Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the South Asian country must take three steps “immediately” for the nation’s economy to recover from the impact of the coronavirus and restore economic normalcy.  In a recent email exchange with the BBC, Singh said first the government must “ensure people’s livelihoods are protected and they have spending power through a significant direct cash assistance.”  Second, Indian businesses much have sufficient capital available to them through “government-backed credit guarantee programs”. The third step, Singh says, is India must fix its financial sector through “institutional autonomy and processes.” India’s current economic downturn was caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus.  “It is important to view this from the prism of sentiments in our society than mere economic numbers and methods,” the former prime minister said.  Singh said borrowing money may be necessary if the government is to spur a full-fledged economic recovery. Singh had led a major reform program for India’s economy when he served as finance minister nearly 20 years ago. India imposed a sudden national lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. “The suddenness of the announcement and the stringency of the lockdown were thoughtless and insensitive,” Singh said, noting that even World War Two did not spark a “whole world shut down.” Only two other nations have more COVID-19 infections than India’s 2.2 million.  Brazil has more than 3 million cases, while the U.S. has more than 5 million.  
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India on Monday reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus deaths, the most the country has recorded in a single day since the pandemic began. The new toll put India’s total at 44,386 deaths, trailing only the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Britain. The country has also reported more confirmed new cases than any other in the world for six consecutive days, including 62,000 on Monday. Australia reported its own deadliest day with 19 new deaths, while the center of the country’s outbreak, the state of Victoria, saw some decline in its number of new cases. “Sadly, when it comes to the fatalities that result from COVID, that reflects a situation of several weeks ago now as the virus has taken its course with these particular individuals, the work continues,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Monday.  “We look for better news when it comes to the stabilizing of cases in Victoria. I am more hopeful of that today than I was in the course of the past week over the briefings I have received over the course of the weekend and again this morning.” China’s National Health Commission said Monday there were 14 new locally transmitted cases, all of which were in the northwestern Xinjiang region that is the country’s current hotspot. China also had 35 imported cases from travelers arriving from overseas. In response to a rise in infections, authorities in Paris imposed a one-month order starting Monday requiring people to wear masks in popular outdoor areas such as along the banks of the River Seine. Paris joins other French cities with similar orders in place, including Toulouse, Lille and Bairritz. Those caught violating the Paris order face a fine of about $160, while those caught three times could face up to six months in prison.A medical technician wearing a face shield talks to a masked woman who waits to get tested for COVID-19 outside a laboratory in Paris, Aug 8, 2020.Students in Germany’s capital return to school Monday as government leaders try to figure out the best way to keep children and staff members safe from the coronavirus. “There are conflicting priorities, health protection on the one hand, which is very important to us, and on the other hand that we want to ensure the right to education of every single child,” German education minister Sandra Scheeres said.  She said keeping students 1.5 meters apart while inside a school is sometimes impossible.  Scheeres recommends that schools divide pupils into groups and keep them separate. If anyone were to test positive for the coronavirus, only that person and their cluster would need to be quarantined instead of everyone.   The central government will require students and teachers to wear masks in the hallways but will not require them in classroom instruction or on playgrounds.   Many other countries are also struggling to decide how and when to reopen schools.  President Donald Trump has been pushing for all U.S. schools to reopen for in-person learning. But many states say they aren’t ready and plan to begin the school year at the end of this month the same way they ended the old one in June – using virtual classrooms.  Last week a photograph of a crowded hallway in a Georgia school showed only a few students wearing masks. The school was closed and students were sent home for online classes after nine students tested positive for the coronavirus.  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a possible “generational catastrophe” in education because of shuttered schools. He urged countries to make reopening schools a top priority once the coronavirus crisis subsides.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an article in the Daily Mail newspaper that the country has a moral duty to reopen schools.  He said restarting schools is a national priority and a social and economic necessity.  Johnson asserted that British schools can operate safely and has previously said schools would be the last places to close if there is another COVID-19 shutdown.   The British school year is set to start in early September. 
