sanctions are crippling Iran’s efforts to fight COVID-19,” Khan wrote on Twitter.
However, observers say the Trump administration is not expected to ease pressure on Iran. Washington argues that the sanctions regime does not ban the import of medical supplies and machines.
“The Trump administration is infected by an addiction to its own sanctions and is unlikely to suspend them to help Iran contain the spread of COVID-19,” Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the Crisis Group, said via e-mail, “but as Iran’s neighbours have realised: If Iran sneezes, they will catch a cold.”
Vaez said the US government was hoping to “bring Iran to its knees” with the combined effect of sanctions and the coronavirus crisis.
“That is a misguided understanding of Iran's strategic calculus, as the weaker Tehran becomes the less it will want to negotiate with the US,” Vaez said. “The US indifference to the wellbeing of the Iranian people in the midst of this public health crisis will have long-term consequences.”

What are millions of refugees to do in this pandemic if we do not help them?
Kareem Shaheen/The National/March 24/2020
The global system set up to look after the displaced is already strained, but without urgent help it may collapse
Syrian refugees in a construction site they have been using as a shelter in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon as Lebanon enters lockdown to protect against coronavirus outbreaks, on March 17, 2020. AFP
All of us have had our lives upended by the coronavirus outbreak. Schools have shut down, airplanes have been grounded all over the world, doctors and nurses are working round the clock to save lives and the rest of us who aren’t absolutely essential to the day-to-day functioning of food and supply lines have to stay home. We are practicing social distancing in an effort to limit the spread of the virus, washing our hands regularly and sanitising everything.
It can all seem onerous, but many of us are quite lucky when you think about it. We have access to potable water and soap, we can shower, we aren’t worried about the food running out from the supermarkets or the medicine from the pharmacies. Many of us have roofs over our heads.
There are many who don’t.
Today, there are more than 70 million people displaced worldwide, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. That includes internally displaced people, or IDPs, who have fled war inside their own country and refugees who crossed borders in search of shelter. Most of the refugees are from Syria, followed by Afghanistan and South Sudan. Around 37,000 people a day are forced to flee their homes because of war and persecution. That is one person every two seconds.
Most of them are fleeing to neighbouring countries that are themselves struggling, leaving them vulnerable in places with poor or inadequate healthcare. Those who stay in their countries will fare even worse in areas devastated by conflict.
Let us take the case of Syria. Most of those displaced by the war are still inside the country – around 10 million people rendered homeless by fighting. A recent government offensive in Idlib province, near the Turkish border, forced a million civilians to flee to the frontier between the two countries, their children in tow.
Most are living in flimsy tents that flood every time it rains or under the open air, in large family groups. They have little access to life’s basic necessities, including running water. In a recent interview with the New York Times, one man in the province said he had to go for days without bathing his children, let alone wash his hands regularly, for lack of clean water. Social distancing is a privilege. If the virus takes hold in those communities, it will be a catastrophe. Nor are there medical facilities capable of handling any outbreak. The Bashar Al Assad regime and its allies have conducted at least 537 separate attacks on healthcare facilities in the country, destroying the ability of communities to care for the sick.
Protecting refugees is paramount – not only because it would help curb the spread of the virus, but also because it is the decent thing to do
In the meantime, reports have emerged of possible Covid-19 cases in government-controlled and impoverished areas of Syria – though, officially, the authorities have only acknowledged one case. The health minister there, when asked about the disease, said the military had “cleansed the country of germs”, referring to the opposition. It hardly inspires confidence, and the risk of an outbreak in a failed state with a ruined economy and healthcare system are even graver.
Those living in refugee camps further afield fare no better, such as in neighbouring Lebanon or in overcrowded neighborhoods of Gaza living under siege in a tiny strip of territory. The potential for an infection spreading like wildfire is extremely high and very deadly due to the absence of proper care.
Then there are the refugees who have to endure the racism of demagogues, both in the Middle East and abroad. The pandemic has already seen Donald Trump refer to coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” and imply that preventing migrants from entering the country would protect everyone from infection. In Europe, far-right politicians have spread conspiracy theories about refugees and migrants bringing the pandemic to Western shores – a racist accusation against the world’s most vulnerable. Some of those most vulnerable people live in notoriously awful conditions in refugee camps in Europe, such as the Moria camp in Greece, where, once again, the pandemic taking hold could be disastrous.
Protecting refugees, who have already lost everything, is paramount – not only because it would help curb the spread of the virus, but also because it is the decent thing to do. The public health emergency that the world is enduring at the moment will last for quite some time, and it depends upon everyone doing their part to “flatten the curve” – i.e. curb infection rates – and helping the most vulnerable in our societies.
