North Korea Has No Coronavirus Cases but Kim Jong-Un Is Nowhere to Be Seen

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North Korea has not reported a single case of the coronavirus, but something is definitely amiss in the Hermit Kingdom.

North Korean citizens usually celebrate the “Day of the Sun” with a massive parade and huge displays of synchronized movements. It recognizes the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung.

But the celebration was muted and brief and attended only by “senior officials” of the North Korean government. It did not include the country’s current Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un.

Kim was nowhere to be seen, but a floral wreath with his name on it was left at the mausoleum where the ashes of his father and grandfather are resting.

Naturally, speculation has run rampant as to the whereabouts of Kim, who hasn’t been seen in public since the middle of March. The government news outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, released some undated pictures of Kim, but it’s impossible to say if the leader has health problems himself or is simply laying low while the coronavirus ravages his country. (Read more from “North Korea Has No Coronavirus Cases but Kim Jong-Un Is Nowhere to Be Seen” HERE)

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‘Black People Are Not Allowed’: Reports of Discrimination After Chinese City Orders Mandatory Quarantine for African Residents; McDonald’s in China Apologizes for Sign Banning Black People Amid Coronavirus

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By Forbes. After five Nigerians tested positive for COVID-19 in Guangzhou, China, the government ordered all residents of African descent to quarantine for 14 days, a move that led to businesses and landlords to issue evictions and bans that many in the African community said were based on discrimination.

The city of Guangzhou, which has just 463 cases of COVID-19, said that it had tallied 111 imported cases, leading to fears of a second-wave outbreak, according to the South China Morning Post; officials said 10 cases were linked to the business district known as “Little Africa,” including 5 cases linked to a single restaurant.

Following the outbreak, Guangzhou officials announced that all residents of African descent—about 4,500 people—must quarantine for 14 days “regardless of their previous circumstances or how long they have been in Guangzhou,” reports the South China Morning Post, adding that African residents’ homes will be monitored with tracking devices that will alert officials if they “open the door.”

The ban led to reports of African residents being evicted and banned from businesses; people have taken to social media to document evicted African residents sleeping on the street, interacting with police and Nigerian diplomats delivering food to their now-homeless compatriots, causing foreign ministers of Uganda, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria to speak out in protest. (Read more from “‘Black People Are Not Allowed’: Reports of Discrimination After Chinese City Orders Mandatory Quarantine for African Residents” HERE)

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McDonald’s in China Apologizes for Sign Banning Black People Amid Coronavirus

By New York Post. A McDonald’s restaurant in China has been temporarily closed after it tried to ban black people from entering over fears of the coronavirus, according to a report. . .

McDonald’s said that the store was quickly shuttered when it became aware of the disturbing notice and that the restaurant’s apparent ban on black people was “not representative” of the company’s “inclusive values.”

“Immediately upon learning of an unauthorized communication to our guests at a restaurant in Guangzhou, we immediately removed the communication and temporarily closed the restaurant,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC. (Read more from “McDonald’s in China Apologizes for Sign Banning Black People Amid Coronavirus” HERE)

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COVID-19 Patient Treated With New ‘Passive Vaccine’; Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient

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By The Jerusalem Post. A 29-year-old haredi (ultra-Orthodox) coronavirus patient who is being treated at Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital has improved from serious to serious but stable condition, after receiving multiple doses of plasma over the weekend from a donor who recovered from coronavirus, a spokesperson for the hospital told The Jerusalem Post.

On Friday, “with the assistance of Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman and his assistant, a suitable donor, a resident of Jerusalem, was found,” explained MDA director-general Eli Bin.

MDA brought her in an ambulance to its blood service center before Shabbat. A special team was waiting for her and transferred the plasma units to the laboratories to perform all required tests and prepare them for transfusion. (Read more from “COVID-19 Patient Treated With Israel’s New ‘Passive Vaccine’” HERE)

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Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient

By The Jerusalem Post. Israeli-based Pluristem has treated its first American patient suffering from COVID-19 complications under the country’s compassionate use program.

The news comes days after a report by the company showed that six critically ill coronavirus patients in Israel who are considered high-risk for mortality were treated with Pluristem’s placenta-based cell-therapy product and survived, according to preliminary data provided by the Haifa-based company.

In the US case, the patient was treated with the company’s PLX cell therapy at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey, where Pluristem is already running a Phase III critical limb ischemia study. Like the patients treated in Israel, this patient was critically ill with respiratory failure due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and was intubated in an intensive care unit for three weeks. (Read more from “Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient” HERE)

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China: Racism Against Africans ‘Isolated Incidents’ and ‘Misunderstandings’ (VIDEO)

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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its media organs lashed out Monday against African leaders for complaining about rampant racial discrimination against Africans living in Chinese cities, dismissing their complaints as a few “isolated incidents” and “misunderstandings.”

