'Catastrophically short of doctors': Virus wallops Ukraine

October 08, 2020

STEBNYK, Ukraine (AP) — Coronavirus infections in Ukraine began surging in late summer, and the ripples are now hitting towns like Stebnyk in the western part of the country, where Dr. Natalia Stetsik is watching the rising number of patients with alarm and anguish.

“It’s incredibly difficult. We are catastrophically short of doctors,” says Stetsik, the chief doctor at the only hospital in the town of 20,000 people. “It’s very hard for a doctor to even see all the patients.”

The hospital is supposed to accommodate 100 patients, but it's already stretched to the limit, treating 106 patients with COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, Ukraine’s ailing health care system struggled with the outbreak, and authorities introduced a tight lockdown in March to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed.

The number of cases slowed during the summer but began to rise again quickly, prompting the government at the end of August to close Ukraine's borders for a month. Despite that, the number of positive tests in the country reached a new peak of 4,661 a day in the first weekend of October.

Overall, COVID-19 infections in the country have nearly doubled in the past month, topping 234,000. “The number of patients is rising, and an increasing share of them are in grave condition,” Stetsik told The Associated Press of the situation in Stebnyk, a quiet town in the Lviv region. “The virus is becoming more aggressive and more difficult to deal with.”

She said many of those doing poorly are in their 30s, adding that an increasing number of them need expensive medication. “There is a similar situation across entire Ukraine,” she said, adding that hospitals have run out of funds to provide drugs, forcing patients in some areas to buy their own.

The World Health Organization warns that the number of infections in Ukraine could continue to grow and reach 7,000-9,000 a day. The government wants to avoid imposing a new lockdown, but officials acknowledge that the rising number of infections could make it necessary. It has sought to introduce a more flexible approach to minimize the economic damage, dividing the country into various zones, depending on the pace of infections.

At a meeting Monday with officials in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy chastised them for failing to do enough to slow the spread and taking too long to provide necessary supplies. “We spend weeks on doing things that must be done within days,” he said.

Zelenskiy specifically urged them to move faster on ensuring that hospitals have enough supplementary oxygen, noting that only about 40% of beds for COVID-19 patients have access to it. Ukraine’s corruption-ridden economy has been drained by a six-year conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country, and Zelenskiy's administration inherited health care reforms from his predecessor that slashed government subsidies, leaving hospital workers underpaid and poorly equipped.

Last month, Zelenskiy ordered the government to increase wages for medical workers. Official statistics show that 132 medical workers have died from the coronavirus, although the figure doesn't include those who tested negative but had symptoms typical for COVID-19.

One of them was Ivan Venzhynovych, a 51-year-old therapist from the western town of Pochaiv, who described the challenges of dealing with the outbreak in an interview with the AP in May. Venzhynovych died last week of double pneumonia, which his colleagues believed was caused by the coronavirus, even though he tested negative for it.

“He certainly had COVID-19,” said Venzhynovych's widow, Iryna, a doctor at the hospital where he worked. “There are many infections among medical workers, some of them confirmed and others not.” The government pays the equivalent to $56,000 to families of medical workers who die from the coronavirus. But Venzhynovych's widow can't receive the payment because he tested negative.

As the number of infections soars, many lawmakers and top officials are testing positive, including former President Petro Poroshenko, who was hospitalized in serious condition with virus-induced pneumonia.

Medical professionals want the government to bring back a sweeping lockdown, pointing to the scarce resources for the health care system. “It’s possible that Ukraine would need to return to a tight quarantine like in the spring. The number of patients is really big,” said Dr. Andriy Gloshovskiy, a surgeon at the hospital in Stebnyk.

He blamed the new infections on public negligence. “People are quite careless, and I feel sorry that they aren’t impressed by numbers,” he said. Gloshovskiy said he had to switch to treating COVID-19 patients because of the personnel shortage.

“I had to change my specialty because my colleagues simply wouldn’t be able to cope with it without me,” he said. Health Minister Maxim Stepanov acknowledged that the shortage of doctors and nurses is a big problem.

“We may increase the hospital capacity and improve oxygen supply, but we could just be simply short of doctors,” he said. “Every system has its limit.” A tight lockdown would be a severe blow to the already weakened economy, Stepanov said, warning that authorities could be forced to do it anyway.

“If the situation takes a menacing turn, the Health Ministry would propose to return to tough quarantine measures,” he said. At the Stebnyk hospital, some patients said they only realized the coronavirus threat after falling ill.

“I didn’t believe in its existence until I became infected,” said 43-year-old Natalia Bobyak. “When I got here I saw that people get sick en masse.”

Karmanau reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Uncertainty in Madrid as court nixes partial virus lockdown

October 08, 2020

MADRID (AP) — A Madrid court on Thursday struck down a national government order that imposed a partial lockdown in the Spanish capital and its suburbs, siding with regional officials who had resisted stricter measures against one of Europe’s most worrying virus clusters.

The judges said that travel restrictions in and out of the cities and other limitations might be necessary to fight the spread of the virus, but that under the current legal form they were violating residents' “fundamental rights.”

Thursday’s decision meant that police won’t be able to fine people for leaving their municipalities without a justification. It also left 4.8 million residents in Madrid and nine suburban towns wondering whether it was appropriate to go away on a long weekend extended by Monday’s national day celebration.

Madrid's regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had appealed the national restrictions but asked for people to stay put while waiting for a new set of measures that she wanted to negotiate with central authorities and announce as early as Friday.

Ayuso, who has argued that milder measures were already flattening the region's sharp infection curve, said she wanted "the economy not to sink while we are fighting the virus." Restrictions not affected by the ruling include a six-person cap on gatherings and limits to restaurant, bar and shop capacity and opening hours.

Madrid has been at the center of a political impasse between Spain's national and regional authorities that has irked many people, who see more partisan strategy taking place than real action against the pandemic. The two sides were meeting later Thursday.

The region has a 14-day infection rate of 591 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, more than twice Spain’s national average of 257 and five times the European average rate of 113 for the week ending Sept. 27.

“You can fight this government if you want, but let’s first fight the virus,” said Health Minister Salvador Illa, showing signs of exasperation at criticism by lawmakers. “The virus is our common enemy.”

Madrid's high population density and the fact that it attracts workers from many surrounding areas “make necessary to maintain a reinforced cooperation,” he said. Spain controlled the first wave of the pandemic with a strict lockdown under a national state of emergency, but the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez lost parliamentary support to extend the special measures at the end of June. That meant giving most powers to respond to pandemic to the country’s 19 regional governments.

Without a state of emergency, the response to outbreaks over the summer has varied region by region, and courts in different parts of the country have responded in different ways to similar restrictions.

Popular Party chief Pablo Casado, the leader of Spain’s conservative opposition that leads a coalition governing Madrid, offered to talk with the government about changing the law. “Spain has no legal framework with a midway point between a state of emergency and arbitrary decisions not based on the law that then need to be approved by a court,” he said.

Casado also called for the health minister to step down for promoting measures that he claimed politically targeted the Madrid region. Thursday's developments only deepened the confusion among residents like Ana de la Calle, a high school teacher in Vallecas, one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, who had cancelled plans for a three-day trip out of Madrid before the restrictions were nullified.

“Politicians are lurching following their own interests and people are paying the price for it,” de la Calle said. Spain has the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the 27-nation European Union, at over 825,000, and has Europe's third-highest confirmed virus death toll of over 32,500 after Britain and Italy. Experts say numbers in all countries understate the true toll of the virus due to limited testing, missed cases, government concealment and other factors.

AP reporter Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.

Spain unveils economic recovery plan amid pandemic

October 07, 2020

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Spain’s prime minister unveiled a major plan Wednesday to boost his country out of recession by spending 140 billion euros ($162 billion) of European Union aid to reshape the economy, with the aim of creating 800,000 jobs over the next three years.

The program is a response to the sharp downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its worldwide disruption of economies. The plan focuses primarily on getting Spain to transition to green energy and a digital economy, which will take up about 70% of the financing.

“We have to turn this heavy blow into an opportunity,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, referring to the pandemic's far-reaching effects on society and the economy. “This is the challenge of our generation.”

Spain this week became the first EU country to surpass 835,000 coronavirus infections, with 32,562 people in Spain confirmed to have died from COVID-19. The capital, Madrid, is experiencing Europe's worst second wave of infections.

Spain is the latest EU country to say how it intends to use the bloc’s 750-billion-euro coronavirus recovery fund, approved last July and designed to help the world’s biggest trading bloc exit its deepest-ever recession.

France last month unveiled a 100 billion-euro ($116 billion) plan called “France Reboot,” that includes 40 billion euros ($46 billion) from the EU recovery plan. Germany has a 130 billion euro stimulus package for 2020 and 2021, to be spent on infrastructure, digitalization and green energy projects such as electric vehicles. Italy is sketching a roadmap along similar lines to Spain, dubbing it #nextgenerationitalia.

Greece, after an anticipated economic contraction of 8.2% this year, expects to rebound with 7.5% growth next year. The Greek economy is set to benefit from 32 billion euros in EU funds through 2026 — 19.3 billion in grants and 12.7 billion in loans with favorable interest rates and terms.

The Spanish government expects the country's economy to contract 11.2% this year. In some sectors, such as tourism, the drop could be as much as 25%. Officials expect an unemployment rate of around 17% this year and next.

The Socialist-led government’s strategy aims to achieve growth of 7.2% next year. It is built on 10 main planks. They include strengthening the public health service, improving public infrastructure, transitioning to green energy and enhancing energy efficiency, developing professional training schemes and accelerating the digital modernization of Spanish industry.

“The world has changed and we need to change, too, to safeguard our future,” Sánchez said. Spain’s deputy prime minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, highlighted the plan’s focus on environmentally friendly growth.

“We will support the growth of industry by helping it digitalize and meet environmental challenges, by recovering the use of raw materials, a circular economy, and having qualified professionals,” Ribera said. “The new economic model within the planet’s sustainable limits will help and guide our reconversion toward green jobs. We have the opportunity to transform our country.”

Another massive spending plan, using national tax revenue and loans taken by the government on international money markets, is expected to be announced next week when the 2021 state budget proposal is published. In preparation for that, the government this week raised its limit on public spending by almost 54%.

The plan announced Wednesday will be sent to Brussels for approval by the European Commission. The national budget will need to get the Spanish parliament’s support. The economic damage will take time to heal, especially in terms of public debt. The Spanish government has already spent billions protecting businesses and jobs. It foresees a budget deficit of 11.3% of GDP this year and 7.7% in 2021.

Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

Italy eyes mandate for masks outdoors as virus rebounds

October 07, 2020

ROME (AP) — Italy was expected to order a nationwide outdoor mask mandate Wednesday with fines of up to 1,000 euros ($1,163) for violators, as the European country where COVID-19 first hit scrambles to keep rebounding infections from spiralling out of control.

The government was taking the measure even though Italy’s overall per capita infection rate is currently among the lowest in Europe. But public health authorities have warned that a steady, nine-week rise in infections nationwide demands new measures to counter it.