Governments must take measures to provide health care and support for the most vulnerable among us and, in conflict zones, to establish ceasefires that allow aid and assistance to reach everybody in need. As individuals, we can perhaps provide for the more vulnerable closer to home, whether that is an elderly neighbour who cannot shop for groceries or a family whose parents have lost their jobs because of the pandemic. And, when social isolation frustrates us, we must remember we are lucky to have the facility to self-isolate in the first place.
The time is now to start building the societies that will emerge out of this pandemic. Perhaps, cooped up in isolation, we will grow kinder to others, no matter the colour of their skin or their mother tongue.
*Kareem Shaheen is a former Middle East correspondent based in Canada

Presidential election to decide which path US takes on Iran
Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/March 24/2020
Following more primary elections last week, it appears that former Vice President Joe Biden is very likely to be the Democratic Party’s nominee to compete against President Donald Trump in the November election. Recent retaliatory strikes between the US and Iran-affiliated militants in Iraq have highlighted that Iran will continue to pose a challenge for whoever is the next US president.
Trump’s presidency has represented a major break with previous Republican and Democratic foreign policy precedents. Biden promises an approach much more similar to that of former President Barack Obama. However, the world has changed significantly in the last four years, and even the type of centrist foreign policy experts that Biden would likely look to for advice would suggest some changes to US foreign policy.
Trump’s approach toward Iran is already well known. His disdain for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — and for the Obama administration’s negotiation of it — was clear during his campaign for president. He withdrew the US from the agreement in May 2018. His administration subsequently imposed severe sanctions on Iran, as the key element of a “maximum pressure” campaign. Under Trump, America has been more assertive toward Iran militarily while seeking to avoid an all-out war. Most notably, a US strike killed key Iranian figure Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January.
While the Trump administration has clearly been willing to use sanctions and limited military actions against Iran, the ultimate goal of the maximum pressure approach has been less clear. It appears that Trump wants to force Iran to negotiate a deal that is more conducive to US interests and therefore demonstrate that he is a better negotiator than Obama. However, within the administration, different advisers appear to have varying ideas about what an acceptable agreement might look like. For example, in a 2018 speech, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out a series of demands that went far beyond the JCPOA’s focus on Iran’s nuclear program; including requiring that Iran halt funding for groups like Hezbollah, withdraw its forces from Syria, and in other ways fundamentally reverse its foreign policy. Going even further, some advisers promoted regime change, though Trump appears to have little interest in that approach.
If Trump wins re-election, it is likely that his administration will continue its maximum pressure approach. The cycle of escalation and de-escalation between Iran and the US would also be likely to continue. This would raise the ongoing risk of war. While Trump appears to want to avoid a large-scale military conflict with Iran, the political risks of a war would be lower in a second Trump administration, thus increasing the probability of aggressive US military action.
A Biden administration would likely take a very different approach. Biden has been clear that he sees Iran as a “destabilizing actor in the Middle East” that supports terrorism, opposes US interests, and represses dissent. He has said that Iran must never have nuclear weapons. In his view, the US must act to counter Iran, but should do so with a clear strategy, specific goals, and in cooperation with allies, particularly those in Europe. He has criticized Trump’s approach as lacking a strategy, with “no endgame.” He has expressed concern that Trump, acting reactively, jumps into cycles of escalation with no clear way out.  Biden has defended the JCPOA, saying that it significantly reduced the risk of Iran developing nuclear weapons and created space for diplomacy to help manage other problems related to Iran. If he became president, Biden has said that he would rejoin the JCPOA, on the condition that Iran returned to compliance with the agreement. He suggests that restarting the JCPOA would be a first step, rebuilding US credibility and re-establishing an international consensus against an Iranian nuclear weapons program. He would hope to build on that to gain other compromises from Iran and to ensure multilateral cooperation to contain Iran’s regional activities.
If he became president, Biden has said that he would rejoin the JCPOA, on the condition that Iran returned to compliance.
Both Trump and Biden would likely adopt Iran policies that would fit into their overall approach toward foreign policy. Trump prefers an approach that emphasizes being tough, using sanctions as a key tool, and fundamentally demonstrating a strong break with the Obama administration. Biden is emphasizing continuity with the Obama administration, though, in reality, the world has changed in the last few years, and his foreign policy approach would likely reflect those changes. Nonetheless, Biden emphasizes a mix of diplomacy and other forms of power projection, the importance of allies and multilateral cooperation, and a focus on traditional US values, including an anti-authoritarian component.
They both see the Iranian regime as a problem and a threat, but they would deal with the Iranian government in significantly different ways. The severity of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Iran will have long-term consequences for Iranian politics, and that might change the ways in which the winner of November’s election approaches the country. However, whatever the impact of the virus on Iranian or US politics, a Biden presidency would mark a departure from current US policy toward Iran, while a second Trump term would most likely be a continuation.
