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Bloomberg-Clinton 2020?

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The rumor has been circulating since yesterday. Michael Bloomberg would think of Hillary Clinton as vice-presidential candidate.

If I do not believe that this rumor is serious, neither the managers of the Bloomberg campaign nor the main interested party has definitively ruled out this possibility. On the side of Bloomberg, we limit ourselves to say that we are currently focused on the nomination contest, while Ms. Clinton cautiously replied that it would not happen, but it must never say never.  

Already, the source behind this rumor is questionable. It comes from the conservative political commentator Matt Drudge. If Drudge already has some interesting scoops under his belt (the Clinton – Lewinsky scandal for example), since the beginning of the Trump presidency, problems seem to weigh down the management of his website The Drudge Report.  

Many serious journalists and observers have noted that Drudge first supported Trump before falling into disgrace following the publication of several articles criticizing the administration. This so-called “scoop” of an alliance between Bloomberg and Clinton could only be a smokescreen.  

Not only does the source of the rumor not seem very solid to me, but I also question the relevance of an association between Bloomberg and Clinton. Generally, the vice-presidential candidate offers qualities or characteristics that complement those of the presidential candidate. When we observe the weaknesses of the former mayor of New York, we wonder what Hillary can bring.  

Can you imagine the reaction of the progressives in the Democratic Party if we formed this pair? It would add insult to injury. At a time when supporters of Bernie Sanders are already claiming that the Vermont senator is once again the victim of an unfavorable bias, we would throw the winner of the 2016 nomination in their paws?  

Despite the three million votes that enabled him to win the popular vote in 2016, Hillary Clinton is a polarizing political figure. To enlist his services would probably be to abandon the idea of ​​seducing some undecided people. It might help to exacerbate partisan voting, but it would not bring anything very new.  

Donald Trump’s campaign can only welcome this rumor. The return of Hillary would also be the return of Donald Trump’s favorite slogans. In addition, the president could fully exploit a plot by the deep state and the establishment. I also wonder what the rest of the country would think when three New Yorkers fight for the presidency.  

If I believe that this rumor is not very serious and that the probability that it will materialize is marginal, nothing prevents us from having a little fun and delirium. Can you imagine a Bloomberg-Clinton ticket to the presidency? Then imagine Michael Bloomberg, announcing that he is resigning … If Hillary then fulfilled her big dream of becoming the first woman to hold the presidency, I can hardly imagine the reaction of a majority of Americans, Republicans, and Democrats.  

Okay, enough done. I’ll be back on Monday with a more serious ticket. Good Sunday to you all!  

Several rockets fall near the American Embassy in Baghdad

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Several rockets fall near the American Embassy in Baghdad

BAGHDAD |  Several rockets fell, on the night of Saturday to Sunday, near the American embassy located in the ultra-secure Green Zone of Baghdad, an American military source told TEH.

TEH journalists heard strong explosions in central Baghdad, followed by an aerial flight over the area, while sirens sounded in the Green Zone, according to the American military source. This is the 19th attack against American interests in Iraq in nearly four months. 

The explosions triggered the American Embassy’s alarm sirens, a diplomatic source said. They were followed by an aerial survey of the area. No material damage or casualties were reported in the early hours of Sunday.

Also read: Hezbollah Now Most Prominent Threat to the US

Rocket attacks on US soldiers, diplomats, and facilities in Iraq have escalated since late October. They killed an American subcontractor and an Iraqi soldier.

None of the 19 attacks recorded since October 28 have been claimed, but Washington accuses the pro-Iranian armed factions of being behind these hostilities. 

Tensions between Washington and Tehran, both Baghdad allies, escalated at the end of 2019 on Iraqi soil, leading to the assassination in Baghdad of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on the orders of US President Donald Trump. 

The Iranians retaliated with a shower of missiles at an Iraqi base where American soldiers are stationed, wounding a hundred. 

