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Contrasting needs in home stretch: For Trump, adulation; for Biden, safety

InternationalOct 22. 2020People participate in rehearsal and tests inside the Curb Event Center where President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are scheduled to participate in the final presidential debate Thursday, on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford 

By The Washington Post · Sean Sullivan, Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Anu Narayanswamy, Josh Dawsey · NATIONAL, POLITICS· 
WASHINGTON – With two weeks left before the close of voting, President Donald Trump flew to the far northwest corner of Pennsylvania for a large rally where he aired grievances against the news media, complained that the pandemic had damaged his campaign and portrayed Democrats as purveyors of drugs and crime – all as a sea of loyal supporters in red MAGA hats cheered him on.

While Trump on Tuesday appealed in person to his most ardent fans with divisive themes, Joe Biden’s campaign beamed in to the nation’s living rooms during the World Series with a much broader audience in mind. “There is only one America. No Democratic rivers, no Republican mountains,” the actor Sam Elliott intoned as he narrated a commercial for Biden in his signature gravelly voice. Biden, meanwhile, was at home as the ad aired, eschewing public events to prepare for Thursday’s debate.

The split screen underlined the starkly different strategies Trump and Biden have deployed in the final stage of the presidential race. Trump has been spending heaps of cash staging crowded rallies designed to motivate his most fervent fans, despite the advice of public health officials to avoid large gatherings. Biden, who is leading in the polls, has been holding smaller, less expensive events and investing aggressively in television ads and virtual gatherings designed to persuade a wide audience that he can unify a divided country. 

The divergent approaches reflect the thinking on each side. Biden campaign officials say they feel strongly about running a campaign safely – and their posture underscores their belief that Trump’s widely criticized handling of the pandemic is the decisive issue in the election. Any contrast with him – either in policy proposals or campaign practices – will benefit Biden, they feel. 

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the Biden campaign to experiment with different strategies, including some that could prove useful in a post-coronavirus world and mark a potential shift in the way campaigns are conducted. 

Among its approaches, campaign officials have used trucks as mobile offices at which voters can pick up literature and yard signs without entering a building, and they’ve also set up drive-through pickups. Jenn Ridder, states director for the Biden campaign, said these tactics could be helpful in rural areas during future campaigns. Ridder said she also has found that engaging people in virtual events often leads to them volunteering to make phone calls or conduct other outreach later on.

“It’s taken a little bit more proactiveness on us to track these people down and suck them into the campaign, rather than just a big rally at the park where people show up and you just sign them up right there,” Ridder said. “It’s been a little more work.”

Trump, meanwhile, has been determined to project strength during a crisis, which he often does by flouting the advice health of experts and basking in the support of his most ardent fans.

Still, the main reason his campaign continues to hold large rallies is that the president loves them, aides said. They say Trump feels that when people see big crowds, they will be more inclined to vote for him. When his advisers argued against rallies, saying the events wouldn’t be safe, and instead going to smaller events designed to target certain groups, Trump insisted on returning to his signature format. 

The differences between the campaigns came into sharp focus in the campaign finance reports released this week; they revealed a wide disparity in spending on travel, in-person events and use of virtual platforms from June to September, according to a Washington Post analysis. 

The Trump campaign and two affiliated committees outspent Biden and his affiliates by more than 8 to 1 in event staging, facility rental and various fees, the analysis shows. The Trump side spent $17.6 million compared with $2.1 million by Biden and his allies. 

The Trump side also spent $7.1 million on transportation, including $1.8 million to reimburse the Treasury Department for using Air Force One, which doubles as his rally backdrop, to fly to campaign stops. Biden spent $3.6 million on travel and transportation, including $265,000 to lease an Amtrak train for a whistle-stop tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania the day after the first debate.

Meanwhile, Biden also spent more than $37,000 on communication services provided by Zoom, the platform frequently used by the campaign for its virtual events. Trump spent just $143 in Zoom subscription fees.

Trump has paid a host of high costs related to rallies and fundraisers in recent months, including $117,333 to a linen rental company, $221,020 to a biometric testing company, and $47,506 to a sommelier services company. 

By contrast, some of Biden’s biggest expenses for event production went toward companies that produce digital events. In September alone, Biden spent about $330,000 to a company named 090 Media, which specializes in live-streamed events. From July through September, he paid $535,651 to Wizard Studios, which stages socially distanced campaign events for Biden, including setting up “social circles” that allow guests, campaign staffers and reporters to maintain safe distances from one another. 

Although Biden stepped up his travel in recent weeks, the past few days have marked a return to his pre-Labor Day pace. As Biden hunkered down Wednesday and prepared for the debate – his third day in a row without an in-person campaign event – Trump traveled to North Carolina for another rally. 

The Democrat aired a second World Series ad. Biden’s absence from the trail was filled by a very prominent pinch hitter: Barack Obama stumped for him in Philadelphia. In his debut on the physical campaign trail for Biden, Obama talked about the importance of voting, and he sharply criticized Trump. The 44th president was one of many surrogates on whom the Biden campaign has relied. On Wednesday, the campaign planned to host a virtual gathering of Colorado voters with the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy.” The campaign held a similar event aimed at Arizona voters featuring the comedian George Lopez. 