*Kerry Boyd Anderson is a writer and political risk consultant with more than 16 years’ experience as a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk. Her previous positions include deputy director for advisory with Oxford Analytica and managing editor of Arms Control Today. Twitter: @KBAresearch
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

World needs a plan to prevent post-virus economic chaos
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/March 24/2020
As the world battles the alarming spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) through lockdowns, calls for self-isolation and even by imposing curfews, the specter of an impending global recession is looming large. Factories have closed, planes have been grounded, oil prices have plunged and stock markets are in peril amid general uncertainty over how long the global shutdown will last.
Our region has been especially hit as a result of the pandemic. Aside from the decline in energy prices, many sectors are already feeling the pressure — travel and tourism and capital markets chief among them. It is not only that sectors will lose billions of dollars as a result of the lockdown, but there are growing fears many could collapse unless governments step in with generous bailouts and stimulus plans.
Last week, Saudi Arabia unveiled a $32 billion stimulus plan to support its economy, including a $13.3 billion package for small and medium-sized businesses. Other measures include the postponement of tax payments and exemptions from various government levies and fees. For its part, the UAE released its own plan, worth $27 billion, to support critical sectors such as banking and tourism. Lower oil and gas prices have forced Qatar to cough up $23 billion in financial incentives, while Kuwait and other Gulf countries will surely follow suit.
These countries are being realistic and are taking pre-emptive measures. The pandemic could last for months and its reverberations will be felt for years to come. It could affect this year’s pilgrimage season — the Umrah pilgrimage has already been suspended — and may have a negative impact on Dubai’s Expo 2020, which is due to begin in October. Oil-producing countries will face fiscal deficits due to decreasing global demand.
The pandemic has hit vital sectors in Egypt and Jordan, especially tourism — a main source of foreign currency. With the lockdown, experts believe that Jordan could lose the entire tourism season for this year, with a loss of no less than $3 billion. The tourism sector employs at least 55,000. Farmers will be hit as well, as the curfew will affect their ability to deliver their produce. For Egypt, which has closed all tourist attractions and museums until the end of March, losses for the tourism sector alone are expected to be $1 billion a month.
Lebanon’s economy, which had been struggling before the outbreak because of the political impasse, will be especially impacted by the lockdown. Last year’s political instability had already cost the tourism sector billions of dollars. With a serious liquidity shortage, the government will be unable to come to the rescue of ailing sectors.
One of the most serious challenges that many countries in the region face is their inability to honor payments for foreign loans. Lebanon has already defaulted on a $1.2 billion Eurobond payment and asked for loan restructuring. Jordan, where the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is over 95 percent, will have difficulty meeting its international obligations. Its main foreign currency source from expatriate remittances, estimated at $4 billion annually, will likely be affected.
In short, no country in the region will be immune to the damage that the pandemic will have on its economy. It goes without saying that, for the world to halt the spiral into a global recession, it must come up with an emergency plan to speed up recovery. This is not charity: If even one country fails to fight the coronavirus due to lack of resources, then the threat of a second wave of the pandemic will be real.
The pandemic could last for months and its reverberations will be felt for years to come.
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Western governments must act together to defer debt payments, allow for generous grace periods and even consider debt forgiveness. Countries that have limited resources will need to borrow money in order to launch their own stimulus plans. The way lenders did business before the pandemic will have to change. Solidarity is a must in a globalized world.
Saudi Arabia, which holds the G20 presidency, has called for an extraordinary summit of the group’s leaders next week. As with all other gatherings in the world today, it will be in “virtual” format. On Sunday, the Civil 20 (C20) issued a statement calling on G20 leaders to respond to changes in the labor market and the education system in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The statement highlighted the recent virus outbreak, as well as the bushfires in Australia, as examples of how global systems can be challenged, leading to inequality between individuals and countries, which the C20 said must be addressed by the G20 states.
Saudi Arabia is in a good position to speak on behalf of poorer countries whose economies are suffering as a result of the pandemic. The issue now is how these countries will recover once the threat of the virus has receded. The world must work on a plan now in order to step in and avoid mass economic chaos.
*Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. Twitter: @plato010

Coronavirus Could Very Well Slow by the Summer
David Fickling/Bloomberg/March 24/2020
One great unknown about the coronavirus pandemic currently circling the globe is how it will respond as the weather gets warmer.
The virus will “go away in April,” President Donald Trump told a meeting of governors last month, “as the heat comes in.” That over-confident assertion has attracted criticism from virologists and fact-checkers. Most respiratory diseases — such as influenza and the mundane rhinovirus and coronavirus strains that cause the common cold — do indeed spread more rapidly in the cold, dry conditions of the winter months. But it’s been impossible to say for sure how Covid-19 would behave in summer and late spring for an obvious reason — the strain didn’t exist until around November last year.