“We believe this is an appropriate measure to help contain the virus and send a message to the country that we need to raise the attention threshold,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza told parliament Tuesday in explaining the planned requirement. “(Facemasks) are the first weapon we have to contain the virus.”

The Cabinet meeting to approve the decree came on the same day that Italy added 3,678 new infections and 31 victims to its official coronavirus toll, the highest increase in new cases since the peak of the outbreak in April. Both hard-hit Lombardy and southern Campania added more than 500 cases apiece.

Italy now has over 36,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the second-highest number in Europe after Britain. Even though the World Health Organization doesn’t specifically recommend masks outdoors for the general population, the trend has taken off in Italy, particularly as new clusters have been identified in southern regions that largely escaped Italy’s first wave of infection.

The new government decree was to be contained in a measure to extend the state of emergency until Jan. 31, though by Wednesday evening it still hadn't been published by the government, suggesting a last-minute glitch.

It would require residents to have masks on them at all times outdoors and wear them if there’s a risk they will run into anyone outside their immediate family, said the deputy health secretary, Pierpaolo Sileri.

Exceptions include for outdoor sporting activities, children under 6 and for people with health conditions that preclude wearing masks. Fines ranging from 400 to 1,000 euros ($463 to $1,163) are foreseen for violations, Italian news agency ANSA said.

Italy thus is joining Spain, Turkey, North Macedonia, India and a handful of other Asian countries in imposing a nationwide, outdoor mask mandate. Spain has had such a requirement in place since mid-May and Turkey since last month.

Elsewhere in Europe, such outdoor mandates are in effect in some hot spot cities, such as Paris, Brussels and Pristina, Kosovo. In many Asian countries, social pressure to wear masks outdoors has made binding government decrees unnecessary, though the Australian state of Victoria has had one in place for weeks now.

Italy has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, at 46.5 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. By contrast, the Czech Republic counts 327 per 100,000 while Spain has 302 infections, France 248 and Belgium 233 per 100,000.

While Paris and Brussels have closured bars to cope with the rising infections and Britain has capped pub hours, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has said that Italy wouldn’t impose any curfews or close bars.

“If we want to put the country in the condition to relaunch economically, we have to win the health care battle," Speranza said. The Vatican, which followed Italy’s strict lockdown in spring and summer, also imposed an outdoor mask mandate this week in the tiny city state in the center of Rome. Pope Francis, however, didn’t wear a mask during his indoor general audience Wednesday, even as he greeted well-wishers and shook their hands.

Paris on maximum virus alert, closing bars, not restaurants

October 05, 2020

PARIS (AP) — French authorities placed the Paris region on maximum virus alert on Monday, banning festive gatherings and requiring all bars to close but allowing restaurants to remain open, as numbers of infections increased rapidly.

Paris police prefect Didier Lallement announced the new restrictions would apply at least for the next two weeks. “We are continuously adapting to the reality of the virus. We are taking measures to slow down (its spread)," he said.

French authorities consider bars to be major infection hot spots because patrons don't respect social distancing rules as much as they do at restaurants. Starting on Tuesday, bars will be closed in Paris and its suburbs. Student parties and all other festive and family events in establishments open to the public will be banned.

Restaurants will remain open under strict conditions. They include a minimum one-meter (three-foot) distance between each table, groups limited to six people instead of 10 previously, and a request to register customers' names and phone numbers to help alert those who may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus .

Indoor sport facilities, including swimming pools, will only be open to children aged under 18. Gyms are already closed. Cinemas, theaters and museums will remain open with strict sanitary rules, but fairs and professional shows won’t be allowed.

Authorities have maintained the limit of 1,000 spectators per day at big sports events, allowing the Roland-Garros tennis tournament to continue as planned this week. The director of the Regional Health Authority, Aurelien Rousseau, said about 3,500 new cases of infection are confirmed on average each day in the Paris region, and 36% of ICU beds in the area are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

The owner of one Paris eatery north of the Bastille felt relief that the measures mean only reasonable constraints for restaurants. He even saw a silver lining. “I'm relieved that I don't have to close and that the rules are not more stringent,” said Virgil Grunberg, who owns Le Square Gardette.

“It's even worse for bars, because they are going to be closed, so people are going to need places to have a drink and hang out,” Grunberg said. "So I think (customers) are not going to be scared by the new restrictions.”

For Adele Fardoux, 26, a client at Cafe des Anges around the corner from the Place de la Bastille, there is some logic to what sometimes feels “like it's a mess.” “I think it's an unprecedented situation for everybody — citizens, companies, government — and I think collectively we're all trying to do our best.”

The alert has already been raised to the maximum level for 12 days in the southern city of Marseille and nearby Aix-en-Provence, as well as the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean.

Authorities ordered the shutdown of all public venues, including bars and restaurants in these areas, which prompted several demonstrations from angry business owners in Marseille. On Monday, local authorities announced restaurants in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence would reopen on condition they respect the same restrictions as in Paris.

French health authorities reported on Saturday 16,972 new cases of infection, the highest daily number since the country began widespread testing. The number of new daily cases dipped on Monday to 5,084.

France, one of the hardest hit in Europe, has reported 32,299 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed to this report.

Huge questions for UK govt after virus cases triple in days

October 05, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The British government faced huge questions Monday over its coronavirus testing system after a big increase in the number of positive cases over the weekend that was blamed on a technical glitch.

The main opposition Labor Party has asked the government why the cases were not tabulated when they should have been. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is due to make a statement to lawmakers later Monday.

Public health officials revealed Sunday that 15,841 virus cases weren’t tabulated from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. While all of those who tested positive were informed of the results, authorities weren’t able to trace and notify the people they had come in contact with, Public Health England said.

The government said the “technical issue” was discovered Friday night and has now been resolved. The previously unreported cases were added to the government’s daily figures over the weekend, boosting new cases to 12,872 on Saturday and 22,961 on Sunday. That compares with about 7,000 cases on each of the previous four days.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labor’s spokesman on health issues, described the error as “shambolic’’ and said the public “will be understandably alarmed.’’ He said Hancock "should come to the House of Commons on Monday to explain what on earth has happened, what impact it has had on our ability to contain this virus and what he plans to do to fix test and trace.”

The reporting error is just the latest problem with Britain’s test and trace system, which is seen as crucial to slowing the spread of COVID-19 and reducing the need for further limits on social interaction. Lawmakers from all parties have previously criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government for a shortage of testing capacity and delays in notifying people of their test results.

Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the news about the glitch is “very disappointing.” “For the test, track and trace system to have a real impact on reducing transmission of COVID-19, it is essential that test results are communicated rapidly,” he said.

EU top official self-isolating after contact with virus case

October 05, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says she has placed herself in isolation after being in contact with a person infected with the coronavirus. In a message posted on Twitter Monday, the head of the EU's executive arm said she took part in a meeting last Tuesday that was attended by “a person who yesterday tested positive.” Von der Leyen was on a two-day trip to Portugal last Monday and Tuesday.

She said she tested negative for the virus on Thursday and that she will undergo another test later Monday. Von der Leyen, who attended a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels late last week, said she will be in quarantine until Tuesday morning. Her isolation will keep her close to work, however: She has a small living quarters next to her office in the EU headquarters in Brussels.

Two weeks ago, EU Council President Charles Michel was forced to postpone a summit of EU leaders because he was quarantining. Von der Leyen took part last Tuesday in a special meeting of Portugal's state council in the coastal town of Cascais, on the outskirts of Lisbon. State councilor António Lobo Xavier tested positive for the virus on Sunday.

The meeting was attended physically by 15 of the 19 members of the president’s advisory body. Portugal's president, prime minister and the parliamentary president and five state councilors were tested on Sunday and were negative, media reported. More tests are taking place on Monday.

N. Carolina Senate race upended by sexting, virus diagnosis

October 04, 2020

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's intensely competitive and expensive U.S. Senate race has been upended by personal and health disruptions that sent sharp tremors and uncertainty through the campaigns and an electorate already casting ballots.

Democratic nominee Cal Cunningham acknowledged and apologized for exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a woman who’s not his wife, but he said he won’t drop out of the race. And just a few hours earlier Friday evening, his opponent, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, announced he has tested positive for COVID-19. The first-term senator has “mild symptoms,” and the positive test forced Tillis to cancel in-person events as several members of his campaign staff headed into quarantine, less than five weeks until Election Day.

“It’s chaos — it’s really what I see it is,” David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, said in a Saturday interview. In the text message exchanges, Cunningham tells the woman he wants to kiss her and she says she wants to spend the night with him. The messages were first reported by the website NationalFile.com.

“I have hurt my family, disappointed my friends, and am deeply sorry. The first step in repairing those relationships is taking complete responsibility, which I do,” Cunningham said in his statement late Friday.

Cunningham, who is married with two teenage children, added he's staying in the Senate race: “I will continue to work to earn the opportunity to fight for the people of our state.” The race is the nation's most expensive Senate campaign and considered key to determining the power balance in the chamber. Democrats need to gain four seats in November to take control. The developments come as voting already has gone on for four weeks in North Carolina, as 341,000 completed mail-in absentee ballots already have been accepted and will be counted. Early in-person voting begins Oct. 15.

McLennan and Gary Pearce, a longtime state Democratic consultant, said it's unclear how much of an effect the text messages will have on the election. “Most Democrats are really scared by it, but then you wonder has everything changed in the age of (President Donald) Trump,” Pearce said, adding the electorate’s increased polarization since 2016 could lead many Democrats to stick with Cunningham simply because the party's victory is paramount.

Screengrabs of the messages show Cunningham told public relations strategist Arlene Guzman Todd, “Would make my day to roll over and kiss you about now,” to which she replies, “You’re so sweet. I would enjoy that.”

Another shows Guzman Todd tell Cunningham, “the only thing I want on my to do list is you,” to which Cunningham replies, “Sounds so hot and so fun!” A spokeswoman for Cunningham’s campaign, Rachel Petri, confirmed on Saturday the authenticity of the text messages. It’s unclear when the messages were sent, but at one point Cunningham says he’s “Nervous about the next 100 days,” which could be a reference to the Senate election. One hundred days before the election would be July 26.

An email trying to reach Guzman Todd at the California-based communications firm that lists her as an employee, as well as voice messages left with what public records indicate are her phone numbers, weren’t returned Saturday. Public records show she had a Raleigh residence briefly until 2015. Guzman Todd is married to someone who has served in the U.S. Army, according to the NationalFile.com report.

Cunningham, 47, is an attorney and Iraq War veteran who still serves as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He served one term in the state Senate in the early 2000s and lost a Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate in 2010.

As for Tillis, a spokesman for the Republican said Tillis has “mild symptoms” and will be staying at home for 10 days. Cunningham tweeted that he wished Tillis a “quick recovery." The two candidates shared a debate stage on Thursday night. Petri said Cunningham tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday and will be tested again Monday. No other debates are scheduled.

The Tillis campaign, citing its own health concerns, deferred on Saturday questions about the text messages to Cunningham. National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Jesse Hunt said Cunningham must disclose more so voters can decide his fitness for office: “These are very troubling allegations and Cal needs to be fully transparent with the voters of North Carolina."

