United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was very unfortunate that the 20 major industrialized nations did not come together in March, as he suggested then, to establish a coordinated response to suppress COVID-19 worldwide.In an interview with the Associated Press, Guterres said he hopes that as the G-20 summit is coming next month, the international community understand “they need to be much more coordinated in fighting the virus.”Guterres said the U.N. will be “strongly advocating” for a coordinated response to the disease, in addition to seeking a “guarantee” that any developed vaccine be treated as “a global public good” and be made “available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”Scores of researchers around the world are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide and sickened more than 41 million.Meanwhile, the number of countries with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to seven, with France and Spain the latest nations to reach the mark.On Thursday, France extended curfews to about 65% of its population and Belgium’s foreign minister was hospitalized with COVID-19 and treated in the intensive care unit, as a second wave of the pandemic surged across Europe.However, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the United States remains the country with highest number of infections, more than 8.4 million total cases, followed by India, with 7.76 million; Brazil, with 5.32 million; Russia, with 1.45 million; and Argentina, which has 1,053,650. France is in sixth place with 1,041,991 cases, followed by Spain with 1,026,281.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its definition of close contact with a person infected with COVID-19.The agency had previously determined that close contact was spending 15 consecutive minutes within 2 meters of an infected individual. The revised changes announced Wednesday now defines a close contact as someone who spent a total of 15 minutes accumulated over a 24-hour period.The change by the CDC was prompted by a report of a prison officer in the northeastern U.S. state of Vermont who became infected with COVID-19 after more than 20 brief interactions with inmates who later tested positive for the virus. The brief visits added up to about 17 total minutes of exposure.
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A reported spike in U.S. military flights over the seas near China reflects Washington’s drive to understand and deter Chinese expansion in contested waters, analysts say.U.S. military surveillance planes flew off China’s coast 60 times in September, more than in July or August, according to Chinese state-backed research organization South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative’s website.When contacted by VOA, U.S. Army Maj. Randy Ready, a spokesperson for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, would say only that flight frequency near China has been consistent over time.Most sorties flew over the South China Sea, the organization’s website says. Beijing contests sovereignty over that resource-rich, 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea with five other Asian governments, and U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in July that Washington would help other states resist Chinese expansion.U.S. air activity would back up Pompeo’s directive, said Sean King, vice president of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York.Pompeo had called China’s actions at sea illegal, and any increase in flights this year “can be considered commensurate with the U.S. State Department’s July policy statement that specific PRC South China Sea claims are unlawful,” King said.American pilots probably feel an increased U.S. government concern about Chinese activity in the air and underwater, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan.Pilots can track any Chinese submarines and “familiarize” themselves with the sea, Huang said. A particular point of interest, he said, would be the Luzon Strait, between Taiwan and the Philippines’ Luzon Island, because U.S. allies aren’t as strong at that South China Sea entry point as they are in the East China Sea, he said.’Exploitation, corruption and coercion’China alarmed other countries as it expanded in the sea from about 2010 through 2017 by landfilling tiny islets for military, civilian and resource exploitation purposes. It has more firepower than the other maritime claimants, including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.Pompeo accused China’s governing Communist Party earlier this month of “exploitation, corruption and coercion” in its treatment of other countries. Beijing points to historic usage records as support for its claim to about 90% of the South China Sea.Of the U.S. flights that the Chinese research organization says passed offshore in September, it reports that two-thirds went to the South China Sea. Some planes were disguised as Malaysian or Philippine aircraft, the organization’s October 12 report online says. The report says the U.S. planes were sent to “spy” on China.Ready did not comment on the number of September flights or their motive beyond saying that flight frequency had been consistent.China is paying attention to U.S. missions because it wants the United States to think it couldn’t win an air war with China, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo. The United States has an advantage in combat and deployment experience, plus backup, if needed, from allies including Japan, South Korea and Australia, he said.Washington has to show its air power, Nagy said, because “I think China has tried to create the narrative that it can make any conflict with China extremely expensive for the United States.”American planes fly anywhere that it’s legal and continue their flights in Asia, Ready said.