At the same time, evidence is starting to emerge that temperature and humidity do make a difference in the ability of the virus to infect large numbers. That should give health services hope for some respite as summer spreads across northern temperate regions, aiding the ability to plan for renewed outbreaks once winter rolls around.
We can’t simulate summer conditions in countries currently in the grip of winter, but we can do something almost as good — look at what’s happening in places closer to the equator where the climate is milder.
There’s been suggestive evidence on this front for some time. Iran, which accounts for about 90% of coronavirus cases in the Middle East, is unique in the region for mostly sitting on a plateau where winter conditions resemble those of more northerly countries. At the same time, some Southeast Asian nations with close business and tourism links to China have seen surprisingly few cases, even if you assume their less developed public health systems are missing infections. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have each seen fewer cases than Estonia, Slovenia or Iceland, despite a combined population more than 100 times as large. A study uploaded to medical pre-print server MedRxiv Monday plots recorded cases against climate conditions to suggest that there is indeed a significant correlation between outbreaks and the weather. In extreme cold and very hot and wet conditions the virus is “largely absent,” the researchers from Spain, Portugal and Finland wrote, meaning that people in tropical and polar climates are unlikely to see local transmission of cases.
Arid regions will see a higher rate of infections but the worst-hit areas will be temperate countries and high-altitude areas closer to the equator. The period between June and September should see a slowing rate of infections in much of Europe and North America, they wrote, although areas closer to the poles in Scandinavia, Russia and Canada may see worsening conditions as the climate warms enough to support local infections.
Another pre-print study by four Beijing-based researchers uploaded to the arXiv server last week comes to a similar conclusion after analyzing the infection rates in 100 Chinese cities. That rate, known as the R0, is a key determinant of an infection’s propensity to spread. For Covid-19 it’s currently estimated to be around 2.2, but moving it below 1 should, if sustained, be enough to turn the current out-of-control epidemic into an outbreak that goes extinct on its own.
Increasing the temperature by one degree centigrade reduces the R0 by 0.0383 and increasing humidity by 1% pushes it down by 0.0224, the researchers found. That should be particularly significant in places with hot, wet summers, they wrote: In the event the Tokyo Olympics goes ahead, the R0 in the city would likely be at extinction levels below 1, given normal summer conditions.
The results shouldn’t be too surprising. The mechanism that causes influenza and colds to spread faster in the winter isn’t perfectly understood. It appears to relate to the way virus particles can stay active on surfaces such as elevator buttons and door handles for longer in mild weather; the way people show greater susceptibility to throat infections when breathing cold, dry air; and to our tendency to congregate in warm, close conditions where diseases spread easily during winter weather. Still, it would be remarkable if Covid-19 really behaved in a manner different from every other coronavirus, or indeed almost every other common respiratory virus.
Don’t start planning any summer holidays on the expectation this disease will vanish with the sun. For one thing, both studies are still just computer models, and neither has been through peer review. On top of that, even a reduced rate of infection will only slow, rather than halt the spread of this pandemic. In most places, it won’t even be sufficient to push the R0 below 1, in the absence of other measures such as social distancing.
Still, one worst-case scenario for this disease — where it rampages through lower-income regions of Africa and Southeast Asia, and there’s no seasonal break for health services to catch a breath before the next wave — is looking less likely than it did a few weeks ago. That still leaves a range of very grim scenarios, but right now we should take what comfort we can get.

Coronavirus Triggers the Worst Market Crash Since 1987
Mark Gongloff/Bloomberg/March 24/2020
The coronavirus panic gripping markets, with US stocks falling the most since 1987’s Black Monday and threatening a new credit crisis, is being fueled by a global failure of leadership.
Take President Donald Trump. He had a chance last night to reboot his handling of the rapidly unfolding virus crisis and end the market sell-off. Instead he made several unforced errors, blamed other countries for the disease’s spread, bragged unconvincingly about his crisis-handling, and unveiled plans that fell far short of what experts or the market wanted. It was a debacle encapsulating the worst of his presidency, writes Jonathan Bernstein. Stock futures collapsed even as he spoke, and major indexes plunged today, falling deeper into a bear market and triggering circuit breakers for the second time in a week.
This must be especially painful for Trump, who has claimed credit for every stock-market gain, notes John Authers. He’s now learning why other presidents avoided this: When you claim it on the way up, you own it on the way down.
Trump apparently thinks minimizing the virus’s threat and dribbling out economic support will turn markets around. But investors foremost want him to take the health crisis seriously, writes James Bianco. Other countries have gotten to this point more quickly. Tim Culpan suggests there are stages of virus response like the stages of grief. Later stages include acceptance and aggressive action, as we’ve seen in Taiwan and Italy. The US is still wallowing in the early stage of denial, making the crisis much worse.