National Democrats who helped recruit Cunningham for the race stood with him. “We are confident that he will bring the same courage and determination to the Senate as he has while serving our country in uniform,” Lauren Passalacqua with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said.

Tillis, 60, was diagnosed with the virus days after attending the Supreme Court nomination ceremony in the White House Rose Garden for Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26. The judiciary committee member didn't say in his statement where he believes he caught the virus but did say he had tested negative for the virus on the same day as the White House event. Tillis was wearing a mask at the ceremony and has been among the most consistent Republicans to preach the use of face coverings. In late August, Tillis apologized for listening maskless in person to Trump's Republican nomination acceptance speech outdoors at the White House. McLennan said the positive test could place more questions upon Tillis.

The race is second only to the presidential campaign in terms of overall outside spending, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. More than $97 million already has been spent by independent expenditure groups in the general election, center data says.

Cunningham, who outraised Tillis during the first half of the year, announced Thursday that his campaign would report collecting $28.3 million in the third quarter — a record haul for any North Carolina candidate. Tillis' campaign hasn't announced his third quarter fundraising totals.

Bosnia: Unnerved by virus denial, survivors mourn their dead

October 03, 2020

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Denis Zekic was on his daily video call with his parents in Bosnia in early August when his father said he might be coming down with a fever. Less than a month later, both of Zekic’s parents were dead, joining the people who would be counted as the coronavirus pandemic’s global toll climbed toward 1 million.

Zekic says his mother, Sefketa, and father, Muharem, both were comparatively healthy before they died at age 68. They were rule followers who practiced social distancing in the city of Zenica. Before his father was hospitalized, his mother wore gloves and a face mask while caring for him, but she ended up as a COVID-19 patient in the same intensive care wing, Zekic said.

“I saw her walk into the hospital on her own feet. From a distance. With protective masks covering our faces,” he said. “Honestly, I believed that she would pull through.” Yet Zekic and his sister soon discovered that some neighbors and acquaintances had little sympathy for their sudden double loss, but plenty of opinions and, at times, cruel disdain. One time, a random man taunted the siblings in a store, alleging that authorities had paid them to say the coronavirus killed their parents.

“How to respond to that?” Zekic said. Bosnia’s coronavirus rebels have grown increasingly vocal, and hostile, in recent months as the number of confirmed virus cases rose in the small, impoverished Balkan nation of 3.5 million. Social media and the comment sections of news websites have become platforms for vicious arguments that occasionally have spilled over into invasive confrontations.

Several recent studies of coronavirus-related media content in Bosnia conducted by the independent organization Mediacentar Sarajevo concluded that pandemic-related comments on news sites are dominated by “offensive and disparaging” remarks.

“We are now paying the price for years of neglect of our education system, our political system, for our media illiteracy,” said Elvira Jukic Mujkic, editor-in-chief of its online magazine, Media.ba.

A conference in Bosnia sponsored by the European Union this week brought together fact-checkers, science journalists and experts from the Balkans and the EU, to discuss disinformation during the pandemic. One of the conclusions from the event stated: “The damage inflicted by fringe ‘scientists’ is pervasive and grave. The scientific community in the (Balkan) region does not currently feel empowered to respond to this.”

While other countries around the world also have outspoken contingents of coronavirus conspiracy theorists, the voices of the virus deniers have the potential to echo farther in Bosnia, which bears economic, political and social scars from the fratricidal ethnic war fought there during 1992-95.

The pandemic has amplified the country’s many problems, including an extreme shortage of doctors and nurses, and rampant public corruption. A number of prominent public and government officials are under investigation on suspicion of malfeasance in the procurement of desperately needed medical equipment.

“After years of declining trust in government and public institutions, public response to the perceived incompetence of our authorities in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic was to put in doubt everything they say,” psychologist Tanja Tankosic-Girt said.

The allegations further undermine the public trust on which government efforts to curb the spread of the infection in Bosnia depend. The country has a low number of confirmed virus cases compared with countries with a lot more people, but nearly 60% of its nearly 28,000 confirmed cases were reported since the end of July.

More people around the country nevertheless are bending or ignoring social distancing rules, gathering in uncomfortably close quarters and ditching face masks. At the same time, public discourse around the coronavirus, like around many other issues in the country, is growing increasingly divisive, Tankosic-Girt said.

“Black-and-white thinking is becoming so prevalent that we are reaching the point of a complete loss of empathy,” she said. The death in early August of 37-year-old philanthropist Belma Soljanin, the director of a maternal and child health organization in the capital, Sarajevo, triggered days of heated online discussions that unraveled quite a few long friendships.

Just hours after news of Soljanin’s death broke, people were sifting through her mother’s personal Facebook account and sharing a post in which she alleged her daughter, who had been hospitalized in a COVID-19 isolation ward while in late pregnancy, died because of doctors’ negligence.

The post became fodder for virus deniers, who quickly took over the conversation. “Coronavirus is a hoax. Even her mother says she wasn’t infected, but you just go on wearing your face masks and believing the lies they serve you,” one person wrote. “While you hide from the inexistent virus, they are ripping you off, remove face masks and be free.”

The head of the Institute of Emergency Medical Care in Sarajevo, Dr. Adem Zalihic, said he is certain that “virus deniers are contributing to the spread of the infection and the number of deaths” by convincing people they should not wear face masks and maintain social distance.

“The virus is among us. It infects and kills people, I do not understand how they can deny it despite all the evidence. How can they sleep at night?” Zalihic said. Pulmonologist Besim Prnjavorac, the director of the COVID-19 hospital in the central city of Tesanj, said people tend to dismiss COVID-19 as “something that happens to others” or is “nonexistent” until it is too late.

“It is only when their loved ones get sick or even die that they realize the coronavirus is real and very, very dangerous,” Prnjavorac said. Emira Telic, 38, who is currently recovering from a severe case of COVID-19 in the Tesanj hospital, has all the proof she needs to refute the deniers: the breaths she struggles to take.

“I was the first to think COVID (-19) was a lie, but look at me now,” Telic said. “Now, I am sure that it is not a lie.”

Video Journalist Almir Alic contributed from Zenica, Bosnia.

Trump COVID infection thrusts world in uncharted territory

October 03, 2020

PARIS (AP) — News that the world’s most powerful man was infected with the world’s most notorious disease dominated screens large and small, drawing shock, sympathy and some barbs for President Donald Trump.

The outpouring from world leaders and flagging markets Friday left little doubt that Trump's illness will have global implications — even if they're still unknown. Trump's announcement on Twitter that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus prompted a multitude of responses on the same platform, as well as others.

The positive test reading adds to investors' worries, especially about its effect on the Nov. 3 election between the Republican president and Democrat Joe Biden. U.S. stock futures and most world markets fell on the news as did the price of oil.

From India to Qatar to Mexico, world leaders were quick to offer official sympathy from the top, many in the form of tweets directly to Trump, while something approaching schadenfreude bubbled up from elsewhere. Trump is the most prominent on a growing list of powerful people who have contracted the virus, including many who were skeptical of the disease. Among his well-wishers were at least two who have recovered from the illness.

“I'm sure that your inherent vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus,” Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote in a direct message to Trump released by the Kremlin.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted “My best wishes to President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS for a full and speedy recovery.” The Trump administration in July formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from WHO, although the pullout won’t take effect until next year. Trump claims the U.N. health agency is in need of reform and is heavily influenced by China. The U.N. secretary-general also sent in best wishes.

Italian right-wing opposition leader Matteo Salvini tweeted: “In Italy and in the world, whoever celebrates the illness of a man or of a woman, and who comes to wish the death of a neighbor, confirms what he is: An idiot without soul. A hug to Melania and Donald.″

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was hospitalized for a week in April after he contracted COVID-19, wished Trump a “speedy recovery.” Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who also recently recovered from a serious bout with coronavirus, has sent a message to Trump and the first lady extending his best wishes for a speedy recovery.

“I know this illness from direct experience, that can manifest itself also in an insidious way, but which can be overcome with correct and courageous behavior,″ Berlusconi said in a message. Dr. Bharat Pankhania, who advises Johnson's government on communicable disease control, said he hopes that Trump’s positive test sends a message.

“We need politicians, especially politicians like President Trump who has a lot of power and influence, to take this seriously and to support their scientists and clinicians in leading the outbreak management, rather than have political influence in trying to deny that this virus is in circulation and drag your feet around control measures because it suited your agenda.”

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, speaking at a weekly news conference, did not mention Trump's reluctance to wear masks when asked about his infection, but she said the news “reminded me of how widely masks are worn in Japan.”

Major media across the globe played up the announcement, with bulletins crawling across TV screens in Paris and Rome, Seoul and Beijing. “To say this potentially could be a big deal is an understatement,” Rabobank said in a commentary. “Everything now takes a backseat to the latest incredible twist in this U.S. election campaign.”

China’s official Xinhua News Agency flashed the news, and an anchor on state broadcaster CCTV announced it. Late Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted that she was “saddened to learn President and the First Lady of the US tested positive. Hope they both have a speedy recovery and will be fine.”

The positive test result was the most searched topic in China on the widely used social media app Weibo for hours after the announcement, with most comments mocking or critical. One user darkly joked that Trump had finally tweeted something positive.

The Chinese government has bristled at Trump’s attempts to blame China, where the disease emerged, for the pandemic and called for global cooperation in fighting it. It's a message that has resonated with the public.

Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted in English that “President Trump and the first lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19.” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom Trump once exchanged threats of total destruction and crude insults, also wished the president and his wife speedy recovery. "He hoped they will surely overcome it,” the Korean Central News Agency reported. “He sent warm greetings to them.”

Multiple Arab news media outlets continuously broadcast footage of Trump and his wife after the virus announcement. Al-Arabiya, a Saudi-owned satellite channel based in Dubai, cut to a long live shot of the White House. Qatari state-owned Al Jazeera channel brought in four commentators to discuss the “prevailing state of uncertainty” in the United States, questioning whether Trump could effectively steer a reelection campaign and run the country from quarantine. Middle East leaders closely allied to the U.S. sent out their best wishes, including Kuwait's new ruling emir.

Iranian state television announced Trump had the virus, an anchor breaking the news with an unflattering image of the U.S. president surrounded by what appeared to be giant coronaviruses. Later, an anchor noted that “the American president, who treated the coronavirus almost like it was nothing, finally caught it.”

U.S.-Iran ties have suffered since Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed crushing sanctions. Social media platforms were ablaze with questions and quick reactions to all the unknowns.

Would Trump blame the Chinese? Would he thumb his nose at his critics and enemies by breezing through the quarantine without serious symptoms, tweeting away from the White House? Would he become gravely ill, or worse, and, if he did, what would that mean for the U.S. election, one of the most contentious in recent history? What would it mean for U.S. leadership during tumultuous times?

While the uncertainty seemed palpable on a scroll through various social media in an array of languages, many seemed to revel in the announcement. And the satirical Australian news site, the Betoota Advocate, posted a story with this headline: “Trump Family Records More Cases Of Community Transmission Than Entire State Of Queensland.”