African ambassadors wrote a letter to the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the weekend to complain about “stigmatization and discrimination” against Africans living in China, especially in the city of Guangzhou.

“The Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing immediately demands the cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans,” the letter said.

Several of the signatory countries summoned their Chinese ambassadors to confront them with documented complaints of discrimination from Africans living in China. These complaints included “being evicted from their apartments by their landlords, being tested for coronavirus several times without being given results, and being shunned and discriminated against in public,” as Al Jazeera summarized them on Sunday.

Other stories of discrimination included Africans denied service at Chinese restaurants and hotels, and even some students who said they were forced to live on the streets. One video clip circulating online purportedly depicts a written notice instructing Guangzhou restaurants not to admit African customers.

(Read more from “China: Racism Against Africans ‘Isolated Incidents’ and ‘Misunderstandings’” HERE)

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Volcanic Region Gets Hot After Being ‘Inactive for Many Centuries’

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A region of Iceland is erupting for the first time in 800 years, raising concern of disruptions in air travel for centuries to come.

The Guardian of London reported that since Jan. 21, the Reykjanes peninsula southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, has experienced more than 8,000 earthquakes. About 10 centimeters of land has risen due to magma intrusions underground, the paper said.

“It seems that after being relatively inactive for many centuries, this region is waking up,” Lancaster University volcanologist Dave McGarvie told the Guardian.

The area is fed by five volcanic systems, the Guardian said, “which seem to come to life in a coordinated way roughly every 1,000 years.” . . .

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Krakatoa volcano erupted over the weekend, sending ash almost 10 miles into the sky. (Read more from “Volcanic Region Gets Hot After Being ‘Inactive for Many Centuries'” HERE)

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‘An Easter of Solitude’: Amid Coronavirus, World’s Christians Mark an Easter Like No Other

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By Associated Press. Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday isolated in their homes by the coronavirus while pastors preached the faith’s joyous news of Christ’s resurrection to empty pews. One Florida church drew a large turnout for a drive-in service in a parking lot. . .

Worldwide, families who normally would attend church in their Easter best and later gather for festive meals instead were hunkered down at home. Police checkpoints in Europe and outside closed churches elsewhere left the faithful with few worship options other than watching services online or on TV.

At the Happy Gospel Church in Bradenton, Florida, about 100 cars carrying 250 people gathered in the parking lot to hear Pastor Bill Bailey’s Easter sermon. Some sat in lawn chairs or on tailgates, but families stayed at least 6 feet apart; those in their cars occasionally honked to convey agreement with Bailey’s remarks. (Read more from “Amid Coronavirus, World’s Christians Mark an Easter Like No Other” HERE)

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Christians Mark Solemn Easter as Worldwide Cases Approach 2 Million

By CBS News. Christians throughout the world marked a solemn Easter amid the coronavirus pandemic. The number of cases worldwide topped 1.8 million on Sunday and the global death toll rose above 110,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. U.S. deaths passed 22,000. . .

Bells tolled in Spain for the almost 17,000 killed by coronavirus, a death toll behind only the U.S. and Italy. In Britain, the Archbishop of Canterbury led the Easter service online from his kitchen. In New York, the epicenter of the U.S. crisis, Cardinal Timothy Dolan led Mass before an empty St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (Read more from “Christians Mark Solemn Easter as Worldwide Cases Approach 2 Million” HERE)

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‘An Easter of Solitude’: Christians Across the World Mark Easter Sunday Amid the Coronavirus

By USA Today. His voice echoing through the nearly empty St. Peter’s Basilica, a somber Pope Francis celebrated one of the strangest Easter celebrations in Vatican history Sunday amid Italy’s national lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic. . .

“This is an Easter of solitude lived amid the sorrow and hardship the pandemic is causing, whether from physical suffering or economic difficulties,” Francis said in Italian.

Millions of Christians globally celebrated Easter, marking the resurrection of Jesus following his crucifixion. In the U.S., many churches were holding similar remote services intended to help slow the infection’s spread. Congregants posted photos on social media showing them attending drive-in services from their cars, and a pastor at a Boston church delivered his message to photos of his parishioners taped to the pews. . .

Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence planned to attend Easter services remotely. Trump said he’d be watching an online service led by Pastor Robert Jeffress of the 4,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas and a Fox News contributor. (Read more from “‘An Easter of Solitude’: Christians Across the World Mark Easter Sunday Amid the Coronavirus” HERE)

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REPORT: China HID Findings of a Coronavirus Expert; China Bans Consumption of Bats but Still Wants to Export Them to Other Countries

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By Mirror UK. China is accused of hiding the findings of a coronavirus expert – known as “Bat Woman” – after she quickly identified the genetic make-up of the new strain that has infected millions.