And the measures Trump did lay out were inadequate, writes Noah Smith. We need bigger loans to businesses than Trump proposed, along with paid sick leave and drastically expanded virus testing and care. All of that and more was in a Democratic relief bill Trump and Republicans immediately rejected, worsening the market sell-off.
What’s more, Trump’s controversial European travel restriction is almost certainly pointless now that the virus is already here, writes Justin Fox. Even at their most effective, such bans simply delay transmission.
Trump has also floated bailing out affected industries such as cruise lines and shale frackers, businesses far from critical to the functioning of the nation’s economy. Frackers in particular need consolidation, given sagging demand for their product, writes Liam Denning. Supporting them through this crisis is a kind of corporate socialism the Soviet Union would have envied. Some global leaders are rising to the occasion. Germany’s Angela Merkel, for example, has emerged from weeks of politically necessitated hiding to talk seriously about the challenges of the disease, writes Andreas Kluth. These two have long had opposing management styles, to put it mildly, and it’s never been clearer.
The time between this bear market’s onset and the most recent market peak is the quickest since 1929, James Bianco notes. This is a terrifying comparison, but also a telling one. Back then Franklin Delano Roosevelt successfully calmed the nation by prioritizing honesty, action, and teamwork, writes Cass Sunstein. We’re a long way from FDR.
The European Central Bank didn’t help by failing to deliver an expected interest-rate cut this morning, as its president, Christine Lagarde, apparently surrendered to the hawks. What’s worse, she also delivered red meat to the sovereign-debt bears, shrugging as yield spreads jumped for Italy and other European economies, note Marcus Ashworth and Mark Gilbert.
With one tossed-off sentence — “We are not here to close spreads.” — Lagarde dismantled the sense of safety her predecessor Mario Draghi had provided when he protected the debt of EU member states, writes Ferdinando Giugliano. Good thing there’s no kind of market crisis going on! At least somebody on Liberty Street in New York knows how to respond to a crisis. For several days now, the Treasury bond market has been doing very weird things, with rates swinging wildly and occasionally rising even as stocks crash, which seldom happens. It turns out forced selling has created something of a liquidity problem in the bond market, Brian Chappatta writes, so the New York Fed leaped into action with a promise of $1.5 trillion in bond-buying.
This very briefly eased the pain in stocks, but soon investors were back to clamoring for more. One thing the Fed should do right away is slash interest rates to zero, writes Tim Duy. There’s no point in keeping its power dry, now that the economy is likely in recession already.
Still, it’s good the Fed has committed to supporting the repo market that greases the skids of commerce, writes Brian Chappatta. This should help keep a market crash and recession from turning into a full-blown credit crisis. Because there probably will be unpleasant knock-on surprises, writes Matt Levine, as leverage and positions built up in the good times suddenly unwind.
As for stocks, the duration of this bear market probably depends less on panic than on expectations of the damage about to be done to earnings, suggests Nir Kaissar. Profit forecasts are already being slashed dramatically, notes John Authers. Expectations are for a v-shaped recovery, but a credit crunch could blow up those expectations.
The Volatility Index is screaming this is like 2008 all over again, writes Barry Ritholtz. That’s either reason to freak out, or an early buying signal. Good luck guessing which!

How Iran Became a Global Vector of Infection for COVID-19/The authoritarian theocracy faces specific challenges in dealing with the coronavirus
Noam Blum/The Tablet/March 24/2020
As the world hunkers down to face the global outbreak of COVID-19, also called the coronavirus (or “Wuhan virus,” depending on one’s political inclinations), the focus of world attention has shifted from its origin point of China—where aggressive containment measures have seemingly worked to counter the exponential growth of those infected—to Italy, where a swift eruption of cases in the north has led to an effective shutdown of the entire country. Lost in this frantic and spastic global attention span is how hard the virus has been hitting Iran. Exclusive reports from doctors inside the country reveal a state of disorganized chaos, little to no accurate information, and scarce resources that limit the ability of the health-care system to cope with the flood of new cases.
Iran currently has the third-worst outbreak of COVID-19 following China and Italy, with as of Friday 514 official deaths since the first reported case on Feb. 19. Speculation that the situation there is far, far worse than official accounts indicate has been bolstered by the relatively large number of Iranian upper echelons—regime officials, clerics, and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—who have contracted the disease, some of them fatally.
Additionally, several countries have discovered cases of COVID-19 that originated with travelers from Iran in the early days of March. One of the first cases in New Zealand came from a family who had recently traveled to the Islamic Republic. At least three of the first 12 cases in Canada came via Iran, as did all 33 initial cases in Iraq. In the United States, the first confirmed COVID-19 case in New York City was a health-care worker who had returned from Iran, and Los Angeles also identified a coronavirus patient from Iran who passed through LAX. India evacuated hundreds of Indian Muslim pilgrims from affected areas in Iran, many of whom tested positive for the coronavirus. And in Lebanon, reports indicate—difficult to confirm—that Hebzollah officials (possibly including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah himself) had contracted the virus from an Iranian delegation that visited the country headed by the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani. There are also reports of new cases in China that were transmitted there by travelers from Iran.