“While the scope of our operations varies based on the current operating environment, the U.S. has a persistent military presence and routinely operates throughout the Indo-Pacific, including the waters and airspace surrounding the East China Sea and the South China Sea,” he said.He called the air movement “a continued demonstration of our commitment to the region and our willingness to defend the freedoms enshrined in international law.”The command’s Twitter feed said in August that an MV-22B Tiltrotor aircraft was preparing to land on the USS New Orleans amphibious transport vessel. The mission promoted “interoperability with allies and partners” to “defend peace and stability” in a tract of ocean that includes the South China Sea.The U.S Navy’s P-8A Poseidon patrol planes, one type mentioned by the Chinese research organization, plays a “key role” in Asia, particularly on joint missions with other countries, the U.S. Naval Institute website said in 2018.Naval EP-3E Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System II surveillance planes, another kind of aircraft cited by the Chinese organization, are the same type as one that China forced to land in 2001 as it flew just 130 kilometers offshore.Officials in Washington may see the September flights as routine, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.“What China would consider unusual might not be felt the same from the U.S. side,” he said.Southeast Asian countries that dispute China’s maritime claims “welcome” any increase in U.S. air movement, Oh added.Beijing will take no “actual action” against the U.S. surveillance planes aside from making statements, King forecast.
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Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden met Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, in their final debate before the Nov. 3 presidential election.NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker was the moderator.Here are some quotes on key topics from each candidate:COVID-19 pandemic”We’re fighting it and we’re fighting it hard. … We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away,” Donald Trump”If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. … Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America,” Joe Biden”This is the same fellow who told you this is going to end by Easter last time. This is the same fellow who told you that, don’t worry, we’re going to end this by the summer. We’re about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter, and he has no clear plan,” Joe Biden”I don’t know if we’re going to have a dark winter, and at all. We’re opening up our country. We’ve learned and studied and understand the disease,” Donald TrumpNorth Korea”He’s legitimized North Korea. He’s talked about his good buddy (leader Kim Jong Un), who’s a thug, a thug. And he talks about how we’re better off when North Korea is much more capable of firing a missile that is able to reach U.S. territory,” Joe Biden”You know what? North Korea — we’re not in a war. We have a good relationship,” Donald TrumpHealth care”No matter how well you run (the Affordable Care Act), it’s no good. What we’d like to do is terminate it. We have the individual mandate done. I don’t know that it’s going to work. If we don’t win (in court) … we’ll have Obamacare but it will be better run,” Donald Trump”People deserve to have affordable health care, period. Period. Period. Period,” Joe BidenImmigration“Those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It’s criminal. It makes us a laughingstock and it violates every notion of who we are,” Joe Biden on hundreds of children separated from their parents at the border.”Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels … We let people in but they have to come in legally,” Donald TrumpMinimum wage“How are you helping your small businesses when you’re forcing wages? What’s going to happen, and what’s been proven to happen, is when you do that, these small businesses fire many of their employees,” Donald Trump“There is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage, businesses go out of business,” Joe BidenThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
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U.S. Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, sparred sharply Thursday night about the country’s world-leading coronavirus death toll at their second and final debate 12 days before the Nov. 3 national presidential election.“He says we’re rounding the corner” in dealing with the pandemic, Biden said of Trump, as the increasing U.S. death toll has topped more than 220,000. “Anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president. This is the same fella who told you it would be gone by Easter.”Trump accused Biden of wanting to shut down the country to end the spread of the virus if he becomes president.