Foster Klug reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

Trump joins growing list of virus-infected world leaders

October 02, 2020

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — President Donald Trump has joined a growing group of world leaders who have been infected with the coronavirus. Some, like Trump, had been accused of not taking the pandemic seriously. A few are now sending Trump their wishes for a speedy recovery. At 74, the U.S. president is the oldest head of state to become infected with the virus, and his age puts him at higher risk of serious complications from COVID-19.

BORIS JOHNSON

The British prime minister was the first major world leader confirmed to have COVID-19, after facing criticism for downplaying the pandemic. He was moved to intensive care in April after his symptoms dramatically worsened a day after he was hospitalized for what were called routine tests. He was given oxygen but did not need a ventilator, officials said. He later expressed his gratitude to National Health Service staff for saving his life when his treatment could have “gone either way.” Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, also tested positive in March and showed mild symptoms.

JAIR BOLSONARO

The Brazilian president announced his illness in July and used it to publicly extol hydroxychloroquine, the unproven malaria drug that he’d been promoting as a treatment for COVID-19 and was taking himself. For months he had flirted with the virus, calling it a “little flu,” as he flouted social distancing at lively demonstrations and encouraged crowds during outings from the presidential residence, often without a mask.

JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ

The Honduras president announced in June that he had tested positive, along with two other people who worked closely with him. Hernández said he had started what he called the “MAIZ treatment,” an experimental and unproven combination of microdacyn, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc. He was briefly hospitalized and released. He has added his voice to growing pleas for equitable access to any COVID-19 vaccine, asking the recent U.N. gathering of world leaders, “Are people to be left to die?”

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO

The president of Belarus, who dismissed concerns about the virus as “psychosis” and recommended drinking vodka to stay healthy, said in July he had contracted it himself but was asymptomatic. Belarus is one of the few countries that took no comprehensive measures against the virus. Other top officials in former Soviet states who were infected include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

PRINCE ALBERT II OF MONACO

The palace of Monaco in March said the ruler of the tiny Mediterranean principality tested positive but his health was not worrying. He was the first head of state who publicly said he was infected.

ALEJANDRO GIAMMATTEI

The Guatemalan president said he tested positive for the virus in September. “My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches, it hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold,” he said during a televised address. “I don’t have a fever, I have a bit of a cough.” He said he’d be working from home.

JEANINE ANEZ

The virus drove the Bolivian interim president into isolation in July, but she said she was feeling well. LUIS ABINADER The newly elected president of the Dominican Republic contracted and recovered from COVID-19 during his campaign. He spent weeks in isolation before the country’s July election.

IRAN

Iran, the epicenter of the Mideast’s initial coronavirus outbreak, has seen several top officials test positive. Among them are senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar. Cabinet members have tested positive, too.

INDIA

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, 71, recently tested positive but his office said he had no symptoms and was quarantined at home. Home Minister Amit Shah, the No. 2 man in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, was hospitalized for COVID-19 last month and has recovered. Junior Railways Minister Suresh Angadi last week was the first federal minister to die from COVID-19.

ISRAEL

Then-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive in April and recovered. Litzman is a leader in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, which has seen a high rate of infection as many have defied restrictions on religious gatherings. The minister for Jerusalem affairs, Rafi Peretz, tested positive over the summer as cases surged nationwide and recovered.

SOUTH AFRICA

The country's defense minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, mineral resources and energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, and labor minister, Thulas Nxesi, were infected as cases surged in June and July.

SOUTH SUDAN

Vice President Riek Machar was among several Cabinet ministers infected. GAMBIA Vice President Isatou Touray tested positive in July along with the ministers of finance, energy and agriculture.

GUINEA-BISSAU

Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam in April said he tested positive.

Associated Press writers around the world contributed.

Madrid officials reluctantly ready city for partial lockdown

October 02, 2020

MADRID (AP) — Madrid's regional government has appealed against a national order that requires a partial lockdown of the Spanish capital, just hours before a Friday night deadline for enacting the restrictions in the European coronavirus hot spot.

The appeal to the National Court argues that restrictions on movement, social gatherings and commerce by central authorities violate regional self-rule laws and provoke “totally unjustified” economic damage.

Madrid is leading the resurgence of the virus in Spain, which has Europe’s highest cumulative caseload — 770,000 since the onset of the pandemic. The capital had a two-week infection rate of 695 cases per 100,000 residents Thursday, more than twice the national average of 274 cases and seven times the European average, which stood at 94 per 100,000 residents last week, according to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Madrid regional health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero said the situation is improving, with the infection rate falling to 607 per 100,000 Friday and four consecutive days of fewer people being admitted to hospitals.

“The numbers give us reason for hope,” he told a news conference. Under the new national order, Madrid's regional authorities must announce before the end of Friday a set of new measures that will ban all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs, a population of around 4.8 million.

Travelers will need to prove that they are going to or from work, to see a doctor or to conduct essential administrative or legal errands in order to leave Madrid or the town where they live. Restaurants must close at 11 p.m. and shops at 10 p.m., with a restriction of 50% capacity.

Similar measures already apply to more than 1 million residents, and the region has limited social gatherings to a maximum of six people. Madrid legal chief Enrique López said authorities will comply with the order, deploying more police, even though they believe it will “create chaos.” He estimated the order will cost the Madrid economy 8 billion euros ($9.4 billion). He did not provide details of how the amount was calculated.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has refused to budge, saying Madrid faces “a moment of extraordinary seriousness.” “The situation in Madrid is critical because (the region) has 33% of (COVID-19) deaths,” he said in Brussels, where he was attending a European Union summit.

The soft lockdown order comes after weeks of political bickering, with the center-right regional government resisting a full Madrid lockdown and accusing Sánchez’s left-wing national coalition of going after the region for political reasons.

Some passengers at Madrid’s main train station, Atocha, welcomed the new steps. “I think they need to take strong measures to control the epidemic here in Madrid,” said Vicente Mira, a 62-year-old retired teacher.

Communication manager Pablo Torres, 36, wanted officials to get tough, saying the current measures are “nonsense and a sticking plaster on something that is a lot bigger problem.” It wasn't immediately clear how the new measures might affect the few tourists arriving in Madrid, but regional authorities can't ban foreign visitors unless Spain closes its borders.

Alicia Leon and Iain Sullivan in Madrid, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this story.

Harvest workers among COVID world's last regular travelers

October 02, 2020

ROCCA DE' GIORGI, Italy (AP) — Her hands were hardly visible, so quickly did they press the clippers before dropping grape clusters into red plastic bins. Some distance behind her, in the next row over, Italian students subbing in due to a pandemic-fueled worker shortage tried vainly to catch up.

Though from a Romanian region famed for its wine, Alexandra Ichim had never worked in vineyards before traveling to Italy's Lombardy region for the September grape harvest, known in Italian as the vendemmia — the pay is too low in Romania and the working conditions too harsh, she says. For the Italian work, the 20-year-old came on a 12-hour bus ride and returned by plane to her native Arad region when the harvest was done.

Eastern European seasonal workers, led by Romanians, are considered essential to getting food on the table throughout the continent. Their willingness to work hard in uncertain jobs for lower wages is sought after abroad, and their income is desperately needed at home. At a time when travel for work is seen as dangerous for everyone, they are among the world’s last regular border-crossers. Unlike the farms that so desperately need them, there are no subsidies from the European Union or special protection should they fall sick.

Around one in five Romanians works abroad. In Italy, 1.2 million of them have made a home, with thousands of others traveling back and forth for temporary jobs. France and Spain are not far behind as destinations for work. And when coronavirus struck, around a million people from around Europe returned to Romania, ignoring the Romanian president’s plea to stay in place and avoid bringing the virus already raging in Western Europe. For many, it was the longest homecoming of their adult lives.

Workers can make around 1,200 euros a month working eight-hour days during the vendemmia in Italy, versus around 700 euros for a month of 10-hour days in Romania. Ichim has lived off and on in Lombardy with her mother since 2006 and speaks flawless Italian. She was in Romania with her father when the coronavirus outbreak first struck Italy earlier this year, working in a steering wheel factory, which later sent her home during Romania's virus lockdown. She left to join her mother nearly as soon as the borders reopened. At the time, Romania’s infection rate was low and no quarantine was required, but within a few weeks, a 14-day quarantine was required in Italy for travelers from Romania and Bulgaria.

One province, Trento, allowed farms and vineyards to put in place “working quarantines,” where masked seasonal laborers could work outside in their own clusters and stay in housing on site. “A company cannot afford to keep a foreigner for 14 days without putting him to work. This is obviously an unsustainable cost,” said Roberto Caponi, of the Italian agriculture confederation. Nor can the fruit itself wait, as Ottavia Gorgi di Vistarino knows well.

Her family’s land spans four hillsides in Rocca de’ Giorgi, a tiny commune about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Milan. The harvest starts with Pino Nero for Spumante, then comes the Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, followed by more Pino Nero for red wine.

Ichim joined a crew for the first Pino Nero harvest in mid-September, speeding through the cone-shaped clusters at a breathtaking pace. The winery’s full-time foreman, Christian Florisan, also is Romanian from the Arad region, as are many of the men who work the presses.

“Corona has brought the agriculture business to its knees more than any others. Everywhere, at home in Romania and here in Italy, we are having difficulties finding people,” said Florisan, who has lived in Italy for 14 years. “They are not coming because they are afraid of COVID, and they are afraid that they will have to do two weeks of quarantine and when they go home, their pockets will be emptier than they were before.”

He estimated more than half his workers are Romanian, but the numbers are down by 25% this year. Across the country, wineries are down 36,000 workers, which means not all the fruit will be harvested in time and many will stay home, unpaid.

All who came from Romania had medical checkups, Florisan said, but he said not everyone had the nasal swab test. As many as a million seasonal workers cross EU borders every year, according to the guidelines put in place in July by the European Commission. When the virus first broke out, Romania’s president asked citizens not to return from their jobs abroad but was widely ignored by people who either needed or wanted to return home for what promised to be weeks of confinement. Back in Romania, suspicious neighbors called authorities to report returnees from Italy or Spain or France.

Romania’s first coronavirus case was traced to Lombardy, the northern Italian region that suffered Europe’s first devastating wave of death, according to Gabriel Hancean, a sociologist who led a team of researchers that traced the country’s early infections. Now it’s eastern Europe where the virus is spiking to unprecedented highs, with Romania enduring the continent’s highest weekly death rate after Spain.

Hancean said few seem to care now about travelers from elsewhere in Europe, Romanian or not. “You have community spread of the virus, and it doesn’t matter who is entering the country or not,” he said.

Ichim and her boyfriend, Dennis Sirca, were already planning the trip back to Arad, not knowing if they would face quarantine there. It didn't really matter to either of them, because they made two to three times as much during the harvest as they could have in their “real” jobs. She’d do it again.

“In Romania we do not make money, we cannot make money working so we came here to do the grape harvest," she said. Back in Romania, her factory job evaporated and no prospects for work in sight, Ichim has no intention of doing the harvest there, although farms face similar labor shortages as their Western European counterparts.