According to one doctor in Tehran, accurate figures on infection and death rates are nonexistent. The situation in cities like Rashat in Guilan province and Kashan in Isfahan province, both close to the outbreak epicenter of Qom, is especially severe, with full hospitals and patients being sent home without being admitted. Hospitals in Guilan, he said, are admitting upwards of 200 patients a day with a 2% to 3% mortality rate and not enough kits to test new arrivals. “Unfortunately, both the government and the Ministry of Health were in a state of shock due to the rapid and surprising outbreak,” a second doctor told Tablet.
There are also rumors circulating that the regime was burying the bodies of anti-regime protesters killed in riots last November together with coronavirus victims in order to mask their causes of death.
As a result, the natural instinct is to blame Iran’s totalitarian and secretive nature for the fact that the crisis there is likely much worse than is being reported. The same happened in China, which initially tamped down news of the outbreak for weeks, and later provided falsely reassuring statements regarding both its scope and the virus’ transmission potential. Additionally, the breadth and nature of emergency measures that can be brought to bear by police states like China and Iran, with little to no regard for civil liberties or legal structures, would imply that the latter could have found itself in a position to counter the spread similarly to the former. Indeed, some reports even indicate that the close ties between the two countries could be to blame for the initial spread of COVID-19 to the Islamic Republic.
So, why is Iran so different?
First off, there is the Iranian regime itself and its modus operandi: The ayatollahs painted themselves into a corner by initially downplaying the severity of the virus due to the legislative election held on Feb. 21—two days after the first reported case in the country. Graeme Wood, who estimates the number of potential cases in Iran could be in the millions, writes in The Atlantic that “Iran’s government told its people that the United States had hyped COVID-19 to suppress turnout, and Tehran vowed to punish anyone spreading rumors about a serious epidemic.”
And so, the paranoia frequently wielded by the ayatollah regime as a psychological cudgel made the still-developing story a convenient tool to convince Iranians to head to the polls. Despite the reported turnout in the election sitting at 43%—the lowest since the 1979 revolution—the regime’s dismissal of the risk in order to drive higher turnout rates may have ended up acting as a catalyst for the outbreak. In an ironic twist, officials later blamed the virus for lower turnout rates.
There is also evidence to indicate that the regime was well aware of the danger at that point, following reports that Tehran began digging massive burial pits on Feb. 21 in the Shia holy city of Qom—the epicenter of Iran’s outbreak and the site of several Chinese infrastructure projects, which could have served as the initial conduit of transmission. China is investing heavily in Iran due to the economic sanctions imposed on it, which also play a part in the country’s weakened health-care system and its inability to deal with the outbreak.
The problem is additionally compounded by a general lack of public trust in the regime, which initially scoffed at containment measures, only to reverse course shortly afterward, leading to panic buying and distrust of subsequent official updates provided by the government. The paranoia so carefully cultivated in Iranians by their leaders had risen up against its makers, to the detriment of containment efforts. Other acts of defiance were also tied to Iran’s religious traditionalism, such as the licking of shrines in Qom, and public objections from clerics to a lockdown, citing an American conspiracy to undermine Iran’s religious establishment by tying the virus to the holy city.
Thus, despite sharing the Chinese Communist Party’s paranoia-wielding, autocratic police state proclivities, the Iranian regime, fearing widespread panic, did not initiate a lockdown in Qom in the same way that China had for the 60 million residents of Hubei province once matters got out of hand. Instead, it focused on stemming the flow of information by, among other measures, threatening health-care providers into silence. On top of this, the regime’s ability to deploy resources to combat the virus is apparently so lacking that it has requested a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund—Iran’s first such request since the early 1960s. The ayatollahs—whose message of steadfast resistance to United States-led Western aggression has maintained a psychological stranglehold on their population for decades—have been reduced to publicly groveling for financial assistance from international organizations in order to deal with the crisis.
The real scope of Iran’s COVID-19 outbreak has not yet become clear, and it remains to be seen whether the ayatollahs can maintain stability in the face of such a public health crisis, which has only been made worse by the theocratic regime’s totalitarian tactics, whiplash policies, and the state of international isolation and economic sanctions that it has brought on its own people by its pursuit of nuclear weapons, development of ballistic missiles, threats against neighboring and regional countries, and genocidal warfare in Syria—policies that the regime is continuing even as it buries its own people in open pits.
*Additional reporting by Avideh Motmaen-Far. Read Tablet’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.
*Noam Blum is Associate Editor at Tablet magazine.

Coronavirus: Should the U.S. Lift Sanctions on Iran?