“He’ll close down the country if one person in our massive bureaucracy says shut it down,” Trump said.The two candidates, both in their 70s, remained silent as each other made their opening remarks about coronavirus without interruption after the independent Commission on Presidential Debates alternately muted their microphones for two minutes apiece.It was a distinct initial contrast to their confrontation at the first debate in late September, when they repeatedly talked over each other, Trump more so than Biden, in what political pundits concluded was the worst-ever U.S. presidential debate.But once Trump, then Biden, delivered his opening comments, both of their microphones were turned on and they quickly started trading barbed comments on a debate stage at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennesse, as they answered questions posed by the debate moderator, NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.Their exchanges were spirited but they did not talk over each other as much as in September at their first debate.The microphone regimenThe commission imposed the microphone regimen at the start of discussion on six current affairs issues chosen by Welker on the premise that American voters – at least the relatively few who claim they are still undecided on how they will vote – might get a clearer view of where each might take the country when one of them is inaugurated Jan. 20 if each could deliver a statement uninterrupted.Millions of Americans have already made up their minds about the election, with more than 47 million people already having cast early ballots by mail or in person. Many have said that during the unchecked coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. they wanted to avoid coming face to face with other voters in the expected long lines at polling stations on Election Day.Many Democratic voters favoring Biden said they wanted to be among the first to vote to oust Trump, to make him the third U.S. president in the last four decades to lose a bid for reelection after a single term. Republican voters have often told pollsters and news reporters they intend to vote on Election Day in person, as has been the norm for decades in U.S. national elections.Thursday’s debate could be the last, best chance for Trump, a real estate entrepreneur and reality television show host-turned-politician, to cut into Biden’s persistent lead in national and statewide polls. Biden, with nearly a half century on the American political scene as a U.S. senator and second in command to former President Barack Obama, holds an 8-to-10-percentage-point lead over Trump in national polls, but a lead of about half that in battleground states that will likely decide the overall outcome.Aside from questions about coronavirus, Welker is asking the candidates about American families, U.S. racial issues, climate change, national security and leadership.In an interview on Fox News earlier this week, Trump assailed Welker as “totally partisan” and attacked the debate commission as biased against him.The president said he is not happy about the decision to mute microphones of either of the candidates during the opening two-minute statements and claimed that the debate should have focused on foreign policy instead of the coronavirus pandemic and other domestic policy issues.Trump has continued to campaign at large rallies of supporters this week, relishing the energy he believes they add to his campaign and believing they are essential to winning a second term. Biden, meanwhile, stayed out of public view as he has since last weekend, remaining at his home in the eastern state of Delaware to prepare for the debate.   
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Warming relations between the United States and Brazil received a boost this week with an update to an existing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo speaking during a press conference at the Boa Vista Air Base in Roraima, Brazil, Sept. 18, 2020.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed another mutual benefit from the relationship when he addressed a virtual forum organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opened by Bolsonaro.“To the extent we can find ways that we can increase the trade between our two countries, we can … decrease each of our two nations’ dependence for critical items” coming from China, Huawei headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.Bolsonaro is recently reported to favor keeping Huawei out of his country’s telecom infrastructure, but China’s official media has reported that Brazil’s vice president welcomes Huawei’s participation in the country’s 5G network.The question of 5G “is a sensitive matter, which will be decided at the appropriate level in Brazil in a transparent and open way,” Forster told VOA.Who’s to build Brazil’s 5G network is “up for public auction,” he said, with some standards to be announced later this year and the auction to take place in 2021.Forster said his government will be “looking at the different aspects of the equation; there’s the economic aspect of it, the financial aspect of it, there’s also security aspect of it, there’s data privacy involved, legal security involved; no final decision has been made.”In the Chamber of Commerce forum, Pompeo said Brazil can serve as a potential “anchor” as the U.S. builds closer ties with “all of our friends in the Western Hemisphere and in South America.”David R. Shedd, a former acting director of U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, agreed, saying the signing of the trade protocol and other measures hold the potential for an “exciting new period” in U.S. relations with Brazil and its neighbors.With a U.S. presidential election less than two weeks away, however, Shedd told VOA that Brazil and the whole Latin American region have adopted a “wait and see” approach on certain key issues.While acknowledging he doesn’t know how Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden might handle relations with Brazil, he said it is clear that a Democratic administration would pay much more attention to the environment.Peter Hakim, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Inter-America Dialogue, believes that if elected, Biden “will almost surely emphasize environmental concerns and worker’s rights issues, which will not find much resonance in Brazil.” 
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Міністерство економічного розвитку і торгівлі 22 жовтня прокоментувало рішення Київської міської державної адміністрації закупити в лізинг 200 автобусів виробництва білоруського заводу «МАЗ».