What they lack is the flexibility of their own government, said Carmen Avram, a Romanian member of the European Parliament who has been an advocate for seasonal workers. Even as borders closed last spring, there came the dawning realization in Western Europe that without them, there wouldn’t be enough people to bring in the fruits and vegetables or work the slaughterhouses. The rules that governed movement around Europe melted away. German and British companies chartered planes for Romanian workers.

Avram said the Romanian government never offered that kind of chance for farms and factories at home — or the money. She described last spring as a brief window when Romania could have retained its young.

“We could start all over again and have them here, and make this country thrive,” she said. “But we lost that moment. It’s a national tragedy.”

Trisha Thomas contributed.

Shock, sympathy, criticism: World reacts to Trump infection

October 02, 2020

TOKYO (AP) — News that the world’s most powerful man was infected with the world’s most notorious disease dominated screens large and small, drawing instant reactions of shock, sympathy, undisguised glee and, of course, the ever-present outrage and curiosity surrounding President Donald Trump.

Trump's announcement Friday, on Twitter, that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, and the deep uncertainty that accompanied it, upended countless plans and sparked comment everywhere from presidential offices to the thousands weighing in on social media.

The positive test reading adds more uncertainty to investors' worries, especially about its effect on the Nov. 3 election between the Republican president and Democrat Joe Biden. U.S. stock futures and most world markets fell on the news as did the price of oil.

World leaders were quick to offer official sympathy from the top, while something approaching schadenfreude bubbled up from elsewhere. Trump joins a growing list of the powerful who have contracted the virus, including many who were skeptical of the disease.

“I'm sure that your inherent vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus,” Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote in a direct message to Trump released by the Kremlin.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted “My best wishes to President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS for a full and speedy recovery.” The Trump administration in July formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from WHO, although the pullout won’t take effect until next year. Trump claims the U.N. health agency is in need of reform and is heavily influenced by China. The U.N. secretary-general also sent in best wishes.

Italian right-wing opposition leader Matteo Salvini tweeted: “In Italy and in the world, whoever celebrates the illness of a man or of a woman, and who comes to wish the death of a neighbor, confirms what he is: An idiot without soul. A hug to Melania and Donald.″

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was hospitalized for a week in April after he contracted COVID-19, wished Trump a “speedy recovery.” Dr. Bharat Pankhania, who advises Johnson's government on communicable disease control, said he hopes that Trump’s positive test sends a message to the president and other leaders.

“We need politicians, especially politicians like President Trump who has a lot of power and influence, to take this seriously and to support their scientists and clinicians in leading the outbreak management, rather than have political influence in trying to deny that this virus is in circulation and drag your feet around control measures because it suited your agenda.”

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, speaking at a weekly news conference, did not mention Trump's reluctance to wear masks when asked about his infection, but she said the news “reminded me of how widely masks are worn in Japan.”

Major media across the globe also played up the announcement, with bulletins crawling across TV screens in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Dubai and Beijing. “To say this potentially could be a big deal is an understatement,” Rabobank said in a commentary. “Anyway, everything now takes a backseat to the latest incredible twist in this U.S. election campaign.”

China’s official Xinhua News Agency flashed the news, and an anchor on state broadcaster CCTV announced it; there was no immediate comment from the government Friday, the second day of an eight-day national holiday.

The positive test result for Trump and his wife was the most searched topic in China on the widely used social media app Weibo a few hours after the announcement, with most comments mocking or critical.

One user darkly joked that Trump had finally tweeted something positive. The Chinese government has bristled at Trump’s attempts to blame China, where the disease emerged, for the pandemic and called for global cooperation in fighting it, a message that has resonated with the public.

Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted in English that “President Trump and the first lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19.” Multiple Arab news media outlets on Friday continuously broadcast footage of Trump and his wife after the virus announcement.

Al-Arabiya, a Saudi-owned satellite channel based in Dubai, cut to a long live shot of the White House. Qatari state-owned Al Jazeera channel brought in four commentators to discuss the “prevailing state of uncertainty” in the United States, questioning whether Trump could effectively steer a reelection campaign and run the country from quarantine.

Iranian state television announced Trump had the virus, an anchor breaking the news with an unflattering image of the U.S. president surrounded by what appeared to be giant coronaviruses. U.S.-Iran ties have suffered since Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed crushing sanctions.

Social media platforms were ablaze with quick reaction. Would Trump blame the Chinese? Would he thumb his nose at his critics and enemies by breezing through the quarantine without serious symptoms, tweeting away from the White House? Would he become gravely ill, or worse, and, if he did, what would that mean for the U.S. election, one of the most contentious in recent history? What would it mean for U.S. leadership during tumultuous times?

While the uncertainty seemed palpable on a scroll through various social media in an array of languages, many comments seemed to revel in the announcement. “Here comes a chance for him to actually try out his idea of injecting disinfectant into himself and fighting back (against allegations that) it was fake news!” tweeted Hiroyuki Nishimura, a Japanese internet entrepreneur, referring to an idea Trump floated earlier this year for treatment.

And the satirical Australian news site, the Betoota Advocate, posted a story with this headline: “Trump Family Records More Cases Of Community Transmission Than Entire State Of Queensland.”

Lori Hinnant reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

China slaps more taxes on Australian wine amid tension

December 10, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government on Thursday slapped more taxes on wine from Australia, stepping up pressure in a bitter diplomatic conflict over the coronavirus, territorial disputes and other irritants.

China, Australia's biggest export market, already has blocked imports of its wine, barley, beef and other goods since the Australian government expressed support for a probe into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that began in China last December.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said an investigation begun in August concluded Australia improperly subsidizes wine exports, hurting Chinese producers. The ministry said importers will be required to pay a deposit of 6.3% to 6.4%, effective Friday, pending a final ruling.

That is on top of taxes of more than 200% imposed earlier on Australian wine, which the country's trade minister said would make it unsellable in China. China's foreign ministry has demanded Australia take unspecified steps to repair relations.

Beijing increasingly uses access to its populous market as leverage to extract concessions from its neighbors and increase its strategic influence. Chinese leaders were irked by Australia's decision to pursue a mutual defense treaty with Japan, which Beijing sees as a strategic rival, and to join Asian governments and the United States in objecting to China's claims to most of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest trade routes.

Azerbaijan holds parade after Nagorno-Karabakh fighting

December 10, 2020

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — More than 3,000 troops took part in a military parade in Azerbaijan on Thursday to celebrate reclaiming control over broad swathes of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding lands in a conflict with Armenia.

The parade attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who strongly backed Azerbaijan, also involved dozens of military vehicles, and a flyby of combat aircraft. The display, which also featured a Turkish commando brigade and Turkish drones, was held a month after a Russia-brokered deal ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev showered Turkey with praise, hailing its support for the ex-Soviet Caspian Sea nation as "an example of our unity, our brotherhood.” Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.

In 44 days of fighting that began in late September and left more than 5,600 people killed on both sides, the Azerbaijani army pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim much of the separatist region along with surrounding areas.

In his speech, Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s continued support to Azerbaijan, saying that “as long as Turkey and Azerbaijan work hand in glove, they will continue to overcome all difficulties and run from one success to the next.”

Erdogan voiced hope that Armenia would “take lessons” from its defeat and noted that Turkey was ready to reopen the border with Armenia if it takes unspecified “positive steps.” Turkey and Azerbaijan have shut their borders with Armenia ever since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted, a blockade that has weakened the economy of the landlocked country.

“As long as positive steps are taken, we would open our gates, which were closed," Erdogan said. "It’s not that we want to keep our doors closed to Armenia ... we have no enmity with the people of Armenia. Our problem is with the Armenian leadership.”

The Nov. 10 peace deal became a major trauma for Armenians, triggering a month of protests calling for the resignation of the country's prime minister, Nikola Pashinyan. Pashinyan has refused to step down, describing the peace agreement as a bitter but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from taking over the entire Nagorno-Karabakh.

As Aliyev and Erdogan watched the parade in Baku, several thousand people in Armenia's capital demonstrated in front of the government building to push the demand for Pashinyan to resign. Protesters tried to enter the building but were pushed back by police who arrested scores.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, and Daria Litvinova and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, contributed to this report.

Beirut silos at heart of debate about remembering port blast

December 10, 2020

BEIRUT (AP) — Ghassan Hasrouty spent most of his life working at the silos in Beirut’s port, unloading grain shipments to feed the country even as fighting raged around him during the 1975-90 civil war.

Decades later, he perished under the same silos, their towering cement structure gutted by the force of the Aug. 4 explosion at the port, when 2,750 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrates ignited in what became one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

In a horrific instant, a burst of power ravaged Beirut. More than 200 people died and the horror and devastation scarred the survivors. Hasrouty’s son, Elie, wants justice for his father and thinks the silos should stay as a “mark of shame” and reminder of the corruption and negligence of politicians that many Lebanese blame for the tragedy.

A government-commissioned study in the wake of the disaster says the 50-year-old silos could collapse at any moment and should be demolished, sparking an emotional debate among the city’s residents over how to preserve the memory of the tragedy.

In Lebanon, where a culture of impunity has long prevailed and where those behind violent attacks, bombings and assassinations have rarely been brought to justice, the debate is steeped in suspicion.

Sara Jaafar believes the government wants to obliterate the silos and move on as if nothing happened. “It is a reminder of what they did,” said Jaafar, an architect whose apartment overlooking the silos was destroyed in the explosion.

“I never want to lose the anger that I have,” she said. Just days after the catastrophic blast, as public outrage mounted, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab stepped down, saying the country's endemic corruption was “bigger than the state.”

The massive, 48-meter-high silos absorbed much of the explosion’s impact, effectively shielding the western part of the city from the blast that damaged or completely destroyed thousands of buildings.

The investigation into how such a large amount of dangerous chemicals was poorly stored for years under the nose of the port authority and the wider political leadership has dragged on. Rights groups and families are concerned it’s a tactic to protect senior officials, none of whom have so far been detained or charged with any wrongdoing.

More than four months later, rotting wheat is dripping from the shredded but still-standing silos, which stored up to 85% of Lebanon’s grain. Pigeons and rodents have found home among the wreckage. Emmanuel Durand, a French civil engineer who volunteered for the government-commissioned team of experts, spent several weeks using a laser scanner to gather digital data for an analysis of the silos' structure after the explosion.

Though they may look structurally sound from afar, the silos are tilted and their foundation is broken, which has caused vertical cracks in two of them. They could collapse at any moment, Durand said, although it is impossible to calculate when.

“Silos are very strong as long as they have integrity, just like an egg,” Durand said. “Now if the shell of the egg is slightly broken, it becomes very weak and you will have no difficulty in crushing the egg.”

The army has plans to demolish the silos with equipment that crushes concrete and rebar, Durand said. Kuwait, which financed the building of the silos in the 1970s, has offered to donate to rebuild them.

Then came a proposal by Fadi Abboud, a former tourism minister and member of the largest Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement, to turn the port and silos into a “tourist attraction,” a site that would rival the Roman ruins in Baalbek.

Families of the victims protested, called it a heartless commercialization of the site where so many died. “In their dreams!” vowed Gilbert Karaan, whose 27-year-old fiancée, firefighter-medic Sahar Fares, died battling the fire that broke out just before the explosion. “They will not profit off the martyrs.”