Biden’s in-person gatherings are always small. Temperatures are taken, masks are worn and social distancing is enforced. One campaign official recalled an event with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., where students stood inside hula hoops to ensure safe spacing. 

But the campaign also has had the benefit of a torrent of money. Biden started October with nearly three times as much cash on hand as Trump had, thanks to a surge of donations motivated by an urgent desire to defeat the president. Biden’s campaign entered October with $177 million, compared with Trump’s $63 million. 

Raising money from wealthy donors also has become a more efficient endeavor for the campaign, which holds finance events virtually because of the pandemic, sparing the usual expenses such as a catering and entertainment. 

On Tuesday, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., held back-to-back virtual fundraisers as Biden’s running mate, events featuring actors such Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle and Paul Rudd, as well as Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr. 

But Trump is committed to a different approach. 

He is still holding in-person fundraisers, including one planned for Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday ahead of the debate; tickets for that fundraiser are going for up to $250,000. 

Aides say that beyond basking in adulation, Trump has a goal in resurrecting rallies: to drive up voter turnout and collect voter data, attract attention from local news outlets and draw a contrast with Biden’s more modest schedule. Tim Murtaugh, a campaign spokesman, said many of the attendees at the rallies are not registered Republicans or Trump voters.

But often, Trump attracts attention for reasons having little to do with the economy or other issues his aides and allies would prefer to see him emphasize. During his rally in Erie, Pa., on Tuesday night, Trump took yet another shot at Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes,” played selectively edited clips of Biden on a giant screen and suggested that the only reason he was back in Erie – which is in a county he won narrowly in 2016 – was that his political standing has slipped during the pandemic. 

“Before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn’t coming to Erie. I have to be honest. There was no way I was coming. I didn’t have to,” he said. In reality, polls showed the president was likely to face a challenging race even before the outbreak. 

Even the Trump campaign, however, relied on television and Internet ads for its biggest outlay, as did Biden. The Trump campaign and its affiliates paid more than $423 million from June through September to American Made Media Consultants for ad placements. 

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign leaned on two major media-buying firms during those months, Media Buying & Analytics (which was paid $270 million) and GMMB (which was paid $137 million). The campaign also directly paid Facebook $27.8 million and Google $3.4 million for ads, filings show.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic worsened, Trump and his team spent huge sums. Corey Lewandowski, an informal adviser, has bragged to others about how elaborate the stages were at various Trump events. Some of the campaign’s expenses – such as $500,000 of fireworks over the White House, a Super Bowl ad, and banners flown over the shorelines of beach towns – were seen as unnecessary by some in the campaign. 

The campaign also has continued to spend money on family salaries and for office space in Trump Tower in New York, where the president no longer goes. 

In recent weeks, however, the campaign has limited many of its trips to using a smaller Air Force One in a bid to save money. The campaign is charged by the seat, and the number of aides has been limited on the trips. Aides also have cut some television reservations, including in competitive states. 

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien has complained to others that when he took the reins of the campaign, there was not a formalized budget and that he did not realize what a dire situation he was in, according to four people who have spoken to him. 

“There’s no doubt the previous regime wasted a fortune. That money could have been far better spent. The president’s campaign is in worse shape now than it would be otherwise,” said Mike DuHaime, a Republican strategist who is close to Stepien. 

But none of that was evident when Trump set off Wednesday for yet another rally at which thousands would cheer for him.

“Hello, everybody,” he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. “So we’re going to North Carolina. Big crowd. Really big crowd. And we’re going to have a good time.” 

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Obama delivers blazing critique of president in 2020 campaign trail debut

InternationalOct 22. 2020Women watch from a window as former president Barack Obama campaigns in Philadelphia on Wednesday for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Bonnie Jo Mount 

By The Washington Post · David Nakamura · NATIONAL, POLITICS 

PHILADELPHIA – Former president Barack Obama delivered a lacerating critique of President Donald Trump in his debut on the 2020 campaign trail Wednesday, denouncing his successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and ridiculing him for being unable to even “protect himself” from covid-19. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/c700359c-9aaf-4b3c-ad91-ec5b6220c87e?ptvads=block&playthrough=false

Speaking at a drive-in rally for Joe Biden in South Philadelphia, Obama attacked Trump on a wide range of issues – including his personal tax payments, embrace of conspiracy theories, handling of the economy and efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act – as he implored Democrats to avoid complacency and turn out at the polls. 

“We’ve got to turn out like never before. We cannot leave any doubt in this election,” Obama said, warning that Trump has suggested he won’t accept the results if he loses.

Though polls have showed Biden holding a steady lead in Pennsylvania, Obama cautioned: “I don’t care about the polls. There were a bunch of polls last time, and it didn’t work out. . . . Not this time. Not this election.”