The pro-Iranian Iraqi armed factions, which lost their de facto leader in the raid against Soleimani, Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, have also since promised “revenge” against the United States. 

The Iraqi parliament – where these factions hold the second block of deputies – has already called for the expulsion of 5,200 American soldiers from the country. 

And factions regularly threaten these troops. One of Iraq’s most radical pro-Iran factions, Noujaba, said on Twitter on Saturday that they “decided to start the countdown to (Iraq’s) sovereignty and the response to the US occupation forces.”.

“We are closer than you imagine,” the group again threatened, above the photo of an American armored vehicle.

Unexpected protest overwhelms Algeria a year ago

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Unexpected protest overwhelms Algeria a year ago

ALGIERS |  Friday, February 22, 2019, in a sudden and unexpected Algeria, deemed as resigned, the Hirak arose, a new protest movement, still alive and now inevitable, but faced with many challenges when celebrating its 1st candle.

Less than six weeks later, the demonstrators, every Friday more numerous, obtained the departure of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, and the fall of his clan. But a year later, the political “system” rejected by the protesters is still there.

The army regained control and a former loyal supporter of Mr. Bouteflika succeeded him as president in December, after an election shunned by the majority of voters, but which the contest failed to prevent.  

“With the presidential election, we passed Act II, with all the specter of improbability, uncertainty, and instability” that this entails, explains to AFP the historian Karima Direche, specialist of the Maghreb contemporary. “It is consistent with what the Algerians have been saying for a year: everything is moving and nothing is changing.”  

But if a year of weekly demonstrations did not defeat the “system”, the Hirak has profoundly changed the political situation.  

“Awareness”

The departure of Bouteflika, incarceration of apparatchiks and corrupt businessmen, “there have been some tangible results even if the main demand for regime and system change is far from being fulfilled”, admits Dalia Ghanem, a researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.  

But the greatest success of Hirak, she argues, “is really the awareness of Algerians and their desire to return to politics without […] being afraid of the scenario of civil war” between the army and the Islamist maquis which killed 200,000 in the 1990s.  

A trauma exploited at will under the presidency Bouteflika to discourage any dispute and which made the scenario of February 22 highly improbable.  

A few weeks before, sure of its fact, the politico-military apparatus was putting itself in battle order, for a presidential planned for April and supposed to be only a formality for the outgoing head of state, however, paralyzed, aphasic and almost invisible since a stroke in 2013. 

Cut off from the citizens, the regime feels that anger is brewing, but underestimates it.  

Affected by massive unemployment, the youth (54% of the population is under 30 years of age) can no longer bear to be represented in the eyes of the world by an octogenarian motionless in a wheelchair, whose rare appearances arouse the laughingstock of networks social.  

The feeling of humiliation overflowed when, during a meeting in the absence of the head of state, the apparatchiks of the presidential party addressed by default his framed portrait.   

The calls to demonstrate on February 22 are increasing on social networks. But there is little to believe that the movement will take, until Friday when, especially in Algiers – where all rallies have been prohibited since 2001 -, overwhelmed police let peaceful demonstrators fill the streets.  

And now?

Now, “the citizen street appears as a protest force, which did not exist before” in a country without a real opposition party or union, recalls Karima Direche.  

According to Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at the Sciences Po institute in Paris, “for the past year, the Hirak has carried out a double process of reappropriation of both national history and public space. By taking control of the street over time and in pacifism, the protest has redefined the rules of the political game in Algeria, hitherto marked by opacity and violence.  

The Hirak has also shown the profound transformation of Algerian society, carried by its youth – in particular women – graduate and hyperconnected, and now determined to be heard. 

New President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74, “will have a lot to do with it. In its governance, it will not be able to do as the others did before. It is not possible, ”says Karima Direche.  

A year later, the crowds are certainly less dense than in spring 2019, but the mobilization remains strong. The movement wants to influence the changes promised by the new president, but it is struggling to structure itself and agree on the way forward.  

