Month: May 2021

(Xinhua)09:23, September 18, 2020

CHICAGO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — A latest survey of more than 21,000 individuals between Aug. 7 to 26 shows that Americans public trust for 15 government institutions and leaders ability to manage the COVID-19 pandemic gradually eroded between late April and August, according to a news release posted on the website of Northwestern University (NU) on Wednesday.

Trust in President Donald Trumps management of the COVID-19 crisis declined from 50 percent in late April to 43 percent in August, though it has slightly increased by two points since July.

The erosion of trust has implications for whether Americans intend to take a COVID-19 vaccine when its available. Just under 6 in 10 people or 59 percent surveyed said they would get a COVID-19 vaccination, a seven-point decline from 66 percent in late July.

The differences in who intends to vaccinate are closely related to trust in institutions and leaders. People who said they trusted President Trump had the lowest intention of seeking a COVID-19 vaccination. On the other side, 70 percent of those who trusted the media, 68 percent of those who trusted in social media platforms, and 68 percent of those who expressed trust in Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said they would vaccinate.

Public trust in institutions also varies by political party and race. While there was a downward trend in trust from April to July among Democrats, Republicans and Independents for the White House and President Trump, Republicans and Independents trust of both institutions remained fairly stable from July to August. Democrats had a 10-point higher level of trust in the White House, which is 24 percent, than in the president, 14 percent.

Across racial groups, levels of trust in institutions remained stable. Black respondents had the lowest levels of trust in the president, 17 percent, the White House, 27 percent and police, 42 percent compared to White respondents who had the highest levels of trust of 51 percent, 52 percent and 72 percent, respectively, for these institutions. When it comes to the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, it is reversed. Biden had the highest level of trust among Black respondents, 71 percent, and the lowest among White respondents, 44 percent.

Earlier survey results released in August suggested racial differences in Americans willingness to vaccinate. While 67 percent of White, 71 percent of Hispanic and 77 percent of Asian American respondents said they were likely to vaccinate, just 52 percent of African American respondents said the same.

Other findings of the survey are: scientists and medical experts have the highest levels of public trust of any institution, which have remained high over 85 percent from April through August; trust in state and city governments handling of the pandemic has steadily declined across all three political groups since April; and in states, the willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccination ranges from a low of 43 percent in Mississippi to a high of 71 percent in Washington.

(Xinhua)09:43, September 18, 2020

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — An influential election projection agency on Thursday shifted the U.S. presidential race in the state of Arizona toward Democratic nominee Joe Biden, as its latest poll found the former vice president led President Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in the state.

A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and Cook Political Report released Thursday showed Biden led Trump 45-40 percent, larger than the Democrats lead over the Republican incumbent in other battleground states like Florida and North Carolina, in both of which the edges were within the margins of error.

Another troubling sign for Trump in Arizona, which he won by a narrow 3.5-point advantage over Hillary Clinton in 2016, is that only about 73 percent of Republicans said they will definitely vote for the president in November, with another 9 percent saying they are probably or definitely casting their ballot for Biden, the KFF-Cook poll showed.

Furthermore, support for Trump from Arizonas Latino community was also lagging – 17 percent compared to Bidens 55 percent among the group.

The new data in this poll, combined with other recent polling in the state, all find Arizona slipping away from Trump, Cooks elections analyst Amy Walter said. We are moving it from Toss Up to Lean Democrat.

The KFF-Cook poll surveyed 1,298 registered voters in Arizona between Aug. 29 and Sept. 13. It has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.

U.S. media projected an easier path for Biden toward winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory in the election if he carries Arizona. Vice President Mike Pence told The Hill earlier this week that Arizona is of great importance for the Trump-Pence team, and that they will continue to campaign there.

(Xinhua)13:21, September 18, 2020

RAMALLAH, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — A senior Palestinian official announced on Thursday that Palestine does not intend to withdraw from the Arab League following the normalization agreements of Israel with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organizations Executive Committee, told the official Palestinian radio Voice of Palestine that the Palestinian leadership decides to keep a Palestinian representation in the Arab League.

On Wednesday night, the Palestinian leadership held a meeting in Ramallah to decide on a Palestinian decision against the Arab League, after the latter had failed to condemn the Arab normalization agreements with Israel.

The leadership decided to stay in the Arab League depending on the importance of influencing it, so that if we cannot take what we want, at least we can block the issuance of what we do not want … it is important for the Palestinians to remain in the Arab League to be influential, mainly affecting the positions of the Arab states whose options towards normalization have not been decided yet, Majdalani said.

Palestine is currently counting more on the positions of parties as well as civil and popular institutions in the Arab countries than the official regimes, he added.

(Xinhua)13:26, September 18, 2020

TOKYO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — Japans new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga began work as the nations leader Thursday vowing to meet peoples expectations.

Speaking to reporters at the prime ministers office, Suga said his Cabinet would be results oriented.

I want to meet peoples expectations by creating a Cabinet that works for people and achieves results, Suga said.

Newly appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, meanwhile, reiterated the former administrations commitment to fighting the coronavirus pandemic and preventing an explosive rise in infections.

The important thing is to prevent infections and bring economic and social activities back to normal and revive them, Japans new top government spokesman said.

Kato added that under Sugas stewardship, the government will continue to tackle the nations demographic crisis and forge deeper ties with Japans closest neighbors.

Suga, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, was chosen as Japans new prime minister to succeed Shinzo Abe in an extraordinary parliamentary session on Wednesday.

The parliament formally chose Suga as the nations 99th prime minister in an extraordinary session convened at which he was elected by both chambers of Japans bicameral parliament, winning 314 votes in the more powerful 465-member lower house and 142 votes in 245-member upper chamber.

Late last month and just days after becoming the nations longest-serving leader in terms of consecutive days in office, Abe abruptly announced that he planned to step down because of the same intestinal disease and ulcerative colitis that forced him to relinquish his role as prime minister during his first stint as leader beginning 2006.

Suga has formed a Cabinet comprising of a number of ministers who served under Abe in a bid to maintain continuity.

He has retained the services of LDP veteran heavyweights including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Fifteen of Sugas picks for his 20-member Cabinet held ministerial portfolios in the previous administration.

Suga, who at 71 is the oldest prime minister to take office since Kiichi Miyazawa in 1991, will serve as

LDP president for the remainder of Abes current three-year term through September 2021.

There has been speculation, however, that he may call a general election as early as next month, although he has stated that for the time being tackling the coronavirus pandemic is his priority.

(Xinhua)15:12, September 18, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — Asian Americans are experiencing increased racism amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two reports released Thursday by Los Angeles-based Stop AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Hate Reporting Center.

The first report They Blamed Me Because I Am Asian, written by 87 high school interns from the centers Youth Campaign, analyzed 990 interviews with AAPI youths this summer to explore how young people are coping with rising racism.

It showed that 77 percent of Asian American youths expressed anger over the current anti-Asian hate in the United States, and 60 percent were disappointed at racism.

Incidents of harassment focused on blaming China and Chinese people as the source of the virus and mocking Chinese dietary habits, it said.

The second report, written by a group of experts, analyzed 341 incidents of anti-Asian discrimination involving youths reported to the center from March 19 to July 22, including 24 physical assaults.

It showed that in 56 percent of the incidents, perpetrators employed anti-Chinese hate speech, and that even though adults were present in almost half of the incidents, bystanders intervened in only 10 percent of the cases.