With less than two weeks left before Election Day, Obama’s appearance in a state Trump won in 2016 highlighted the importance of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, which both campaigns have viewed as a must-win on a path to the White House. A day earlier, Trump delivered remarks at a rally in Erie, Pa., in one of three western counties that had voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 but backed Trump four years ago. 

A little more than an hour after Obama spoke, Trump briefly went after his predecessor during a campaign rally in North Carolina, claiming it was “good news” that Obama is out on the campaign trail.

“It’s good. There was nobody that campaigned harder for crooked Hillary Clinton than Obama, right?” Trump said. “He was all over the place. . . . I think the only one more unhappy than crooked Hillary that night was Barack Hussein Obama.”

Obama has been an important surrogate for Biden, delivering a prime-time endorsement address during the Democratic National Convention in August, headlining virtual fundraisers and rallying supporters in get-out-the-vote video messages and other media appearances. In recent days, he joined vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris and the actor Michael B. Jordan in an online fundraiser.

But his debut at an in-person event aimed to deliver a jolt of excitement from the Democratic Party’s top draw and most electrifying speaker to generate enthusiasm among the Democratic base, particularly minorities and young people. Obama appeared energized in his return to the spotlight, unleashing full-throated criticism over Trump’s management of the country and his personal behavior. 

“I get this president wants full credit for the economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic he ignored,” Obama said, citing the more than 220,000 Americans who have died of the novel coronavirus. “But you know what? The job doesn’t work that way. Tweeting at the television doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better. You’ve got to have a plan.”

The 44th president cited a nationwide rise in coronavirus cases, which have spiked to over 60,000 a day, and said that Trump “isn’t going to suddenly protect all of us. He can’t even take the basic steps to protect himself.” By comparison, Obama added, Biden “is not going to screw up testing. He’s not going to call scientists idiots. He’s not going to hold a superspreader event at the White House.”

Obama cited recent New York Times reports about the president’s finances that revealed he had paid $750 in personal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and that he maintained a bank account in China while overseeing U.S. foreign policy. 

“Can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for reelection?” Obama said. “You think Fox News might have been a little concerned about that? They would have called me ‘Beijing Barry.’ ” 

The format of the event, in which supporters remained in their vehicles to maintain social distancing, offered a stark reminder of the nation’s health crisis. As Obama spoke, supporters could be heard cheering but also honking their horns in support. 

The scene was a contrast to Trump’s rallies, in which thousands of supporters huddle closely on airport tarmacs for the president’s remarks. Many have eschewed masks, as Trump has denounced Democratic governors and mayors for maintaining pandemic restrictions on businesses.

Biden did not attend the event. The former vice president has hunkered down at his home in Wilmington, Del., and maintained a low public profile this week, with aides emphasizing that he is focused on preparing for his final debate with Trump on Thursday.

Ahead of the drive-in rally, Obama urged supporters to vote and avoid cynicism over the country’s problems. He tied the recent social justice protests to the election, suggesting the passion that drove demonstrators would offer a bulwark against opponents who have tried to depress the vote. 

Obama also met with 14 Black community members in North Philadelphia to discuss issues facing Black men, including poverty, unemployment and gun violence.

“Obama’s ability to mobilize Democrats is rivaled by only one other person, and that would be Trump – Obama because he inspires us and tells us, ‘Yes we can,’ and Trump because he dares tell us we can’t,” said Pennsylvania state Sen. Sharif Street, a Democrat, who participated in the meeting. 

“Barack Obama’s very presence will remind people of a time when America was working to better itself versus whatever this president is doing now.”

Yet Obama’s appearance in Philadelphia also served as a reminder that he was unable to help deliver the state for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. On the final day of that campaign, the two joined up in the city for a celebratory mega-rally featuring Bruce Springsteen in a state that Obama had carried comfortably in 2008 and 2012. The next day, Trump proved victorious on his way to the White House.

“If Obama couldn’t carry Pennsylvania for Hillary, I have serious doubts about what he can do for Joe Biden,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP political strategist based in the state. 

Polls have shown Biden with a solid lead for months. A Washington Post average of October polls shows Biden with an eight-point lead in the state, 52 percent to 44 percent.

But Biden aides have warned against complacency, and Obama addressed those fears at both of his events. 

“I’ve never lost hope over these last four years,” Obama told the group in North Philadelphia. “I’ve been mad. I’ve been frustrated, but I haven’t lost hope, and the reason is because I never expected progress to move directly in a straight line.”

In his address outside Lincoln Field, Obama took aim at the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act, calling it “shameful.”

“The idea of taking health care from people at the very moment where people need it most – what’s the logic of that?” Obama asked. “There is no logic.”

“I’m asking you to remember what this country can be,” he said, “when we treat each other with respect and dignity.”

Concluding his remarks, Obama repurposed one of his famous 2008 campaign slogans for the pandemic era.

“Honk if you’re fired up,” he told the audience in their cars. “Honk if you’re ready to go.”