“The movement will celebrate it’s 1 st year on 22 February and I want to say: what’s next? (what now?), underlines Dalia Ghanem. What do we want, what do we ask and how do we try to have tangible results? ”  

Two men shot and injured in Montreal

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Two men shot and injured in Montreal

MONTREAL – Two people were wounded by gunshot during two different events that occurred during the night of Saturday to Sunday, said Montreal police.

First, a call was made to 911 at approximately 4:00 am about shots fired in front of a bar on rue Saint-Hubert, near rue Saint-Zotique, in the Rosemont – La Petite-Patrie borough.

Upon arrival, a team from the Montreal Police Service (SPVM) found an injured man in the bar.

The victim, a 29-year-old man, was hit in the lower body by more than one projectile and had to be taken to hospital. “The injured was aware, there is no fear for his life,” said Caroline Chevrefils, spokesperson for the SPVM.

The suspects fled before the police arrived, she added.

According to the police, shots were fired inside and outside the bar.

A projectile impact was found on an immobilized car on board of which were four people who were not injured, it was said.

A security perimeter has been erected in the area to allow investigators, accompanied by a forensic technician, to do their job.

Other gunshot wounded

In addition, a person injured by a gunshot during another separate event went to the hospital for treatment during the night of Saturday to Sunday, according to information from the SPVM.

The victim, a 25-year-old man, was injured in the upper body by at least one gunshot.

The man was initially considered to be in critical condition, but his health improved on Sunday morning.

The circumstances of the event are unknown.

The victim will be met by the investigators when his condition allows it.

Costa Rica: record seizure of five tonnes of cocaine

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Costa Rica: record seizure of five tonnes of cocaine

Costa Rican police on Saturday made the largest drug seizure in its history by discovering more than five tonnes of cocaine hidden in a container that was to be loaded Sunday in the port of Limon.

The drugs were hidden in a shipment of ornamental flowers destined for the Dutch port of Rotterdam, said Interior Minister Michael Soto Rojas.

The police also arrested a 46-year-old suspect of Costa Rican nationality.

There are plenty of urine test kits available to analyze the availability of drugs in the urine. At the same time, there are some who claim to bypass the test. There are numerous online sources where they’ve explained how you can do this. One has to review on theblack, one of such blogs.

The suspect container had been spotted on Friday and its search proved successful on Saturday: the police discovered 202 suitcases there, containing a total of 5,048 packages of approximately one kilogram of cocaine each.

Coronavirus: a first municipality placed in quarantine in Vietnam

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Coronavirus: a first municipality placed in quarantine in Vietnam

A town of 10,000 inhabitants near Hanoi has been quarantined for fear of the spread of the new coronavirus, a first in the country, we learned Thursday from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

His commune’s “quarantine” was ordered for twenty days, the ministry said, while five cases of Covid-19 were detected in this small town in the province of Vinh Phuc, located around 30 kilometers northwest of the Vietnamese capital.

“We are all stranded in the town and we work in our rice fields and gardens” but this will certainly affect a large number of inhabitants having “outside employment as a house painter, worker …”, said Tran Van Minh, a resident, contacted by AFP by phone.

Also read:  virus-the-way-forward-from-a-global-perspective-46547/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Corona virus: The Way Forward from a Global Perspective

According to him, “a woman infected her family and her neighbors”.

Fifteen people in Vietnam are affected by the coronavirus epidemic that started in China in December.

The toll rose sharply on Thursday with more than 1,300 people dead and nearly 60,000 infected in mainland China, following a change in the detection method.

These new figures may fuel speculation that the severity of the epidemic, officially called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), may have been underestimated.

Indonesia: Merapi volcano spits a large plume of smoke

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Indonesia: Merapi volcano spits a large plume of smoke

JAKARTA |  One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Merapi, erupted on Thursday and spat out incandescent lava and smoke that formed a large plume more than 2,000 meters in the sky.

Authorities did not raise the alert level of the volcano after the early morning eruption but cautioned the airlines.