Jonathan Dagher, a journalist with the independent online media platform Megaphone, said Abboud’s words were in line with comments by Gebran Bassil, the party’s leader, who said the explosion could be turned into a “big opportunity” to secure international support for Lebanon’s cash-strapped government.

“These words are not an accident” and belittle the tragedy of what happened, Dagher said. There are concerns the port blast could be treated in the same way as Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. The war is not taught in schoolbooks. There is no memorial for the 17,000 missing from the war. A general amnesty allowed warlords and militia leaders to dominate the country’s postwar politics. After the war, downtown Beirut was quickly rebuilt, a high-end corporate hub emerging from the ruins and devastation.

Jaafar, the architect, said pushback against demolishing the silos stems from fear that a similar scenario, based on a “concept of amnesia” — if you don’t see it, it didn’t happen — is being engineered for the Aug. 4 blast.

Lebanese architect Carlos Moubarak says the gutted silos should remain in place, their sheer size forever an echo of the massive explosion. “There is something very, very powerful about the silos,” he said. “They are now part of the people’s collective memory”.

Moubarak has designed a memorial park at the site, with the silos as a focal point, a remembrance ring at the crater, a museum and green space. The aim, he said, is to honor the victims and survivors while also capturing the spirit of solidarity among the Lebanese in the wake of the explosion. He is now trying to figure out ways to fund it.

Elie Hasrouty’s father and grandfather had both worked at the silos since they were built. His father, Ghassan, 59, called home 40 minutes before the explosion to tell his wife that a new shipment of grains would keep him there late and asked her to send his favorite pillow and bedsheets for the unplanned overnight at work.

His remains were found at the bottom of the silos, 14 days later. The silos should stay on as “a witness to corruption, so we can learn,” Hasrouty said. “Something must change.”

Turkey's Erdogan brushes off EU sanctions threat

December 09, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brushed off possible European Union sanctions against Turkey on Wednesday, saying they would not affect his country. Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Azerbaijan, Erdogan also accused the EU of acting “dishonestly” toward Turkey and of failing to keep its promises.

Erdogan’s comments came ahead of a meeting in Brussels where EU leaders are scheduled to address Turkey’s missions to explore gas reserves in waters claimed by EU members Greece and Cyprus, and could decide to impose sanctions on Turkey.

“Any decision to impose sanctions against Turkey won’t be of great concern to Turkey,” Erdogan told reporters. At a summit in October, European leaders warned Turkey to withdraw its energy research ships or face punitive measures.

Late last month, the Turkish seismic survey vessel Oruc Reis returned to port, as it had done before October’s EU meeting. However, another research ship, the Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, remains off Cyprus’ southwestern coast.

Erdogan vowed to continue to defend the rights of Turkey and those of Turkish Cypriots on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus and said there were a number of “honest” EU leaders who oppose sanctioning Turkey. He did not name the countries.

Ibrahim Kalin, a top adviser and spokesman for Erdogan, called on the EU to avoid using “the language of sanctions and threats.” “Sanctions will never work, they will have the reverse effect,” he told a video-conference. “We want to have a positive agenda, we want to turn a new page with the EU.”

Tensions between NATO allies Turkey and Greece escalated over the summer with a military build-up after Turkey sent Oruc Reis, escorted by navy frigates, into disputed waters. The move prompted Greece to also send its warships, and both countries conducted military exercises to assert their claims.

Turkey says it is standing up for its energy rights, as well as those of breakaway Turkish Cypriots, while Athens and Nicosia call Turkey’s actions an illegal incursion into areas where they have exclusive offshore exploitation rights.

Meanwhile, Erdogan described U.S. threats of sanctions toward Turkey over its decision to purchase a Russian-made air defense system as “unbefitting” and said he hoped to discuss the issue with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.

“I know Biden very well... In fact, he is someone who has visited me at my home,” Erdogan said. “We find the steps that they have taken or the statements made concerning our weapons purchases to be unbefitting. We will sit and talk with Biden after he takes up his duties.”

The purchase of the Russian S-400 system has already seen NATO-member Turkey kicked out of the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter program. NATO has said that the Russian system poses a threat to the military alliance and particularly endangers the technical secrets of the F-35.

Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020

December 08, 2020

(AP) In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic defenders of civil rights, great athletes and entertainers who helped define their genres. Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — RBG, Kobe, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard, Sean Connery, Alex Trebek, Christo — but pandemic restrictions often limited the public's ability to mourn their loss in a year that saw more than a million people die from the coronavirus.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — known as the Notorious RBG to her many admirers — was one of the many noteworthy figures who died in 2020. In a court known for solemn legal proceedings, Ginsburg became a cultural and social media icon whose fierce defense of women's rights earned her a devoted following. She died in September after 27 years on the country's highest court. Making few concessions to age and health problems, she showed a steely resilience and became the leader of liberal justices on the court.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Jane Hull, Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and FBI Director William S. Sessions.

Some of the year's deaths struck down relatively young people, leaving mourners with the heartbreak of a life gone too soon. Basketball great Kobe Bryant died along with several others in a January helicopter crash at age 41. And in a shock to fans, actor Chadwick Boseman, who inspired audiences with his portrayal of comic book superhero Black Panther, died of cancer in August at age 43.

Others in the world of arts and entertainment who died in 2020 include actors Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Irrfan Khan, Max von Sydow, Diana Rigg, Ian Holm, Rishi Kapoor and Franca Valeri; musicians Ellis Marsalis Jr., John Prine, Bonnie Pointer, Kenny Rogers, Juliette Greco and Toots Hibbert; filmmakers Nobuhiko Obayashi, Joel Schumacher and Ivan Passer; authors Mary Higgins Clark and Clive Cussler; TV hosts Regis Philbin and Jim Lehrer; magician Roy Horn; and fashion designer Kenzo Takada.

Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):

JANUARY

David Stern, 77. The basketball-loving lawyer who took the NBA around the world during 30 years as its longest-serving commissioner and oversaw its growth into a global powerhouse. Jan. 1.

Nick Gordon, 30. He was found liable in the death of his ex-partner, Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Jan. 1. Heroin overdose.

Don Larsen, 90. The journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory when he threw a perfect game in 1956 with the New York Yankees for the only no-hitter in World Series history. Jan. 1. Esophageal cancer.

Neil Peart, 67. The renowned drummer and lyricist from the influential Canadian band Rush. Jan. 7.

Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52. Her blunt and painful confessions of her struggles with addiction and depression in the bestselling “Prozac Nation” made her a voice and a target for an anxious generation. Jan. 7. Cancer.

Buck Henry, 89. “The Graduate” co-writer who as screenwriter, character actor, “Saturday Night Live” host and cherished talk-show and party guest became an all-around cultural superstar of the 1960s and 70s. Jan. 8.

Ivan Passer, 86. A leading filmmaker of the Czech New Wave who with Milos Forman fled Soviet-controlled Prague and forged a celebrated career in Hollywood. Jan. 9.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, 79. He was the Mideast’s longest-ruling monarch who seized power in Oman in a 1970 palace coup and pulled his Arabian sultanate into modernity while carefully balancing diplomatic ties between adversaries Iran and the U.S. Jan. 11.

Jimmy Heath, 93. A Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist and composer who performed with such greats as Miles Davis and John Coltrane before forming the popular family group the Heath Brothers in middle age. Jan. 19.

Thomas Railsback, 87. An Illinois Republican congressman who helped draw up articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1974. Jan. 20.

Terry Jones, 77. A founding member of the anarchic Monty Python troupe who was hailed by colleagues as “the complete Renaissance comedian” and “a man of endless enthusiasms.” Jan. 21.

Jim Lehrer, 85. The longtime host of the nightly PBS “NewsHour” whose serious, sober demeanor made him the choice to moderate 11 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. Jan. 23.

Kobe Bryant, 41. The 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jan. 26. Helicopter crash.

John Andretti, 56. Carved out his own niche in one of the world’s most successful racing families and became the first driver to attempt the Memorial Day double. Jan. 30.

Mary Higgins Clark, 92. She was the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world’s most popular writers. Jan. 31.

Anne Cox Chambers, 100. A newspaper heiress, diplomat and philanthropist who was one of America’s richest women. Jan. 31.

FEBRUARY

Andy Gill, 64. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. Feb. 1.

Bernard Ebbers, 78. The former chief of WorldCom who was convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history. Feb. 2.

George Steiner, 90. He became one of the world’s leading public intellectuals through his uncommon erudition, multilingual perspective and the provocative lessons he drew from his Jewish roots and escape from the Holocaust. Feb. 3.

Daniel arap Moi, 95. A former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s longest-serving president and presided over years of repression and economic turmoil fueled by runaway corruption. Feb. 4.

Kirk Douglas, 103. The intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch. Feb. 5.

Beverly Pepper, 97. A fixture of the Roman “Dolce Vita” and renowned American sculptor who made Italy her home and backdrop to many of her monumental steel creations. Feb. 5.

Roger Kahn, 92. The writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in “The Boys of Summer.” Feb. 6.

Orson Bean, 91. The witty actor and comedian who enlivened the game show “To Tell the Truth” and played a crotchety merchant on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” Feb. 7. Hit by a car.

Robert Conrad, 84. The rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series “Hawaiian Eye” and “The Wild Wild West.” Feb. 8.

Mirella Freni, 84. An Italian soprano whose uncommon elegance and intensity combined with a sumptuous voice and intelligence to enthrall audiences for a half-century. Feb. 9.

Joseph Shabalala, 78. The founder of the South African multi-Grammy-Award-winning music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Feb. 11.

Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien, 86. A longtime associate of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa who became a leading suspect in the labor leader’s disappearance and later was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, “The Irishman.” Feb. 13.

Zoe Caldwell, 86. A four-time Tony Award winner who brought humanity to larger-than-life characters, whether it be the dotty schoolteacher Miss Jean Brodie, an aging opera star Maria Callas or the betrayed, murderous Medea. Feb. 16.

Charles Portis, 86. The novelist was a favorite among critics and writers for such shaggy dog stories as “Norwood” and “Gringos” and a bounty for Hollywood whose droll, bloody Western “True Grit” was a bestseller twice adapted into Oscar-nominated films. Feb. 17.

Mickey Wright, 85. The golf great with a magnificent swing who won 13 majors among her 82 victories and gave the fledgling LPGA a crucial lift. Feb. 17.

Sy Sperling, 78. The Hair Club for Men founder who was famous for the TV commercials where he proclaimed “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client.” Feb. 19.

Barbara “B.” Smith, 70. She was one of the nation’s top Black models who went on to open restaurants, launch a successful home products line and write cookbooks. Feb. 22.

Thich Quang Do, 91. A Buddhist monk who became the public face of religious dissent in Vietnam while the Communist government kept him in prison or under house arrest for more than 20 years. Feb. 22.

Katherine Johnson, 101. A mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering Black female aerospace workers. Feb. 24.

Clive Cussler, 88. The million-selling adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker who wove personal details and spectacular fantasies into his page-turning novels about underwater explorer Dirk Pitt. Feb. 24.