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Car sharing startup Socar becomes 12th unicorn in S. Korea

InternationalOct 22. 2020SoCar brand represenrative Kang Ha-neul (SoCar) 

By Kim Young-won
The Korea Herald/ANN

Car sharing firm Socar said on Oct. 16 that it has newly attracted 60 billion won of funding from investors, achieving unicorn status with a corporate value of 1 trillion won ($872.6 million).

With Socar’s latest addition to the unicorn list, South Korea now has 12 unicorn companies, including ecommerce firm Coupang, fintech company Viva Republica and accommodation booking services operator Yanolja. Socar is Korea’s first mobility unicorn. 

“As Socar has received a combined 60 billion won from SG Private Equity and Songhyun Investment, the company’s value was estimated to reach the 1-trillion won mark,” the car sharing company said.

The company’s car sharing business started in 2011 with 100 rental cars. It acquired mobile messenger startup VCNC in 2018 to launch van-hailing service Tada.

Tada ceased its van-hailing operations this year, after new legislation made it difficult to operate the service, but it still runs a premium taxi service.

The number of vehicles run by Socar has grown to 120,000 with the number of subscribers exceeding 6 million. The company’s revenue last year came to 256.6 billion won, up from 121.1 billion won in 2017.

“Through the latest round of investment, Socar has shown its growth potential amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Park Jae-wook, CEO of the mobility company, adding that the company will beef up its competitiveness by recruiting talent and improving services.

The race to lead the mobility sector will likely heat up as existing and new players have been competitively expanding their respective operations. Uber, an underdog in the domestic market largely due to the government’s strict regulations, has recently joined forces with mobile network operator SK Telecom to launch new mobility services.

The two companies plan to launch a joint venture for car hailing services in the first half next year. SKT will also spin off its automotive services unit, tentatively named T Map Mobility, which runs a taxi hailing service and a navigation service.

The US car sharing firm will invest $100 million in the planned joint venture and $150 million in T Map Mobility.

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China greenlights Ant Group’s IPO on STAR market

InternationalOct 22. 2020This undated photo shows an Ant Group mascot in Hangzhou, capital of China’s Zhejiang province. (LONG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY) 

By China Daily/ANN

BEIJING – China’s securities regulator said Wednesday it has approved the initial public offering (IPO) registration of Ant Group, the parent company of the country’s leading mobile-payment business Alipay, on the science and technology innovation board.

The company will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s sci-tech innovation board, commonly known as the STAR market, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The company and its underwriters will confirm the IPO date and publish its prospectus following discussions with the stock exchange.

The STAR market, inaugurated in June last year and designed to support companies in the high-tech and strategic emerging sectors, eases listing criteria but adopts higher requirements for information disclosure.

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Doctors Without Borders to help NK address COVID-19

InternationalOct 22. 2020

By Kim So-hyun
The Korea Herald/ANN

An international health charity received UN approval for an exemption from sanctions against North Korea so it can help the country tackle COVID-19 and tuberculosis.

The UN Security Council’s committee on sanctions against North Korea said Wednesday that it had approved a sanctions exemption for Doctors Without Borders, known by the French abbreviation MSF, to support North Korea with nutrition aid, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, and COVID-19 response measures.

MSF plans to run medical programs to deal with COVID-19, address malnutrition, and diagnose and treat tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in North Hamgyong Province. It will also provide emergency and general medical aid for residents of Kyongsong County, North Hamgyong Province.

MSF is now allowed to bring in 6,000 surgical masks, 2,000 protective suits and 1,000 filtering respirators for 12 months starting Oct. 14.

The UN sanctions committee said it had extended the exemption period for MSF “on an exceptional basis.”

The UN has approved requests from eight international organizations and nongovernmental organizations, as well as countries such as Finland, Italy and South Korea, for humanitarian extensions of the time frame for their exemptions from sanctions on North Korea since June this year.

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India gets ready with plan to distribute Covid-19 vaccine in vast country

InternationalOct 22. 2020

By Nirmala Ganapathy
The Straits Times/ANN

NEW DELHI – India has started planning to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine whenever it is ready as the number of new cases continues on a downward trend in the country which has reported 7.65 million cases, the second highest in the world after the United States.

But the authorities remain concerned about the potential for another spike with the festive season, when large gatherings are the norm, just around the corner.

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the first phase of the plan from January to July next year will involve vaccinating people, including healthcare workers on the front line. States have been asked to draw up their priority lists.

“We think if present trials proceed according to plan, the number of doses would be sufficient to immunise priority list persons,” he told a press conference on Tuesday (Oct 20).

He was quoted as saying that the 30 million people would be included in the first list.

Mr Bhushan said that they already had a network under the immunisation programme, from 29,000 cold storage facilities to a digital platform to track the doses of vaccines and the temperatures at which they are kept.

“We have these facilities. Discussions are going on over what type of augmentation is necessary,” he said. An expert group, including top government officials and health experts, is preparing the vaccination plan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also asked officials to look at distributing the vaccine through the election mechanism or disaster management networks, which are widespread and cover the entire span of the vast country.