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 24/2020
In a recent video, a masked man holding a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle warns that the attacks on Taji and Basmaya military camps were only the beginning of a much larger offensive. — Usbat al-Thayireen, or League of Revolutionaries, a new Shiite militia group, Newsweek, March 19, 2020.
"The Islamic resistance of Usbat al-Thayireen vows to strike the occupation forces' bases and [US] embassy in the coming days and will continue striking the occupation until it exits the country, and the matter will be taken further if the occupier does not leave. We say to the hypocrites who are collaborators at the evil embassy: Your days are numbered and you will face your fate very soon." — Usbat al-Thayireen, or League of Revolutionaries, a new Shiite militia group, Newsweek, March 19, 2020.
The idea that the ruling mullahs of Iran and the top state sponsor of terrorism will use the extra revenues from the lifting of sanctions for humanitarian purposes is totally irrational. Easing sanctions will enable, embolden and empower the Iranian regime to damage the US and its allies' national security interests still further and kill more Americans. The US President's Iran policy of maximum pressure, which should probably be even more maximum, is headed in the right direction.
Iran-backed militias recently launched approximately eighteen Katyusha rockets into Camp Taji, Iraq, killing two American soldiers and one British soldier. Pictured: US soldiers supervise a training session at the Camp Taji, Iraq on March 6, 2017.
While the US administration is expanding its maximum pressure policy on Iran, some people, such as US Senator Bernie Sanders, are calling for immediate relief for the Iranian regime. "As a caring nation," Sanders recently posted on Twitter, "we must lift any sanctions hurting Iran's ability to address this crisis, including financial sanctions."
Lifting sanctions on the aggressive regime of Iran would be an extremely wrong move.
What politicians such Sanders seem not to recognize is that the Islamic Republic prioritizes its military adventurism over its nation's health crisis. In other words, Iran's regime will almost certainly use the extra revenues to arm its militias across the region that attack the US and its allies' forces, as it has a pattern of doing in the past.
Amid the coronavirus crisis, for example, Iran-backed militias have been ratcheting up their rockets attacks in Iraq. A rocket attack killed several members of the US-led Coalition at Iraq's Camp Taji on March 11. Approximately eighteen 107mm Katyusha rockets slammed into Camp Taji, killing two American soldiers and one British soldier in recent weeks.
In Syria, the Iranian regime has recently ratcheted up its efforts to recruit young Shia fighters. Iranian forces and its militia in Syria such as "Saraya Al-Areen" have recently recruited around 9,000 young fighters from Shia communities in Sayda, Da'el, and Izraa, and have sent them for military training, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Mass recruitment can also be witnessed in the north-east around the Euphrates River in the north-east and near Deir Ez-Zor province.
Iran is also exploiting the economic crisis by offering financial incentives to the fighters. "Those young people hurry to join the ranks of Iranian-backed militias because of the deteriorating living conditions and lack of job opportunities" according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Iran's modus operandi appears to be anchored in exploiting instability and crises in order to gain more influence in other countries and further the regime's anti-American and antisemitic policies. In addition, Hezbollah has been assisting Iran in recruiting more militants. As the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) added:
"While in Al-Quneitra, near the border with the Occupied Golan, the Lebanese Hezbollah continues entrenching their presence by attracting young people who have defaulted the reserve and mandatory service and fled regime security pursuit. Those young people hurry to join the ranks of Iranian-backed militias because of the deteriorating living conditions and lack of job opportunities. Conversions to Shiite and recruitment operations in Al-Quneitra province are concentrated in Al-Baath city and Khan Arnabah."
A new Shia militia group was also recently established in Iraq. It calls itself the Islamic resistance of Usbat al-Thayireen, or League of Revolutionaries. These Iraqi Shia militias are mainly sponsored and armed by the Iranian regime. In a recent video, a masked man holding a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle warns that the attacks on Taji and Basmaya military camps were only the beginning of a much larger offensive. In another statement, the group declares its plan:
"The Islamic resistance of Usbat al-Thayireen vows to strike the occupation forces' bases and [US] embassy in the coming days and will continue striking the occupation until it exits the country, and the matter will be taken further if the occupier does not leave. We say to the hypocrites who are collaborators at the evil embassy: Your days are numbered and you will face your fate very soon."
In another video the Shia militia group announces its anti-American mission as a "martyrdom project whose mission is striking the American occupation forces, striking its bases, striking the occupations' embassy and avenging the martyred leaders and their companions." In a direct address to US President Donald Trump and the friends of the two U.S. personnel who were killed alongside a U.K. service member by Katyusha rocket fire at Camp Taji, the group ordered them "to leave vertically before we force them to leave horizontally." The Shia militia group has also threatened Israel by warning of its "victorious, blooming, prideful and dignified arsenal which has far longer-range weapons that can kill you in the land of your spoiled child, Israel."