Locals have been instructed not to approach more than three kilometers from the Merapi crater, near the cultural capital of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, on the island of Java.

https://twitter.com/afpfr/status/1228061283121029121

Volcanic ash fell over a 10 km2 area around the volcano, according to the Center for the Prevention of Volcanic and Geological Risks.  

In 2010, Mount Merapi had experienced a major eruption that had killed more than 300 people and forced more than 280,000 inhabitants to evacuate the region.

Read:  Climate change-induced migration

It was the most powerful eruption since that of 1930, which killed some 1,300 people, while an explosion in 1994 killed 60 people.

The archipelago of Southeast Asia has more than 17,000 islands and islets and nearly 130 active volcanoes.  

Indonesia is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the friction of the tectonic plates causes frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  

Coronavirus: more than 1,500 dead in China, 1st case in Africa

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Coronavirus: more than 1,500 dead in China, 1st case in Africa

BEIJING | The toll of the epidemic of the new coronavirus exceeded 1,500 deaths in China on Saturday, and the first case of contamination in Africa was noted in Egypt.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health announced Friday that it has registered the first case on the African continent. The carrier, who is not Egyptian, was hospitalized in quarantine.

More than 66,000 cases of contamination have now been recorded in China, including at least 1,716 among doctors and nurses working with patients, according to the National Health Commission, which acts as a ministry.

Authorities have revealed that six health workers have died, highlighting the risks they face in overcrowded hospitals.

The vast majority of hospital contaminations took place in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, in central China, and home of this epidemic of viral pneumonia called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The announcement of the number of hospital infections comes a week after the death, due to the virus, of a doctor who had tried to alert the authorities but had been reprimanded by the police. His death had caused anger on social networks.

Read: China no more a bogeyman

Due to an influx of patients in Hubei hospitals and a shortage of protective supplies (masks, full suits), some of the healthcare staff find themselves at the mercy of contamination.

The Hubei Health Commission announced on Saturday that in the past 24 hours the epidemic has left an additional 139 people died in the province and that 2,420 new cases of contamination have been detected there. The total number of new cases of contamination in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao) is 2,641.

In addition, four deaths have been reported elsewhere than in Hubei.

This brings the total number of deaths recorded in mainland China since the start of the epidemic to 1,523 dead.

“Big test” for China

China accounts for 99.9% of all coronavirus deaths worldwide. So far, Japan and the Philippines are the only other countries that have reported deaths (one each) on their territory.

The fight against the virus constitutes “a great test for the system and the capacities of governance of the country”, recognized on Friday Chinese President Xi Jinping. The epidemic has revealed “gaps and shortcomings,” he conceded, calling for improvements to the national health care system, comments made at a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On the American side, after initially congratulating Beijing on its “very professional work”, the White House distanced itself from Thursday. “We are a bit disappointed with the lack of transparency on the part of the Chinese,” Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, told reporters.

He notably regretted that Beijing had, according to him, declined American proposals to send experts to China.

In response, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, assured Friday that Beijing had shown “transparency” since the beginning of the epidemic.

WHO defends China

“”China has always viewed cooperation with the United States in a positive and open manner,” he said.

WHO defended Beijing on Friday, saying the Chinese government “cooperates with us, invites international experts, has shared footage (of the virus), continues to work with the outside world.”

Health authorities in Hubei announced Thursday, to everyone’s surprise, expansion of their definition of people with viral pneumonia Covid-19.

Until now, a screening test was essential to declare a case “confirmed”. From now on, patients “clinically diagnosed”, in particular with a simple chest X-ray, will also be counted.

This new method has automatically inflated the number of dead and officially infected people, with the announcement of a surge of more than 15,000 new cases of contamination on Thursday and around 5,000 on Friday.

These figures depict a more serious situation than what has been reported so far, but this “does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the epidemic,” tempered the head of the health emergency department of WHO, Michael Ryan.