Mr Modi has already asked officials to plan cold storage chains, strengthen the existing distribution network for vaccines and preparation equipment like vials and syringes in advance.

India will no doubt be at the forefront of ensuring a global supply of the vaccine, whenever it is released.

The South Asian country is a supplier of medicines for a variety of diseases across the world and is known for producing high quality and low-cost medicines for India as well as the global market.

It supplies 50 to 60 per cent of global demand for many vaccines, affordable anti-retroviral drugs and 40 per cent of generics consumed in the US, according to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Still, experts noted that nothing of the scale of vaccination planned for Covid-19 has been attempted in India before.

“The challenges would be both in the logistics of the supply chain and in the health workforce needed to administer the vaccine and monitor the adverse effects. The former may be more easy to solve. Organising the administration of the vaccine to the huge (1.35 billion) population will call for a large health workforce,” said Professor K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.

“It will be especially demanding if it is a two-dose vaccine,” he added.

The Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech are expected to pursue late stage clinical trials of their respective intranasal Covid-19 vaccines in the coming months after getting approval, the government has said.

Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D vaccine trials are in phase two while a Russian Covid vaccine has also received regulatory approval for clinical trials in India.

Leading epidemiologist Shahid Jameel said that the liquid form vaccine would be best suited for India.

“However, there would be limited capacity in India to store, let alone transport vaccines to all parts of the country if they require -20 or -70 deg C temperatures. India should go with vaccines that require storage and transport in liquid form (that is, between 4 and 10 deg C) and not the ones that have to be kept frozen,” said Dr Jameel.

He added: “I feel the biggest challenge would be cold chain, depending upon what vaccine is to be deployed.”

He welcomed the plan to use the election network for distribution.

“India has a very good election network and it would be wise to deploy that. India also has a lot of experience with polio eradication that included both Pulse Polio Days and door-to-door vaccination campaigns, which can be deployed.”

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Japan, Indonesia agree to strengthen security cooperation with eye toward China

InternationalOct 22. 2020Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, second from left, and his wife Mariko, left, pose with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, third from left, and his wife Iriana for a commemorative photo at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Pool photo / The Yomiuri Shimbun) 

By Kensaku Fujiwara and Takeyuki Hitokoto
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer and Correspondent

BOGOR, Indonesia — Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Indonesian presidential palace in Bogor on Tuesday and agreed to strengthen security cooperation with a view to dealing with China, which is increasing its maritime activities. To help Indonesia cope with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Suga announced that Japan would extend ¥50 billion in yen-denominated loans to Indonesia.

After the meeting, which lasted about one hour and 20 minutes, Suga said at a joint press conference that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN） is the cornerstone for realization of the free and open Indo-Pacific vision. “Japan will take the lead in contributing to the peace and prosperity of this region.”

Widodo said, “We want to make the South China Sea safe and stable waters.”

The two leaders confirmed that they will hold a “two-plus-two” ministerial meeting involving their foreign and defence ministers at an early date, which will be the second time after the first such meeting in 2015, and will accelerate talks on exports of defense equipment from Japan.

At the meeting, the Japanese prime minister also expressed Japan’s intention to help Indonesia develop human resources, including those of its coast guard agency.

The two leaders exchanged views on regional situations, including North Korea and the South China Sea, and confirmed that they will cooperate closely.

Suga asked the Indonesian president for cooperation in resolving the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea. Suga also pledged to provide ¥50 billion in yen loans to Indonesia and more than ¥4.4 billion in medical supplies and equipment to medical research institutions in the country.

The two leaders agreed to make arrangements to exempt short-term business travelers from the 14-day quarantine required at the time of entry as soon as possible.

They also confirmed that the two countries will cooperate on infrastructure development, including construction to extend a subway line that opened in Jakarta last year and the development of remote islands.

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VN, Japan agree on quarantine-free procedures for short-term entries

InternationalOct 22. 2020Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (right) and his visiting Japanese counterpart Suga Yoshihide had farewell talks before the latter left Việt Nam for Indonesia on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất 

By Viet Nam News/ANN

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and Japan have mutually agreed to implement an expedited arrival procedure which will allow certain groups from one country to enter another without undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine on short-term visits.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday issued a press release regarding the procedure, which will take effect starting November 1, following an agreement reached during the official trip of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to Việt Nam earlier this week at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.

The Vietnamese foreign ministry noted that the procedure, called priority travel for short-term entries from Japan into Việt Nam and “business track” for Vietnamese entering Japan, basically will waive quarantine requirement for people from either country who are going on trips shorter than 14 days for the purposes of investment, trade, diplomacy, official businesses or highly skilled workers.

However, prior to arrival, the entrant must obtain proof of negative tests for SARS-CoV-2 and still needs to be medically examined and monitored.

Following the entry into Việt Nam and Japan, the entrant will still have to be tested for the coronavirus, their health status will be frequently checked, and they could only engage in activities according to an agenda that has been registered and approved with the receiving host country’s authorities.