Згідно з заявою, відомство не підтримує закупівлю автобусів «без оголошення тендеру і без залучення вітчизняних виробників».

«Такий підхід є дискримінаційним, суперечить національним інтересам та принципам вільної прозорої конкуренції. З огляду на те, що органи місцевого самоврядування самостійно приймають рішення про здійснення закупівель, Мінекономіки вже опрацьовує питання врегулювання на законодавчому рівні неможливості повторення такої ситуації», – заявляють у міністерстві.

Читайте також: «Полководець без армії»: Лукашенко втрачає підтримку робітників

У Мінекономіки вказали на важливість підтримки національних виробників «в умовах пандемії та економічної нестабільності, коли весь світ притримується принципів здорового протекціонізму».

20 жовтня КМДА повідомила з посиланням на міського голову столиці Віталія Кличка, що Київ отримав 50 нових автобусів виробництва Мінського автомобільного заводу. За словами мера, решту 150 із закуплених білоруських автомобілів місто отримає до кінця року. Рішення закупити автобуси великої пасажиромісткості міська влада ухвалила через брак автобусів на маршрутах київського громадського транспорту.
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Drone footage showed people looting a burning supermarket in the Lekki district of Lagos, Thursday, October 22, amid further unrest in the city, despite an ongoing curfew. Video obtained by Reuters shows people running from the Shoprite supermarket as flames and smoke were surrounding the building. A witness said the looters came in groups, taking food and electronics, and afterwards setting a part of the mall ablaze. Violence has intensified in Nigeria’s commercial capital since the shooting of civilians by security forces at an anti-police brutality protest at Lekki gate Tuesday, October 20. A curfew, initially imposed on Tuesday by Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has been extended indefinitely, and on Wednesday, October 21, the army offered to deploy to help protect key business and government sites. (Reuters)  
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Промислове виробництво в Україні у вересні 2020 року порівняно з вереснем 2019 року знизилося на 4,4%, повідомила Державна служба статистики (Держстат) 22 жовтня.

У серпні таке падіння становило 5,3%, у липні – 4,2%, червні – 5,6%. Найглибшим падіння було в травні (12,2%) і квітні (16,2%), коли через жорсткі карантинні обмеження багато підприємств не працювало.

Загалом за дев’ять місяців поточного року промислове виробництво в Україні скоротилося на 7% порівняно з аналогічним періодом минулого року.

Промислове виробництво в Україні в 2019 році знизилося на 0,5% порівняно з 2018 роком.
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The Czech Republic will get 30 ventilators from the European Union and is seeking more help and equipment abroad to help grapple with the continent’s worst outbreak of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday.
The country of 10.7 million has seen daily cases soar to nearly 15,000, and the government fears a spike in hospitalizations could overwhelm its health system within two or three weeks unless the trend is broken soon.
Hospitals were treating 4,417 coronavirus patients as of Wednesday, a four-fold increase this month, and have cut most non-urgent care.
The government has sought to boost numbers of beds, equipment and personnel, including at a 500-bed field hospital in Prague, with the aim of being able to take in 15,500 COIVD-19 patients at once.
“Commission President (Ursula) von der Leyen called to tell me a little while ago that the European Commission will … immediately supply us 30 ventilators from EU crisis stocks, and that it will connect us with other EU member states which will offer us their free capacities,” Babis tweeted.
“Thank you for solidarity and very quick reaction. We highly appreciate the help.”
The government agreed a plan to bring a team of 28 U.S. National Guard medical staff to help in Czech hospitals, and was in talks with Germany to possibly provide 100 medical staff.
“The growth (in hospitalizations) is really so strong that there is a threat of our system being overwhelmed, and we probably will not manage without this help,” Health Minister Roman Prymula told a news conference.
“It is not just the capacity of our system, but, unfortunately, the medical staff, they are increasingly either infected or in quarantine.”
He said the government had agreed to buy 2,000 beds, of which 500 are for patients on ventilation, and secure at least 660 ventilators in total.
Apart from the EU supply, the country was talking to NATO to get more through the defense alliance, Prymula said.
It has also ordered 1,500 oxygen machines.
The country’s hospitals have about 1,900 standard ventilators used for COVID-19 and other patients, of which nearly half were available as of Wednesday. A crowd-funded ventilator developed by Czech scientists in the spring was granted emergency certification on Thursday.
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A Minnesota judge has dropped a third-degree murder charge against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in the May 25 death of George Floyd. Derek Chauvin, the officer who was videotaped with his knee pressed against Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, still faces the more serious charge of second-degree murder as well as a manslaughter charge. The ruling by Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill was made public Thursday. Cahill also ruled that cases against three other former officers, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, for aiding and abetting, could go forward despite defense attorneys requesting the charges be dismissed. The police officers charged in connection with the in-custody death of George Floyd are, from left, Derek Chauvin, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is heading up the prosecution, played down the move. “The court has sustained eight out of nine charges against the defendants in the murder of George Floyd, including the most serious charges against all four defendants,” Ellison said in a statement shortly after Cahill’s ruling, according to NBC. The officers were reportedly attempting to arrest Floyd for allegedly using counterfeit money at a nearby store. Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he could not breathe. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident sparked widespread protests and violence in that quickly spread around the country. Floyd was African American. Chauvin posted $1 million bail earlier this month. The other officers posted bail earlier. The trial for the officers could begin in March 2021. It’s expected that later this month, the judge involved will announce details about where the trial will be held. Attorneys for Chauvin have argued the cause of Floyd’s death was a high level of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Floyd also reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus. Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. 
 