Hosni Mubarak, 91. The Egyptian leader who was the autocratic face of stability in the Middle East for nearly 30 years before being forced from power in an Arab Spring uprising. Feb. 25.

MARCH

Jack Welch, 84. He transformed General Electric Co. into a highly profitable multinational conglomerate and parlayed his legendary business acumen into a retirement career as a corporate leadership guru. March 1. Renal failure.

Ernesto Cardenal, 95. The renowned poet and Roman Catholic cleric who became a symbol of revolutionary verse in Nicaragua and across Latin America, and whose suspension from the priesthood by St. John Paul II lasted over three decades. March 1.

James Lipton, 93. The longtime host of “Inside the Actors Studio.” March 2. Cancer.

Bobbie Battista, 67. She was among the original anchors for CNN Headline News and hosted CNN’s “TalkBack Live.” March 3. Cancer.

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 100. The two-term United Nations secretary-general who brokered a historic cease-fire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 and who in later life came out of retirement to help reestablish democracy in his Peruvian homeland. March 4.

Amory Houghton Jr., 93. He led his family’s glass company in upstate New York and later spent nearly two decades in Congress as a Republican with a reputation for breaking with his party. March 4.

Max von Sydow, 90. The actor known to art house audiences through his work with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and later to moviegoers everywhere when he played the priest in the horror classic “The Exorcist.” March 8.

Rev. Darius L. Swann, 95. His challenge to the notion of segregated public schools helped spark the use of busing to integrate schools across the country. March 8.

Charles Wuorinen, 81. A winner of the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Music and composer of the operas “Brokeback Mountain” and “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.” March 11. Injuries suffered in a fall.

Lyle Waggoner, 84. He used his good looks to comic effect on “The Carol Burnett Show,” partnered with a superhero on “Wonder Woman” and was the first centerfold for Playgirl magazine. March 17.

Kenny Rogers, 81. The Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on records and TV. March 20.

Terrence McNally, 81. He was one of America’s great playwrights whose prolific career included winning Tony Awards for the plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class” and the musicals “Ragtime” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” March 24. Coronavirus.

Manu Dibango, 86. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music. March 24. Coronavirus.

Floyd Cardoz, 59. He competed on “Top Chef,” won “Top Chef Masters” and operated successful restaurants in both India and New York. March 25. Coronavirus.

Fred “Curly” Neal, 77. The dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades. March 26.

Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, 98. A veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination. March 27.

Tom Coburn, 72. A former U.S. senator from Oklahoma who earned a reputation as a conservative political maverick when he railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich. March 28.

Krzysztof Penderecki, 86. An award-winning conductor and one of the world’s most popular contemporary classical music composers whose works have featured in Hollywood films like “The Shining” and “Shutter Island.” March 29.

Joe Diffie, 61. A country singer who had a string of hits in the 1990s with chart-topping ballads and honky-tonk singles like “Home” and “Pickup Man.” March 29. Coronavirus.

Bill Withers, 81. He wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” March 30.

APRIL

Ellis Marsalis Jr., 85. The jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan. April 1. Coronavirus.

Adam Schlesinger, 52. An Emmy and Grammy-winning musician and songwriter known for his work with his band Fountains of Wayne and on the TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” April 1. Coronavirus.

Tom Dempsey, 73. The NFL kicker born without toes on his kicking foot who made a then-record 63-yard field goal. April 4. Coronavirus.

Honor Blackman, 94. The potent British actress who took James Bond’s breath away in “Goldfinger” and who starred as the leather-clad, judo-flipping Cathy Gale in “The Avengers.” April 5.

Earl Graves Sr., 85. He championed Black businesses as the founder of the first African American-owned magazine focusing on black entrepreneurs. April 6.

John Prine, 73. The singer-songwriter who explored the heartbreaks, indignities and absurdities of everyday life in “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and scores of other songs. April 7. Coronavirus.

Herbert Stempel, 93. A fall guy and whistleblower of early television whose confession to deliberately losing on a 1950s quiz show helped drive a national scandal and join his name in history to winning contestant Charles Van Doren. April 7.

Linda Tripp, 70. Her secretly taped conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky provided evidence of an affair with President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment. April 8.

Mort Drucker, 91. The Mad magazine cartoonist who for decades lovingly spoofed politicians, celebrities and popular culture. April 9.

Phyllis Lyon, 95. A gay rights pioneer who, with her longtime partner, was among the first same-sex couples to marry in California when it became legal to do so in 2008. April 9.

Nobuhiko Obayashi, 82. He was one of Japan’s most prolific filmmakers who devoted his works to depicting war’s horrors and singing the eternal power of movies. April 10.

Stirling Moss, 90. A daring, speed-loving Englishman regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the world championship. April 12.

Brian Dennehy, 81. The burly actor who started in films as a macho heavy and later in his career won plaudits for his stage work in plays by William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller. April 15.

Jane Hull, 84. She was Arizona’s first woman elected governor and part of the “Fab Five” celebrated as the nation’s first all-female elected state executive branch leadership group. April 17.

Paul O’Neill, 84. A former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration. April 18.

Irrfan Khan, 54. A veteran character actor in Bollywood movies and one of India’s best-known exports to Hollywood. April 29.

Denis Goldberg, 87. A South African anti-apartheid activist. April 29.

Rishi Kapoor, 67. A top Indian actor who was a scion of Bollywood’s most famous Kapoor family. April 30.

MAY

Bobby Lee Verdugo, 69. One of the leaders of the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkout to protest discrimination and dropout rates among Mexican American students, which triggered a movement across the American Southwest. May 1.

Shady Habash, 22. An Egyptian filmmaker detained without trial for over two years for making a music video that mocked President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. May 2. Died in prison.

Rosalind Elias, 90. An American mezzo-soprano who created roles in a pair of Samuel Barber world premieres and made her Broadway debut at 81. May 3.

Don Shula, 90. He won the most games of any NFL coach and led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in league history. May 4.

Roy Horn, 75. He was half of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers. May 8. Coronavirus.

Little Richard, 87. He was one of the chief architects of rock 'n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing Black R&B to white America. May 9. Bone cancer.

Betty Wright, 66. The Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love.” May 10.

Jerry Stiller, 92. For decades, he teamed with wife Anne Meara in a beloved comedy duo and then reached new heights in his senior years as the high-strung Frank Costanza on the classic sitcom “Seinfeld” and the basement-dwelling father-in-law on “The King of Queens.” May 11.

Astrid Kirchherr, 81. She was the German photographer who shot some of the earliest and most striking images of the Beatles and helped shape their trend-setting visual style. May 12.

Phyllis George, 70. The former Miss America who became a female sportscasting pioneer on CBS’ “The NFL Today” and served as the first lady of Kentucky. May 14.

Fred Willard, 86. The comedic actor whose improv style kept him relevant for more than 50 years in films like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best In Show” and “Anchorman.” May 15.

Ken Osmond, 76. On TV’s “Leave It to Beaver,” he played two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell, a role so memorable it left him typecast and led to a second career as a police officer. May 18.

Saleh Abdullah Kamel, 79. The billionaire Saudi businessman who founded the banking and real estate conglomerate Dallah Albaraka Group. May 19.

Jerry Sloan, 78. The Hall of Fame coach who was a fixture for decades in Utah and took the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. May 22.

Eddie Sutton, 84. The Hall of Fame basketball coach who led three teams to the Final Four and was the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament. May 23.

Stanley Ho, 98. A casino tycoon whose business empire dominated the Portuguese gambling enclave of Macao for decades. May 26.

Larry Kramer, 84. The playwright whose angry voice and pen raised theatergoers’ consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to militant protests in the early years of the epidemic. May 27. Pneumonia.

Christo, 84. He was known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects that often involved wrapping large structures in fabric. May 31.

JUNE

Wes Unseld, 74. The workmanlike Hall of Fame center who led Washington to its only NBA championship and was chosen one of the 50 greatest players in league history. June 2.

Shigeru Yokota, 87. A Japanese campaigner for the return of his daughter and more than a dozen others who were abducted to North Korea in the 1970s. June 5.

Bonnie Pointer, 69. She convinced three of her church-singing siblings to form the Pointer Sisters, which would become one of the biggest acts of the 1970s and ’80s. June 8. Cardiac arrest.

Pierre Nkurunziza, 56. As president of Burundi, his 15-year-rule was marked by deadly political violence and a historic withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. June 8.

William S. Sessions, 90. A former federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired years later by President Bill Clinton. June 12.

Charles Webb, 81. A lifelong nonconformist whose debut novel “The Graduate” was a deadpan satire of his college education and wealthy background adapted into the classic film of the same name. June 16.

Edén Pastora, 83. Better known as “Commander Zero,” he was one of the most mercurial and charismatic figures of Central America’s revolutionary upheavals. June 16.

Jean Kennedy Smith, 92. She was the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and who as a U.S. ambassador played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland. June 17.

Vera Lynn, 103. The endearingly popular “Forces’ Sweetheart” who serenaded British troops during World War II. June 18.

Ian Holm, 88. An acclaimed British actor whose long career included roles in “Chariots of Fire” and “The Lord of the Rings.” June 19.

Joel Schumacher, 80. The eclectic and brazen filmmaker who shepherded the Brat Pack to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and steering the Batman franchise into its most baroque territory in “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.” June 22.

Milton Glaser, 91. The groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his home state with “I (HEART) NY.” June 26.

Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., 82. He was the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement. June 26.

Rudolfo Anaya, 82. A writer who helped launch the 1970s Chicano Literature Movement with his novel “Bless Me, Ultima,” a book celebrated by Latinos. June 28.

Carl Reiner, 98. The ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man.” June 29.

Johnny Mandel, 94. The Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer, arranger and musician who worked on albums by Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole and many others and whose songwriting credits included “The Shadow of Your Smile” and the theme from the film and TV show “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H.” June 29.

JULY

Hugh Downs, 99. The genial, versatile broadcaster who became one of television’s most familiar and welcome faces with more than 15,000 hours on news, game and talk shows. July 1.

Nick Cordero, 41. A Tony Award-nominated actor who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as “Waitress,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bullets Over Broadway.” July 5. Coronavirus.

Ennio Morricone, 91. The Oscar-winning Italian composer who created the coyote-howl theme for the iconic spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and soundtracks for such classic Hollywood gangster movies as “The Untouchables” and “Once Upon A Time In America.” July 6. Complications of surgery after a fall.

Charlie Daniels, 83. Country music firebrand and fiddler who had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” July 6. Stroke.

Mary Kay Letourneau, 58. A teacher who married her former sixth-grade student after she was convicted of raping him in a case that drew international headlines. July 6. Cancer.

Naya Rivera, 33. A singer and actor who played a gay cheerleader on the hit TV musical comedy “Glee.” July 8. Drowning.

Kelly Preston, 57. She played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins” and was married to actor John Travolta. July 12. Cancer.

Joanna Cole, 75. The author whose “Magic School Bus” books transported millions of young people on extraordinary and educational adventures. July 12. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

John Lewis, 80. An icon of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress. July 17.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, 95. An early and key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized pivotal civil rights campaigns and spent decades advocating for justice and equality. July 17.