World Cups

The city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus appeared in December, and the surrounding province of Hubei remained cut off from the world on Friday via a draconian sanitary cordon in force for more than three weeks.

The two CCP chiefs for Hubei and Wuhan, castigated by public opinion for their handling of the crisis, were dismissed on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the world, the Covid-19 epidemic is keeping authorities on the alert, with several hundred confirmed cases of contamination in twenty states.

People sick in the United States with flu symptoms but screened negative for the disease will be tested for the new coronavirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday

The main source of infection outside of China remains the cruise ship, Diamond Princess, in quarantine in Japan near Yokohama (east): 218 cases of contamination have been confirmed there, including 44 new cases announced on Thursday.

Hundreds of passengers from an American cruise ship, the Westerdam, were able to land in Cambodia on Friday. The boat had wandered at sea for more than 10 days, five Asian ports forbidding it to dock for fear of the coronavirus.

In France, 181 first returnees from Wuhan left Friday a holiday center near Marseille (south), where they had been confined for 14 days.

India: students stripped naked to see if they have their period

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India: students stripped naked to see if they have their period

Ahmedabad | Dozens of Indian female students were forced to strip naked this week at a Hindu university to check if they were menstruating, with house rules requiring them to step aside during their menstruation, reported on Friday, the media and an establishment official.

The facts occurred on Monday at the Sahjanand Girls Institute in the city of Bhuj in the state of Gujarat (West India), an establishment run by the Hindu sect Swaminarayan. It also manages sumptuous temples around the world, including one in London.  

The investigation started with the discovery of a used sanitary napkin in a garden in front of the university. Its internal regulations prohibit young women from staying in student residences during menstrual periods and oblige them to isolate themselves in a basement, as well as to stay away from the kitchen and place of worship.  

They must also sit at the back of the class during lessons.  

University officials lined up 68 female students in the restroom and ordered them one by one to undress, the students told local press.  

“There are no words to describe the humiliation we experienced,” a student who was among those expressing her anger Thursday outside the establishment told reporters on Thursday.  

The university has launched an investigation and has indicated that it may take action against its employees who initiated the review.  

“The girls were informed of the rules of the residence before their admission,” however, told AFP the university official, Pravin Pindoria.  

“I have called a meeting of the administrative committee which will take action against those responsible,” he added.  

Feminine rules remain a deeply-held taboo in India. In some rural areas, women have to live away from the community for their entire duration. They are also prohibited from entering certain temples during their menstruation.  

China-Vatican: historic meeting between foreign ministers

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China-Vatican: historic meeting between foreign ministers

For the first time, foreign ministers from China and the Vatican, two states without diplomatic ties for decades due to religious disputes, met, official media said on Saturday.

Wang Yi of China and his counterpart Mgr Paul Gallagher met on Friday in Munich, said the People’s Daily, an organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The German city is currently hosting the Security Conference. 

A meeting at this diplomatic level is a first for at least six decades, the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China have had no diplomatic relations since the 1950s. 

She intervenes in the context of warming bilateral relations since the signing of a historic agreement in 2018 on the appointment of bishops in China. 

“Today is the first meeting between the foreign ministers of China and the Vatican,” said Wang Yi. 

“This will open up more space for future exchanges between our two parties,” he said, according to the report published by the People’s Daily on its website. 

The ruling CCP is wary of any organization, especially a religious one, that could threaten its authority. He had long distrusted the Vatican because of its potential political influence on Chinese Catholics. 

The estimated 10 million Catholics in China are expected to attend only state-approved churches whose clergy are validated by the CCP. But many also go to places of worship led by the religious faithful to the Pope. 

Under the “preliminary” agreement signed in 2018, Pope Francis recognized Chinese bishops who had been appointed by Beijing without his approval. The text, however, gives the two parties a right of scrutiny over the appointments.  

Despite the ongoing rapprochement, the restoration of official ties between the two states remains difficult to achieve. 

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