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Local officials in northeastern Afghanistan say 12 people were killed, 11 of them children, in an airstrike that struck a religious school.   
 
The airstrike Wednesday in Takhar province came after three days of heavy fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters that left more than two dozen security personnel dead.    It wasn’t immediately clear who carried out the airstrike.
 
Officials say 14 others were wounded in the attack.   
 
Continuous fighting between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban have complicated intra-Afghan peace talks that began last month in Qatar.   
 
The United States is seeking an agreement that would allow it to bring an end to its 19-year military involvement in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history.    
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The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has approved Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, sending the matter to the full Senate for consideration. Democrats on the committee boycotted the vote Thursday, resulting in a 12-0 vote in favor of the nomination.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his party’s objection to President Donald Trump moving ahead with replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court so close to an election, arguing that such a move should be left to whichever candidate wins the November 3 U.S. presidential election.He cited the Supreme Court vacancy in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland but Senate Republicans blocked the process while making similar arguments about letting voters decide who should pick the next justice.“When Merrick Garland was nominated, eight months before an election, we have to wait for an election.  Now that an election is ongoing, we are rushing through this nomination.  It is one of the worst moments the Senate has ever seen,” Schumer said.He called Barrett’s confirmation proceedings “the most rushed, most partisan and least legitimate process in the history of Supreme Court nominations.”Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said the Democrats boycotting the vote “does a disservice to Judge Barrett who deserves a vote, up or down.”With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Graham expressed optimism about the prospects for Barrett’s nomination.“Judge Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court and she will be confirmed,” he said.The 12 Republicans on the committee have indicated they will back Barrett.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to follow the Judiciary Committee’s vote with a procedural vote in the full Senate on Sunday that could bring a final vote on Barrett’s nomination on Monday.If Barrett is confirmed to the lifetime appointment, the Supreme Court would have a 6-3 conservative majority.
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Asian markets are mostly lower Thursday as investors continue to wait for a resolution to talks between the Trump administration and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a coronavirus relief bill.Tokyo’s Nikkei index dropped 0.7% at the closing bell. Shanghai’s Composite index fell 0.3%. The S&P/ASX ended 0.2% lower. Seoul’s KOSPI index lost 0.7%.The TSEC index in Taipei was the lone bright spot in the region, gaining 0.3%.In late afternoon trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 1.1%, while Mumbai’s Sensex is down 0.5%.In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,921.20 an ounce, down 0.4%. U.S. crude is selling at $40.23 per barrel, up 0.5%, and Brent crude is selling at $41.97 per barrel, also up 0.5%.All three U.S. indices are trending negatively.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he has canceled a deal to buy a Chinese-developed vaccine against the coronavirus, a day after his health minister announced Brazil would purchase millions of doses of CoronaVac.Bolsonaro said Wednesday that the intentions of Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, one of his leading opponents, were distorted, saying he already canceled the deal before Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello signed it.Pazuello said in a statement that there was “no commitment” to buy the vaccine, only a “non-binding memorandum of understanding between the health ministry and the Butantan Institute” to test and produce the vaccine.Bolsonaro, who said he would not let Brazilians be guinea pigs for the Sinovac drug, is promoting the purchase of another vaccine developed by Oxford University in Britain.Brazil is helping to test both of vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials.Meantime, The Wall Street Journal reports, a Brazilian health regulator says the clinical trials of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC will continue although a volunteer died.Both Oxford University and AstraZeneca reportedly found no safety issues which warranted the trial being stopped.
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