Regis Philbin, 88. The genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” July 24.

Peter Green, 73. The dexterous blues guitarist who led the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in a career shortened by psychedelic drugs and mental illness. July 25.

John Saxon, 83. A versatile actor with a lengthy and prolific career who starred with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” and appeared in several “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. July 25. Pneumonia.

Olivia de Havilland, 104. The doe-eyed actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of “Gone With the Wind,” but also a two-time Oscar winner and an off-screen fighter who challenged and unchained Hollywood’s contract system. July 26.

Connie Culp, 57. She was the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the U.S. July 29.

Lee Teng-hui, 97. A former Taiwanese president who brought direct elections and other democratic changes to the self-governed island despite missile launches and other fierce saber-rattling by China. July 30.

Herman Cain, 74. A former Republican presidential candidate and former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. July 30. Coronavirus.

Alan Parker, 76. A successful and sometimes surprising filmmaker whose diverse output includes “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita.” July 31.

AUGUST

Wilford Brimley, 85. He worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm.” Aug. 1.

John Hume, 83. The visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland. Aug. 3.

Shirley Ann Grau, 91. A Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer whose stories and novels told of both the dark secrets and the beauty of the Deep South. Aug. 3.

Brent Scowcroft, 95. He played a prominent role in American foreign policy as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and was a Republican voice against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Aug. 6.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, 83. A prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a monumental and ground-breaking translation of the Talmud. Aug. 7.

Franca Valeri, 100. An elegant, ironic and versatile actress who pioneered female comic roles in Italy’s post-war years and helped the nation laugh at its foibles. Aug. 9.

Robert Trump, 71. President Donald Trump’s younger brother, he was a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name. Aug. 15.

Slade Gorton, 92. A cerebral politician from Washington state who served as a U.S. Senate Republican leader before he was ousted by the growing Seattle-area liberal electorate in 2000. Aug. 19.

Gail Sheehy, 83. A journalist, commentator and pop sociologist whose best-selling “Passages” helped millions navigate their lives from early adulthood to middle age and beyond. Aug. 24. Complications from pneumonia.

Lute Olson, 85. The Hall of Fame coach who turned Arizona into a college basketball powerhouse. Aug. 27.

Osamu Masuko, 71. A former Mitsubishi Motors chief executive who engineered the Japanese automaker’s alliance with Nissan. Aug. 27. Heart failure.

Chadwick Boseman, 43. He played Black American icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown with searing intensity before inspiring audiences worldwide as the regal Black Panther in Marvel’s blockbuster movie franchise. Aug. 28. Cancer.

John Thompson, 78. The imposing Hall of Famer who turned Georgetown into a “Hoya Paranoia” powerhouse and became the first Black coach to lead a team to the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Aug. 30.

Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, 98. One of Lebanon’s most prominent philanthropists and a pioneer defender of the country’s heritage. Aug. 31. Injuries suffered from a massive explosion in Beirut.

Tom Seaver, 75. The Hall of Fame pitcher who steered a stunning transformation from lovable losers to Miracle Mets in 1969. Aug. 31. Complications of Lewy body dementia and the coronavirus.

SEPTEMBER

Kaing Guek Eav, 77. Known as Duc, he was the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison. Sept. 2.

Diana Rigg, 82. A commanding British actress whose career stretched from iconic 1960s spy series “The Avengers” to fantasy juggernaut “Game of Thrones.” Sept. 10.

Toots Hibbert, 77. One of reggae’s founders and most beloved stars who gave the music its name and later helped make it an international movement through such classics as “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man” and “Funky Kingston.” Sept. 11.

Terence Conran, 88. The British designer, retailer and restaurateur who built a furniture empire around the world, founded The Design Museum in London and modernized the everyday lives of British people. Sept. 12.

Florence Howe, 91. An activist, educator and major contributor to American literature and culture who as co-founder of the Feminist Press helped revive such acclaimed and influential works as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and Rebecca Harding Davis’ “Life in the Iron Mills.” Sept. 12.

Winston Groom, 77. The writer whose novel “Forrest Gump” was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop culture phenomenon. Sept. 17.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87. The U.S. Supreme Court justice developed a cultlike following over her more than 27 years on the bench, especially among young women who appreciated her lifelong, fierce defense of women’s rights. Sept. 18.

Rev. Robert Graetz, 92. The only white minister to support the Montgomery bus boycott and who became the target of scorn and bombings for doing so. Sept. 20.

Michael Lonsdale, 89. An enigmatic giant of the silver screen and theater in France who worked with some of the world’s top directors in an acting career that spanned 60 years. Sept. 21.

Ang Rita, 72. A veteran Nepalese Sherpa guide who was the first person to climb Mount Everest 10 times. Sept. 21.

Gale Sayers, 77. The dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate. Sept. 23.

Juliette Greco, 93. A French singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to existentialist philosophers of the country’s post-War period. Sept. 23.

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, 91. The ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation’s top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises. Sept. 29.

Helen Reddy, 78. She shot to stardom in the 1970s with her rousing feminist anthem “I Am Woman” and recorded a string of other hits. Sept. 29.

Timothy Ray Brown, 54. He made history as “the Berlin patient,” the first person known to be cured of HIV infection. Sept. 29.

Mac Davis, 78. A country music star who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me.” Sept. 29.

Sister Ardeth Platte, 84. A Dominican nun and anti-nuclear activist who spent time in jail for her peaceful protests. Sept. 30.

OCTOBER

Bob Gibson, 84. A baseball Hall of Famer and the dominating St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who won a record seven consecutive World Series starts and set a modern standard for excellence when he finished the 1968 season with a 1.12 ERA. Oct. 2.

Kenzo Takada, 81. The iconic French-Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic that channeled global travel. Oct. 4. Coronavirus.

Eddie Van Halen, 65. The guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock’s biggest groups and became elevated to the status of rock god. Oct. 6. Cancer.

Johnny Nash, 80. A singer-songwriter, actor and producer who rose from pop crooner to early reggae star to the creator and performer of the million-selling anthem “I Can See Clearly Now.” Oct. 6.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian, 80. His distinctive voice quavered to traditional Persian music on state radio for years before supporting protesters following Iran’s contested 2009 election. Oct. 8.

Whitey Ford, 91. The street-smart New Yorker who had the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the 20th century and helped the Yankees become baseball’s perennial champions in the 1950s and ’60s. Oct. 8.

Joe Morgan, 77. The Hall of Fame second baseman became the sparkplug of dominant Cincinnati teams in the mid-1970s and was a two-time National League Most Valuable Player. Oct. 11.

Bernard S. Cohen, 86. He won a landmark case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of laws forbidding interracial marriage and later went on to a successful political career as a state legislator. Oct. 12. Complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Mahmoud Yassin, 79. An Egyptian actor and pillar of the country’s film industry during the second half of the 20th century. Oct. 14.

Christopher Pendergast, 71. A suburban New York teacher who turned a Lou Gehrig’s disease diagnosis into a decadeslong campaign to raise awareness and fund research. Oct. 14.

Rhonda Fleming, 97. The fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Oct. 14.

Sid Hartman, 100. The Minnesota sports columnist and radio personality was an old-school home team booster who once ran the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and achieved nearly as much celebrity as some of the athletes he covered. Oct. 18.

Spencer Davis, 81. A British guitarist and bandleader whose eponymous rock group had 1960s hits including “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man.” Oct. 19.

James Randi, 92. A magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country’s foremost skeptic. Oct. 20.

Lee Kun-Hee, 78. The Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics but whose leadership was also marred by corruption convictions. Oct. 25.

Diane di Prima, 86. A poet, activist and teacher who was one of the last surviving members of the Beats and one of the few women writers in the Beat movement. Oct. 25.

Billy Joe Shaver, 81. An outlaw country singer-songwriter who wrote songs like “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “Old Five and Dimers Like Me.” Oct. 28.

Sean Connery, 90. The charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles. Oct. 31.

NOVEMBER

Robert Fisk, 74. A veteran British journalist, he was one of the best-known Middle East correspondents who spent his career reporting from the troubled region and won accolades for challenging mainstream narratives. Nov. 1.

Tom Metzger, 82. The notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader who rose to prominence in the 1980s while promoting white separatism and stoking racial violence. Nov. 4. Parkinson’s disease.

Norm Crosby, 93. The deadpan mangler of the English language who thrived in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s as a television, nightclub and casino comedian. Nov. 7.

Alex Trebek, 80. He presided over the beloved quiz show “Jeopardy!” for more than 30 years with dapper charm and a touch of schoolmaster strictness. Nov. 8.

Saeb Erekat, 65. A veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades. Nov. 10. Coronavirus.

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, 84. As Bahrain’s prince, he was one of the world’s longest-serving prime ministers and led his island nation’s government for decades. Nov. 11.

Paul Hornung, 84. The dazzling “Golden Boy” of the Green Bay Packers whose singular ability to generate points as a runner, receiver, quarterback and kicker helped turn the team into an NFL dynasty. Nov. 13.

Soumitra Chatterjee, 85. The legendary Indian actor with more than 200 movies to his name and famed for his work with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray. Nov. 15. Coronavirus.

Walid al-Moallem, 79. Syria’s longtime foreign minister, he was a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad. Nov. 16.

Jan Morris, 94. The celebrated journalist, historian, world traveler and fiction writer who in middle age became a pioneer of the transgender movement. Nov. 20.

David Dinkins, 93. He broke barriers as New York City’s first African American mayor but was doomed to a single term by a soaring murder rate, stubborn unemployment and his mishandling of a riot in Brooklyn. Nov. 23.

Bruce Carver Boynton, 83. A civil rights pioneer from Alabama who inspired the landmark “Freedom Rides” of 1961. Nov. 23.

Diego Maradona, 60. The Argentine soccer great who scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and led his country to that year’s World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. Nov. 25.

Dave Prowse, 85. The British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of archvillain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Nov. 28.

Eddie Benton-Banai, 89. He helped found the American Indian Movement partly in response to alleged police brutality against Indigenous people. Nov. 30.

DECEMBER

Thomas M. Reavley, 99. He was the oldest active federal judge who served for 41 years on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Dec. 1.

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, 94. He was the president of France from 1974 to 1981 and became a champion of European integration. Dec. 2.

Rafer Johnson, 86. He won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968. Dec. 2.

Alison Lurie, 94. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose satirical and cerebral tales of love and academia included the marital saga “The War Between the Tates” and the comedy of Americans abroad “Foreign Affairs.” Dec. 3.

David L. Lander, 73. An actor who played the character of Squiggy on the popular ABC comedy “Laverne & Shirley.” Dec. 4.

Tabaré Vázquez, 80. He was Uruguay’s first socialist president, rising from poverty to win two terms as leader. Dec. 6. Cancer.

Paul Sarbanes, 87. He represented Maryland for 30 years in the Senate as a leader of financial regulatory reform and drafted the first article of impeachment against Republican President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal as a congressman. Dec. 6.