The Vietnamese and Japanese relevant agencies will in the future provide detailed guidelines on the eligible entries, requirements, and regulations on the short-term entry procedure between the two sides, the foreign ministry noted.

Việt Nam has closed its border to most foreign entries since March to prevent the spread of coronavirus but has taken steps to allow in diplomats, business executives, skilled workers, and students, but they all have to be quarantined for two weeks.

Japan is also easing its border restrictions starting in October.

The two countries are considered to have had a competent handle on the pandemic, with a low caseload and death toll. — VNS

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U.S. government concludes Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democrats

InternationalOct 22. 2020

By The Washington Post · Ellen Nakashima, Amy Gardner, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Craig Timberg · NATIONAL, WORLD, POLITICS, COURTSLAW, NATIONAL-SECURITY 
WASHINGTON – The nation’s top intelligence official on Wednesday evening accused Iran of orchestrating a spoofed email campaign threatening Democratic voters who did not vote for Donald Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/f51b56a1-568c-49f2-b053-2d51f1bacd68?ptvads=block&playthrough=false

The disclosure by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe marked the first known effort by a foreign adversary this election cycle to reach specific voters in a bid to undermine democratic confidence. The announcement came two weeks before the Nov. 3 election.

Speaking at a hastily-called news conference, Ratcliffe said both Iran and Russia had “obtained” voter registration data. He warned that voter information – some of which is publicly available and some of which can be purchased – could be used by foreign actors in an attempt to “cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy.”

Ratcliffe accused Iran of using the data to send “spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump,” he said.

The emails claimed to be from the Proud Boys, a far-right group supportive of Trump, but instead were engineered by someone working at the behest of the Iranian government, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The operation appeared to exploit a vulnerability in the group’s online network.

The messages advised that the group was “in possession of all your information” and instructed voters to change their party registration and cast their ballots for Trump.

“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” warned the emails, which by Tuesday night were said to have reached voters in as many as four states, three of them hotly contested swing states in the coming presidential election.

Analysts said targeting Democratic voters may have been an effort by Iran to prompt complaints about a far-right group associated with Trump. “If it became apparent that the threats were coming from the Trump campaign or his allies, it would reflect poorly on the president himself,” said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, cautioned that divining motive can take time.

“Getting at intent is as hard as understanding the context of people’s minds, and nobody has an easy time of that,” he said.

First divulged on Tuesday by local law enforcement and elections officials in Florida and Alaska, the emails prompted an investigation that quickly escalated to federal authorities, according to U.S. officials.

Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran was also distributing a video “that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas.” The video, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, shows Trump making disparaging comments about mail-in voting, followed by a logo with the name of the Proud Boys. It then documents what was made to appear as a hack of voting data in an effort to produce a fraudulent ballot. The video was also posted on a Twitter account that has since been suspended.

“This video, and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots, are not true,” Ratcliffe said at a Wednesday news conference. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries.”

Relations between Tehran and Washington have grown far tenser under the Trump administration, which withdrew from the nuclear deal that Iran reached with the United States and other world powers. The U.S. has applied escalating pressure on Iran through sanctions and other actions, including the targeted killing in January in Iraq of Iran’s most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani.

In August, the U.S. intelligence community’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina, issued an assessment that “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections.” Its efforts, he wrote, “probably will focus on online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content.”

By suggesting the group had gained access to privileged data, and also possibly penetrated electronic systems to detect how people were voting, the emails and video content attributed to Iran seemed designed to create the appearance of an election breach. Such a move may serve to undermine confidence in the integrity of the democratic process without posing a genuine risk to the election, said cybersecurity and disinformation experts.

“In recent years, Iranian information operations have continued to push boundaries using bold and innovative approaches. However, this incident marks a fundamental shift in our understanding of Iran’s willingness to interfere in the democratic process,” said John Hultquist, senior director of analysis for Mandiant Threat Intelligence. “While many of their operations have been focused on promoting propaganda in pursuit of Iran’s interests, this incident is clearly aimed at undermining voter confidence.”

Department of Homeland Security officials warned state and local election administrators on a call Wednesday that a foreign government was responsible for the online barrage, according to U.S. officials and state and local authorities who participated in the call, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. A DHS official also said authorities had detected holes in state and local election websites and instructed those participating to patch their online services.

Metadata gathered from dozens of the emails pointed to the use of servers in Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, according to numerous analysts.

“It’s clearly organized and very much planned,” said Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group.

The domain enlisted for the misleading operation, officialproudboys.com, was recently dropped by a hosting company that uses Google Cloud services, according to Google Cloud spokesman Ted Ladd. Without a secure host, the domain stood vulnerable to exploitation, cybersecurity experts said. Voters using Comcast, Yahoo and Gmail accounts were affected.

In addition to reports from Florida and Alaska, a voter in Pennsylvania told The Washington Post she had received one such email, though she suspected it may have been linked to her previous registration in Alaska. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office had not received reports about the messages, a spokesman, Mark Shade, said Wednesday.