The idea that the ruling mullahs of Iran and the top state sponsor of terrorism will use the extra revenues from the of sanctions for humanitarian purposes is totally irrational. Easing sanctions will enable, embolden and empower the Iranian regime to damage the US and its allies' national security interests still further and kill more Americans. The US President's Iran policy of maximum pressure, which should probably be even more maximum, is headed in the right direction.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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Turkey: Violence against Women Continues to Escalate
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute./March 24/ 2020
Violence against women has become Turkey's new normal.
In 2010 Turkey was shaken by the surfacing of alleged serial rapes.... including cases of adults raping minors and minors raping toddlers, killing one.
In 2014 Erdoğan said that "women should know their place," and that "gender equality is against human nature"....
No doubt Turkey's gender equality deficit bitterly shows that Islamist culture is much stickier than any Western-inspired legislation. Patriarchal cultural codes are deeply engraved throughout the society; unfortunately, it will take more than legislation to make them disappear.
Violence against women has become Turkey's new normal.
It has become customary. As in previous years, on March 8, Turkish riot police brutally attacked demonstrators walking in central Istanbul to mark the International Women's Day. A feminist march at midnight was dispersed by rubber bullets and scores of tear gas canisters shot by the police. All that Turkish women were asking for was equal treatment and protesting the growing "tradition" of women being murdered.
Ironically their grandmothers were luckier than some of their Western peers. The secular civil code of 1926, introduced as part of Atatürk's reforms, gave Turkish women civil rights equal to that of men. The law meant that religious and polygamous marriages would not be officially recognized. It also gave women the right to initiate divorce. Shortly afterwards, in 1935, for the first time, Turkish women were allowed to vote in national elections: as a result, eighteen female candidates were elected to parliament – a decade or more earlier than women in Western countries such as France, Italy and Belgium. In 1935, only eight women served in the US Congress and nine in the British parliament.
Since then, women's problems, including their right to live, have gradually worsened: violence against women has become Turkey's new normal. According to the We Will End Femicide Platform, a women's rights watchdog group, nearly 2,000 Turkish women have been killed just since February 2015, often by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends. In 2019 alone in Turkey, 474 women were slain. In 2018, in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, in broader terms than just murdering women, Turkey ranked 130th among 149 countries in 2018, behind Tunisia, Algeria and many Arab Gulf countries such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. According to official statistics, women in Turkey earn on average TL46,208 ($7,584) annually while men on average make TL50,297 ($8,255). Also, according to an official survey, released just before this year's Women's Day, the employment rate was 29.4% for women, compared to 65.7% for men.
Where, then is the problem? Evidence suggests the root cause of the problem is not legislative deficit. In 2012, Turkey was the first country to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention. The treaty specifically targets violence against women and obliges the ratifying countries to prevent gender-based crime, provide adequate protection and services for victims and assure the prosecution of perpetrators.
The same year, the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (then prime minister) passed Law Number 6248 to Protect the Family and Prevent Violence Against Women and introduced gender equality policies.
Why, then, have gender inequality and murdering women worsened after presumably successful legislation? The problem most probably lies within the depths of the cultural codes of the Turkish Islamist, conservative, patriarchal psyche.
In 2009 Hüseyin Üzmez, a columnist for the Islamist, fiercely pro-Erdoğan daily Vakit (now Yeni Akit), was convicted and imprisoned on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, but was released from prison after a court suspended his 13-year sentence. After his release, Üzmez defended the Islamic rules that he said permit girls to wed under the legal age of 16. Justifying sex with a 14-year-old girl, the 78-year-old Üzmez said, "A girl who has reached puberty, who is having periods, is of age according to our [religious] belief."
In 2010 Turkey was shaken by the surfacing of alleged serial rapes in predominantly Kurdish Siirt town, including cases of adults raping minors and minors raping toddlers, killing one. The mayor defended the scandal: "This is a small town and almost everyone is related to everyone. We've closed the case after consultations with the governor, the police and the prosecutor". "Closing the case" by consulting top local law enforcement officers has been part of the tribal culture.
In 2014 Erdoğan said that "women should know their place," and that "gender equality is against human nature" while his deputy prime minister, Bülent Arınç (now a member of Erdoğan's presidential consultation board), said that "women should not laugh in public". In another speech Erdoğan criticized women who chose working over having children as "half-persons". More recently, in 2019, Erdoğan said that he could well imagine gender segregation at Turkish universities and asked the Turkish Council of Higher Education to take the necessary steps to initiate gender segregation in universities.
No doubt Turkey's gender equality deficit bitterly shows that Islamist culture is much stickier than any Western-inspired legislation. Patriarchal cultural codes seem to have become deeply engraved throughout the society; unfortunately, it will take more than legislation to make them disappear.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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