News Burst 18 March 2020 – Live Feed

News Burst 18 March 2020

• A New Zealand-based Samoan chief has been found guilty of human trafficking and using 13 of his countrymen as slaves over a 25 year period. Joseph Auga Matamata, 65, also known as Villiamu Samu, was found guilty on 10 counts of trafficking and 13 counts of slavery following a five-week trial at the High Court in Napier. He was acquitted of one charge of trafficking relating to a young boy he adopted in Samoa in 2016. It took the jury of five men and six women seven and a half hours to return the verdicts. It is the first time anyone in New Zealand had been charged with both human trafficking and slavery simultaneously. Matamata’s offending occurred between 1994 and April last year involving 13 Samoans from three villages on the island of Upolu. The youngest was just 12.

• The spread of the coronavirus in Brazil seems inevitable to such an extent that the symbol of the country, Christ the Redeemer in Rio Janeiro, is closed due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, populous Sao Paulo, known for its leisure life, is under a cultural “blackout” with the suspension of all activity in museums and similar venues. There has been a state of emergency declared in Rio de Janeiro region, the second most inhabited in Brazil, and as of Tuesday, its main tourist spots, such as the Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain, will close.

• Electricity-starved Cambodia will not develop new hydropower dams on the Mekong River for the next 10 years, a senior energy official said on Wednesday, as it reviews its policy to seek energy from coal, natural gas and solar. The decision means that neighboring Laos, which has opened two new dams on the mainstream Mekong in the past six months, is the only country in the Lower Mekong Basin planning hydropower on the river that sustains some 60 million people.

• In a move packed with political significance, Germany, the largest and most powerful country in the European Union, on March 16 introduced controls on its borders with Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland after it registered 1,000 new cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in just one day. Anyone without a valid reason to travel, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said, would be turned away at the borders. Travelers with symptoms of COVID-19 would be refused entry as well. German citizens and anyone with a residence permit, however, will be allowed to reenter Germany.

• • Austria. On March 10, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced controls along the border with Italy and a ban on the entry of most travelers from there. Kurz said, “The utmost priority is to prevent the spread and thus the importing of the illness into our society. There is therefore a ban on entry for people from Italy into Austria, with the exception of people who have a doctor’s note certifying that they are healthy.” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer also announced a ban on all air or rail travel to Italy.
  • Slovenia. On March 11, Health Minister Ales Sabeder stated that the government had closed some border crossings with Italy and started making health checks at those remaining open in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus. He said that citizens would only be able to cross the border in six places while all other roads that crossed the border would be closed. Normally more than 20 crossings are open. Passenger train transport between the two countries has also been stopped and most bus companies have canceled routes to Italy. Sabeder said that foreigners with Slovenian residence permits would be allowed to enter Slovenia if they had a certificate that they have tested negative for coronavirus during the previous three days.
  • Poland. On March 13, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that, as of March 15, only Polish citizens or people with a Polish residence permit would be allowed to enter the country. Everyone returning home from abroad would be quarantined for 14 days. All international inbound passenger flights or trains are banned, but freight transport is not affected. “The state will not abandon its citizens,” Morawiecki said. “In the current situation, however, we cannot allow ourselves to keep borders open to foreigners.”
  • Switzerland. On March 13, the Swiss government reimposed border controls with other European countries. Switzerland, although not a member of the European Union, is part of the Schengen zone. Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said that travel restrictions from Italy were aimed at preventing Italian patients from seeking access to Swiss hospitals. Asylum seekers were also subject to the restrictions. Swiss citizens, holders of a resident permit as well as cross-border workers and people transiting through Switzerland are still allowed to enter the country.
  • Denmark. On March 14, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen imposed border controls on all traffic by air, land and sea until at least April 13. Danish citizens are allowed to enter but any non-Dane without a valid reason for travel will be denied entry. “We stand on uncharted territory,” Frederiksen said. “We are in a situation that looks nothing like what any of us have experienced before. It is going to cost us all. If we do not do this, we risk that the costs, human, health and financial, will be far, far greater.”
  • Hungary. On March 16, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that, effective immediately, all passenger traffic into Hungary would be halted and only Hungarian citizens allowed to enter the country. Previously, the government had imposed controls on the country’s borders with Austria and Slovenia. All train travel was halted between Hungary and Croatia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
  • Spain. On March 16, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska decreed the reestablishment of controls at all land borders. Only Spanish citizens, people with Spanish residency and cross-border workers will be allowed to enter national territory by land. The measure does not affect the transport of goods.

• Sunset Mesa Funeral Home Operators Arrested For Illegal Body Part Scheme. Defendants also charged with illegally shipping diseased body parts against Department of Transportation requirements regarding hazardous materials. Hess and Koch would also ship bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonging to people who had died from, infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, after certifying to buyers that the remains were disease free. These shipments would be through the mail or on commercial air flights in violation of Department of Transportation regulations regarding the transportation of hazardous materials.

• All forests south of the Hau River in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam have been facing the threat of fire since the middle of this month, and any fire would spread very quickly because of the heat and low humidity, local authorities have warned. If the current weather continues, the warning level for all forests in U Minh Hạ, Hòn Khoai and Hòn Chuối islands will rise to five, the highest, according to the province Forest Protection Sub-department.

Sun Activity

Will Arctic skies turn green on the first day of spring? It could happen. A minor stream of solar wind is due to hit Earth’s magnetic field on March 19th, possibly causing auroras around the Arctic Circle. The gaseous material is flowing from a newly-opened hole in the sun’s atmosphere. spaceweather.com

Active Weather

Severe Tropical Storm 10 (Herold) – Sounth Indian Ocean – w/v 50 kts ↑ 984 hPa ↓ Moving W 5 kts toward North of Mauritius and Madagascar

Strongest EQ in Europe M4.2 Iceland
Strongest EQ in North America M3.3 Kansas
Strongest EQ on the Planet M6.1 Vanuatu
Deepest EQ M4.7 681 km Krmadec Islands