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German students go back to school Monday even as federal and state leaders are still trying to figure out how to keep half a million children, their teachers, and other staffers safe from the coronavirus.  “There are conflicting priorities, health protection on the one hand, which is very important to us, and on the other hand that we want to ensure the right to education of every single child,” German education minister Sandra Scheeres said. She said keeping students 1.5 meters apart while inside a school is sometimes impossible. Scheeres recommends that schools divide pupils into groups and keep them separate. If anyone were to test positive for the coronavirus, only that person and their cluster would need to be quarantined instead of everyone.  The central government will require students and teachers to wear masks in the hallways but will not require them in classroom instruction or on playgrounds.  Many other countries are also struggling to decide how and when to reopen schools. President Donald Trump has been pushing for all U.S. schools to reopen for in-person learning. But many states say they aren’t ready and plan to begin the school year at the end of this month the same way they ended the old one in June – using virtual classrooms. Last week a photograph of a crowded hallway in a Georgia school showed only a few students wearing masks. The school was closed and students were sent home for online classes after nine students tested positive for the coronavirus.Students arrive to Dallas Elementary School for the first day of school amid the coronavirus outbreak on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, in Dallas, Ga.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a possible “generational catastrophe” in education because of shuttered schools. He urged countries to make reopening schools a top priority once the coronavirus crisis subsides.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an article in the Daily Mail newspaper that the country has a moral duty to reopen schools. He said restarting schools is a national priority and a social and economic necessity. Johnson asserted that British schools can operate safely and has previously said schools would be the last places to close if there is another COVID-19 shutdown.  The British school year is set to start in early September.  Face masks must be worn outside in most places in France starting Monday, and masks are also required in nearly every indoor setting in Britain and Scotland. Australia recorded 404 new cases Sunday, but New Zealand is reporting its 100th straight day with no new cases of COVID-19 spread by co-called community transmission, when there is no clear source.  Finally, for someone who believes an N95 mask just won’t do, there’s a $1.5 million white-gold-and-diamond-encrusted COVID-19 face mask. Israel’s Yvel jewelry company says it received a request for the special made-to-order mask from an unidentified Chinese businessman living in the United States. “Money maybe doesn’t buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that,” designer Isaac Levy said. “I am happy that this mask gave us enough work for our employees to be able to provide their jobs in very challenging times like these times right now,” he said. 
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been arrested, accused of suspected collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law, his top aide said on Twitter, in what is the highest-profile arrest yet under the legislation. Lai has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing, which imposed the sweeping new law on Hong Kong on June 30, drawing condemnation from Western countries. The new security law punishes anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Critics say it crushes freedoms in the semiautonomous city, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged pro-democracy protests last year. “Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time,” Mark Simon, a senior executive at Lai’s media company Next Digital, which publishes local tabloid Apple Daily, said early on Monday. Police did not immediately comment. Apple Daily reported that Lai was taken away from his home in Ho Man Tin early Monday. The paper says one of Lai’s sons, Ian, was also arrested at his home. About 10 other people were expected to be arrested Monday, local newspaper South China Morning Post reported, without naming its sources. Lai was also arrested this year on illegal assembly charges, along with other leading activists, relating to protests last year. In an interview with Reuters in May, Lai pledged to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight for democracy even though he expected to be one of the targets of the new legislation. Before Monday, 15 people had been arrested under the law, including four ages 16-21 late last month over posts on social media. The new legislation has sent a chill through Hong Kong, affecting many aspects of life. Activists have disbanded their organizations, while some have fled the city altogether. Slogans have been declared illegal, certain songs and activities such as forming human chains have been banned in schools, and books have been taken off shelves in public libraries. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the territory’s current and former police chiefs and eight other top officials for what Washington says is their role in curtailing political freedoms in the territory. Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong described the sanctions as “clowning actions.” Beijing and the Hong Kong government have said the law will not affect rights and freedoms, and that it is needed to plug security loopholes. They said it will only target a small minority of “troublemakers.”  