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli is one of the world’s top researchers on coronaviruses and has discovered dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves.

She studied samples taken from some of the first people to become infected with the new and then-mysterious respiratory illness in China in December and found it was similar to SARS.

It was identified as a novel coronavirus and within three days she completed its gene sequencing, finding that it was 96 per cent identical to a virus found in horseshoe bats in Yunnan.

But she was “muzzled” and her team was ordered not to reveal any information about the new disease, which was already spreading rapidly as China kept the world in the dark. (Read more from “REPORT: China Hid Findings of a Coronavirus Expert” HERE)

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China Bans Consumption of Bats and Snakes but Now Wants to Export Them to Other Countries

By Wall Street Journal. Chinese authorities have temporarily banned the wild animal trade over coronavirus pandemic fears, but they are now offering tax incentives to export their edible exotic animals overseas.

China’s National People’s Congress said in a statement when banning the trade, “The prominent problem of recklessly eating wild animals and its potential risk to public health have aroused wide public concern.” But a new report by the Wall Street Journal says they are now hoping to cash in on the multi-billion dollar animal product industry by offering tax breaks on exports.

The Journal reports that last month, China’s Finance Ministry started offering value-added tax rebates on 1,500 Chinese products, including a 9 percent rebate on “edible snakes and turtles, primate meat, beaver and civet musk, and rhino horns.” (Read more from “China Bans Consumption of Bats and Snakes but Now Wants to Export Them to Other Countries” HERE)

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China Could Face Lawsuits Totaling Trillions Over Handling of Coronavirus

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China could face trillions of dollars in international lawsuits for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which first emerged in Wuhan as early as November, according to a London-based think-tank.

Nations who are part of the G7 and other governments could sue the ruling Chinese Communist Party for damages to their economies and national infrastructure after the country breached the International Health Regulations, a legally binding international treaty to which China is a signatory, the Henry Jackson Society said in a report published this week.

“These breaches allowed the outbreak to rapidly spread outside Wuhan, its place of origin,” the report said, citing the failure to disclose evidence of human to-human transmission for as long as three weeks after first becoming aware of it.

Beijing also provided the World Health Organization (WHO) with “erroneous information” about the number of infections in early January, while failing to ban the trade in “dangerous viral host species for human consumption,” it said. . .

“Potential damages liable against China at the time of writing could run to … U.S.$4 trillion from just the G7 nations,” the report said, citing 10 potential legal avenues for action against China. (Read more from “China Could Face Lawsuits Totaling Trillions Over Handling of Coronavirus” HERE)

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The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Is on Fire and Radiation Levels Are Spiking

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Part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where the infamous power plant explosion occurred in 1986 is on fire, and radiation in the area is spiking.

The fire covers about 50 acres (20 hectares) near the abandoned village of Vladimirovka in Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, according to CNN. In a Facebook post, Yegor Firsov, head of Ukraine’s ecological inspection service, showed a Geiger counter near the fire reading 2.3 microsievert per hour, a measurement of ambient radiation. The normal reading in the area is 0.14 μSv/h, which is significantly higher than typical radiation levels in other places. . .

Firsov blamed humans for the periodic fires in the zone.

“The problem of setting fires to grass by careless citizens in spring and autumn has long been a very acute problem for us,” he wrote. “Every year we see the same picture — fields, reeds, forests burn in all regions.” (Read more from “The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Is on Fire and Radiation Levels Are Spiking” HERE)

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Billions of Locusts Invade in New, Larger Wave as Second Swarm Threatens Africa

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A new wave of locusts is threatening Africa with devastation and starvation, even as the COVID-19 pandemic undermines efforts to fight the locust plague.

Parts of the continent already experienced the biggest locust outbreak in 70 years, just weeks before the coronavirus hit. Now a second wave is on its way, with some locust swarms 20 times the size of the first.

Billions of young desert locusts are coming, threatening plants and crops. This second invasion includes more developed locusts known as “young adults,” which are especially voracious eaters.

Some Africans view the locust swarms as more destructive than the coronavirus. And there are predictions that the locust plague might cause the coronavirus to spread even further as people band together, trying to fight off the swarms of locusts from eating all their food.

“Everyone is talking about” the locusts, said Yoweri Aboket, a farmer in Uganda. “Once they land in your garden they do total destruction. Some people will even tell you that the locusts are more destructive than the coronavirus. There are even some who don’t believe that the virus will reach here.” (Read more from “Billions of Locusts Invade in New, Larger Wave as Second Swarm Threatens Africa” HERE)

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