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said her organization had received at least one report that a similar email had reached a voter in Arizona. The Arizona secretary of state’s office was looking into the matter, said a spokeswoman, Sophia Solis.

Clarke said her organization, after putting out a call on social media, had received 104 complaints of emails with the same pattern. One research group, Proofpoint, said its analysis showed one of the batches had more than 1,500 emails.

Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys and the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump, denied involvement, saying the group operates two sites, and was increasingly migrating away from the domain used in the email campaign.

“Two weeks ago, I believe, we had Google Cloud services drop us from their platform, so then we initiated a url transfer, which is still in process,” he said in an interview. “We kind of just never used it.”

Democrats in Alachua County, in north-central Florida, began receiving the threatening messages on Tuesday morning, said a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Art Forgey. So, too, did voters in Alaska, said Casey Steinau, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.

Even as the president sows doubt about mail balloting, federal law enforcement officials as well as election administrators have underscored the security of the process, which has been routine in some states for years. They also have warned about possible disinformation designed to create the appearance of fraud or to stoke fears of voter intimidation – which itself threatens to keep voters away from the polls.

Tarrio, determined to beat back the perception of involvement by the Proud Boys, said he had spoken to an FBI agent about the episode. Amanda Videll, a spokeswoman for the bureau in Jacksonville, Fla., declined to comment.

Bennett Ragan, campaign manager for a Democratic State House candidate in Gainesville, Fla., said he received two of the threatening messages on his Gmail account and knows of at least 10 other similar emails that had reached friends or associates. He said the home address cited in the emails he received could have come only from a Florida voters’ roll from 2018 because he has moved several times in recent years.

Ragan said he believed the purpose was to intimidate Democratic voters in a swing state with hotly contested races up and down the ballot on Nov. 3.

“When you have people who have a voter roll and then send off emails, they will make a big splash. They will scare people. That is without a doubt the intent,” he said.

The hosting service that previously carried the Proud Boys domain canceled the registration after Google Cloud notified the customer that a nonprofit group had raised concerns about the controversial organization, said Ladd, the Google Cloud spokesman.

Following the action from the hosting service, the domain appears to have been left unsecured, allowing anyone on the Internet to take control of it and use it to send out the menacing messages, said Trevor Davis, CEO of CounterAction, a Washington-based digital intelligence firm.

The lapse, which began on Oct. 8, “likely made them vulnerable to this kind of hijacking,” Davis said. “Bad actors are constantly scanning the Internet for opportunities. Given the public profile of the Proud Boys and the likelihood that whoever’s sending these emails has access to a voter file, this appears to be opportunism.”

An Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with metadata in at least one email had previously been reported, pointing to its likely use in scam or phishing operations, said Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and vice president of analysis for Alethea Group, an organization combating online threats and misinformation.

The Proud Boys rose to national prominence last month during the first presidential debate between Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, when the president passed up an invitation by moderator Chris Wallace, of Fox News, to denounce White supremacists. When Biden suggested that Trump denounce the Proud Boys, he said they should “stand back and stand by” – a comment that was widely celebrated on social media by the group as a call to action.

Memes circulated online with the words integrated into the Proud Boys logo. One doctored image showed Trump wearing one of the Proud Boys’ signature polo shirts. Another online poster used the moment to advertise T-shirts and hoodies bearing the group’s logo and the words “PROUD BOYS STANDING BY.”

The group’s leaders say they do not support White supremacy, but they had a contingent at 2017’s notorious Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The Proud Boys also have been frequent participants in the protests demonstrating against coronavirus shutdowns and, more recently, the protests in Portland, Ore. Facebook has banned the group as a hate group, and the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies it as a hate group and says its leaders “regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists.”

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Trump slams Democratic leaders as hopes for pre-election stimulus deal fizzle

InternationalOct 22. 2020President Trump 

By The Washington Post · Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim · NATIONAL, BUSINESS, POLITICS, CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump accused congressional Democratic leaders Wednesday evening of blocking a new economic relief deal, further narrowing the path for any agreement to emerge ahead of the election.

“Just don’t see any way Nancy Pelosi and Cryin’ Chuck Schumer will be willing to do what is right for our great American workers, or our wonderful USA itself, on Stimulus. Their primary focus is BAILING OUT poorly run (and high crime) Democrat cities and states . . . Should take care of our people,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.

His comments – which were inaccurate in some respects – came at the end of a day when Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats blocked a narrowly crafted GOP relief bill, which itself was much smaller than what the president wants.

At the same time, House Speaker Pelosi, D-Calif., reported progress in her ongoing but laborious negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a much bigger package, while acknowledging it might not be possible for Congress to finalize a bill ahead of the election less than two weeks away. Trump’s Twitter post came 84 minutes after Pelosi’s spokesman said the Democratic leader and Mnuchin were close to putting “pen to paper” on legislation.

The developments all came a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., disclosed that he had counseled the White House against making a deal with Pelosi ahead of the election, partly because it could interfere with the Senate’s plans to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court next week.