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Six French aid workers with the nongovernmental organization ACTED and their local guide and driver were killed Sunday by gunmen riding motorcycles in an area of southwestern Niger that is home to the last West African giraffes, officials said.The six worked for an international aid group, Niger’s Defense Minister Issoufou Katambé told Reuters. Officials had earlier described them as tourists.”Among the eight people killed in Niger, several are Acted employees,” said Joseph Breham, an NGO lawyer.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault.  It is believed to be the first such attack on Western tourists in the area, a popular attraction in the former French colony thanks to its unique population of West African or Niger giraffes.France’s presidency confirmed that French citizens had been killed in Niger, without giving the number of dead.French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke on the phone with his Niger counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou, the Elysee palace said.A source close to Niger’s environmental services said the assault took place around 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) 6 kilometers (4 miles) east of the town of Koure, which is an hour’s drive from the capital Niamey.”Most of the victims were shot. … We found a magazine emptied of its cartridges at the scene,” the source told AFP.”We do not know the identity of the attackers, but they came on motorcycles through the bush and waited for the arrival of the tourists.”The source said the tourists’ vehicle belonged to the French humanitarian organization ACTED.The source also described the scene of the attack, where bodies were laid side-by-side next to a torched off-road vehicle, which had bullet holes in its rear window.Around 20 years ago, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by its lighter color, found a haven from poachers and predators in the Koure area.Today they number in their hundreds and are a key tourist attraction, enjoying the protection of local people and conservation groups.  However, the Tillaberi region is in a hugely unstable location, near the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.  The region has become a hideout for Sahel jihadist groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).The use of motorcycles has been totally banned since January in an attempt to curb the movements of such jihadists. 
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Mauritania’s president appointed a new government Sunday, a top official said, after the names of several former ministers appeared in a report on the financial dealings of ex-leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.Adama Bocar Soko, the secretary general of Mauritania’s presidency, told reporters in the capital Nouakchott that the move would allow all those named in the report “the time they need to prove their innocence.”  The move comes after President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani announced a government reshuffle and replaced his prime minister on Thursday, for reasons that were not disclosed at the time.  Sunday’s announcement marks the first time Ghazouani’s office has admitted that the reason behind the reshuffle was the controversial report on Aziz.A nine-member parliamentary committee set up in January was tasked with shedding light on aspects of Aziz’s 2008-19 tenure.Matters investigated included the handling of oil revenues, the sale of state-owned property in Nouakchott, and the liquidation of a state-owned food company, according to parliamentary officials.  Mauritanian prosecutors said last Wednesday that they had received the committee’s report and would open an inquiry.Three former ministers and ex-premier Ismail Ould Bedda Ould Cheikh Sidiya were named in the report.The new government remains substantially similar to the previous one, however, with 18 former ministers reappointed.Soko also said that the number of ministries had also been reduced to 22, after some were fused.  Mauritanian prosecutors are required by law to open an investigation into Aziz, itself a step toward possible judicial proceedings.”The investigations will be carried out impartially, in accordance with the legal procedures in force, while taking into account the time generally needed for this kind of inquiry,” a prosecution statement said.It is not clear when the investigation will begin, however.Aziz, a former army general, ignored a summons from the parliamentary committee last month to explain the issues at stake, according to a parliamentary official.MPs in the Saharan nation of some 4.5 million people subsequently adopted a law at the end of July establishing a High Court with jurisdiction to hear cases of “high treason” against former heads of state and government ministers.The court is due to be set up in the coming months.A parliamentary official told AFP at the end of July, however, that the decision was “not directed against anyone.”Such a court had existed in Mauritania before a constitutional reform in 2017, and was dissolved on a legal technicality.A case against Aziz would be heard at the High Court. But MPs would first have to vote on whether to proceed to trial.  Aziz first came to power in the poor West African state in a military coup in 2008, then won an election in 2009, followed by another in 2014.Ghazouani, who succeeded Aziz in August 2014, previously served as his chief of staff and minister of defense. 
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As the United States surpassed five million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, talks on Capitol Hill for a new coronavirus relief bill remain at an impasse, leading President Donald Trump to sign several executive orders to benefit Americans. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
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Public health experts agree: wear a mask, wash your hands, and observe social distancing. These are the guidelines to help control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. But as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, while global cases approach 20 million (19.67M), an anti-mask movement threatens containment.
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The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has asked the United Nations to extend an international arms embargo on Iran, a move pushed strongly by the United States.The secretariat of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said in a statement on Sunday that Iran’s continued interference in neighboring countries made an extension necessary.The arms embargo on Iran is currently set to end on Oct. 18 under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Washington quit in 2018.The request, in a letter to the United Nations, is a show of unity from the GCC. In mid-2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar over accusations it had been supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. Qatar denies the accusations.”It is inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to Iran until Iran gives up its destabilizing activities in the region and stops supplying terrorist and sectarian organizations with weapons,” a statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf said.If the United States is unsuccessful in extending the embargo, it has threatened to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran under a process agreed in the 2015 deal.The U.S.-drafted resolution needs at least nine votes in favor to force Russia and China to use their vetoes, which Moscow and Beijing have signaled they will do. Some diplomats question whether Washington can even secure those nine, however. 
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A fire inside a police union building led authorities in Portland, Oregon, to declare a riot and force protesters away from the offices as violent demonstrations continue in the city that had hoped for calm after federal agents withdrew more than a week ago.Three officers were hurt, including two who were taken to a hospital, during efforts to clear a crowd of several hundred people outside the Portland Police Association building late Saturday, police said in a statement. The two hospitalized officers have since been released.Rallies had been held earlier in the afternoon and evening throughout the city, including at Peninsula, Laurelhurst and Berrydale parks, local media reported.Police said a group from Peninsula Park marched to the Portland Police Association building, which is located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of the federal courthouse that had been the target of nightly violence earlier this summer. The Portland Police Association is a labor union that represents members of the Portland Police Bureau.A group of demonstrators broke into the building, set the fire and were adding to it when officers made the riot declaration just after 11:30 p.m., police said. Video shot by a journalist, and surveillance video from inside the building obtained by the police department, shows smoke and flames arising from inside the building.Officers formed a line and used flash bangs and smoke canisters to force the protest several blocks away. Demonstrators congregated at Kenton Park, where they were again ordered to disperse. Most of the crowd had left by 2 a.m., police stated.The gatherings this week had been noticeably smaller than the crowds of thousands who turned out nightly for about two weeks in July to protest the presence of U.S. agents sent by the Trump administration to protect the federal courthouse downtown.This week’s clashes have, however, amped up tensions after an agreement between state and federal officials seemed to offer a brief reprieve.Police arrested 24 people during demonstrations overnight Friday after they said people defied orders to disperse and threw rocks, frozen or hard-boiled eggs and commercial-grade fireworks at officers. An unlawful assembly was declared outside the Penumbra Kelly public safety building.Most of those arrested were from Portland, while one man was from Oakland, California, and another was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most were in their 20s or 30s. The charges included assault on an officer, interfering with an officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.An Oregon State Police trooper was struck in the head by a large rock and suffered a head injury, police said. The trooper’s condition was not immediately known.Some demonstrators filled pool noodles with nails and placed them in the road, causing extensive damage to a patrol vehicle, police said. Oregon State Police worked with Portland officers to clear the protesters.Since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, protests over racial injustice and police brutality have occurred nightly for more than 70 days.Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said violent protesters are also serving as political “props” for President Donald Trump in a divisive election season where the president is hammering on a law-and-order message. Trump has called the protesters as “sick and dangerous anarchists” running wild in the city’s streets.Tear gas was used by police on protesters Wednesday for the first time since the U.S. agents pulled back their presence in the city. But officers did not use it Thursday or Friday despite declaring the demonstrations unlawful assemblies. Police said tear gas wasn’t used Saturday. 
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