Senate Republicans are largely opposed to a bill along the lines of the $2 trillion measure Trump has demanded and which Pelosi and Mnuchin have been negotiating. Although Pelosi has continued to hold out hope for a deal to emerge in coming days, Trump’s tweets suggested he was giving up on the process, just the latest abrupt shift from the president, who has moved around erratically in the course of the negotiations.

McConnell, meanwhile, tried to advance a slimmed-down, approximately $500 billion bill on the Senate floor, but Democrats blocked it, just as they did last month when McConnell tried to move a nearly identical bill. The vote in the Senate was 51 to 44 along party lines, well short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to advance the legislation.

Senate GOP leaders argued that their “targeted” stimulus bill was the appropriate response and would have provided at least some help to needy Americans who have been waiting months for more relief from Congress as layoffs mount and coronavirus cases rise. The bill included new money for small businesses, schools, health-care systems and the unemployed, but it omitted Democratic priorities such as state and local aid – as well as $1,200 stimulus checks for individuals, a provision supported by Trump.

The legislation “would move us past Speaker Pelosi’s all-or-nothing obstruction and deliver huge support right now for the most pressing needs of our country,” McConnell said ahead of the vote.

Democrats and many Republicans have said major problems continue to exist in the economy months after the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States. But they are divided on what kind of federal response to pursue.

Schumer called the vote on the GOP bill a political stunt that was designed to fail, saying the legislation “leaves so many Americans behind.”

At the same time, Pelosi voiced optimism about her continued talks with Mnuchin on the much larger measure sought by Trump. But the House speaker acknowledged that final passage might have to wait until after Nov. 3.

“We obviously want to have a deal by November 3rd. That really is going to be up to whether the president can convince Mitch McConnell to do so,” Pelosi said in an interview on Sirius XM radio. “I think Mitch McConnell might not mind doing it after the election.”

Pelosi held another in what have become daily phone negotiating sessions with Mnuchin on Wednesday afternoon. Her spokesman Drew Hammill said on Twitter that their conversation “brings us closer to being able to put pen to paper to write legislation. With the exchange of legislative language, we are better prepared to reach compromise on several priorities.”

“Differences continue to be narrowed on health priorities, including language providing a national strategic testing and contact tracing plan, but more work needs to be done to ensure that schools are the safest places in America for children to learn,” Hammill wrote.

Earlier, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows joined Senate Republicans for a closed-door lunch as GOP senators continued to voice opposition to a massive new spending bill.

Meadows was questioned by one senator at the lunch about Trump’s desire to spend even more money than Pelosi, according to several people familiar with the event who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. Meadows replied that Mnuchin has been moving closer to Pelosi’s position without any movement by the speaker, the people said.

“Obviously there are a number of senators that have concerns over the amount we’re spending,” Meadows told reporters as he exited the lunch, adding: “There are some that think we’re not spending enough.”

A few Republicans in tough reelection fights, such as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., do support passing a big new relief bill – though not necessarily the one taking shape between Pelosi and Mnuchin. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, another senior lawmaker who is up for reelection, told reporters that it’s not just the size of the bill but some of the policies it contains.

Senate Republicans have blasted a number of items under consideration, including expanding Affordable Care Act tax credits and sending stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants.

“I think part of the problem is that people have just been focusing on the top line,” Cornyn told reporters. “There’s more than just the top line, it’s the substance that we haven’t been talking about or focusing on.” 

“Part of the message from Senate Republicans is we need to have a discussion about the substance and whether irrespective of the top line whether the policy makes sense,” the senator said.

In an afternoon interview on Fox News Channel, Meadows acknowledged the policy concerns from GOP senators and said Mnuchin had now moved up to around $1.9 trillion in the talks with Pelosi.

“When you look at $1.9 trillion, is Nancy Pelosi really going to tell that, I’m not going to send that relief to you just for political reasons?” Meadows said. “And I don’t think our chances get better after election. I do think the next 24 to 48 hours will tell us a whole lot.”

Trump has adopted one stance after another on the Mnuchin-Pelosi talks, at one point calling them off altogether but more recently demanding even more money than Democrats have proposed spending, and criticizing Mnuchin for failing to “bring home the bacon.”

His tweets Wednesday evening suggested a new downbeat stance, while repeating the incorrect claim that Democrats are trying to “bail out” blue states. Republican governors and municipal leaders have also pleaded with Washington for additional aid as tax revenue plummets.

Some Senate Republicans said it was unclear why exactly Meadows came to Capitol Hill after lawmakers have made their views well-known on another stimulus bill.

“Maybe he just needed to get out of the White House, I don’t know,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Blunt also voiced pessimism about prospects for advancing significant relief legislation during Congress’s “lame duck” session that will take place after the election. He said getting anything done during a lame duck is always difficult.

“If we’re going to do it this year, I think it’s now or never,” Blunt said.

Pelosi and Mnuchin are scheduled to talk again Thursday.