Tuesday 31 March 2020

Outrage in India as migrants sprayed with disinfectant to fight coronavirus

Outrage in India as migrants sprayed with disinfectant to fight coronavirusIndian health workers caused outrage on Monday by spraying a group of migrants with disinfectant, amid fears that a large scale movement of people from cities to the countryside risked spreading the coronavirus. Footage showed a group of migrant workers sitting on a street in Bareilly, a district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, as health officials in protective suits used hose pipes to douse them in disinfectant, prompting anger on social media. Nitish Kumar, the top government official in the district, said health workers had been ordered to disinfect buses being used by the local authorities but in their zeal had also turned their hoses on migrant workers.




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New Zealand, a country of about 5 million, has 18 million masks in its reserves, with 80,000 being made every day

New Zealand, a country of about 5 million, has 18 million masks in its reserves, with 80,000 being made every dayNew Zealand's prime minister posted a video of masks being made in a factory and said, "I'll admit, I have watched this video more than once."




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Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHO

Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHOTaiwan is effectively locked out of the World Health Organization - and tensions are rising.




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India and Pakistan crack down on Muslim group emerging as COVID-19 cluster

India and Pakistan crack down on Muslim group emerging as COVID-19 clusterIndia and Pakistan sealed off centers belonging to a Muslim missionary group on Tuesday and began investigating how many coronavirus cases were linked to its activities. Tablighi Jamaat is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim missionary movement that preaches worldwide. India has so far registered 32 deaths from 1,251 confirmed infections, and Pakistan 20 from 1,914.




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IG Horowitz Found ‘Apparent Errors or Inadequately Supported Facts’ in Every Single FBI FISA Application He Reviewed

IG Horowitz Found ‘Apparent Errors or Inadequately Supported Facts’ in Every Single FBI FISA Application He ReviewedThe Justice Department inspector general said it does “not have confidence” in the FBI’s FISA application process following an audit that found the Bureau was not sufficiently transparent with the court in 29 applications from 2014 to 2019, all of which included “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.”Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December which found that the FBI included “at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications and many errors in the Woods Procedures” during its Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign. After releasing the report, Horowitz said that he would conduct a further investigation to see if the errors identified in the Page application were widespread.“The concern is that this is such a high-profile, important case. If it happened here, is this indicative of a wider problem — and we will only know that when we complete our audit — or is it isolated to this event?” Horowitz told lawmakers during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. “Obviously, we need to do the work to understand that.”Horowitz’s office said in a report released Tuesday that of the 29 applications — all of which involved U.S. citizens – that were pulled from “8 FBI field offices of varying sizes,” the FBI could not find Woods Files for four of the applications, while the other 25 all had “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.”"While our review of these issues and follow-up with case agents is still ongoing—and we have not made materiality judgments for these or other errors or concerns we identified—at this time we have identified an average of about 20 issues per application reviewed, with a high of approximately 65 issues in one application and less than 5 issues in another application," the report reveals.The Woods Procedure dictates that the Justice Department verify the accuracy and provide evidentiary support for all facts stated in its FISA application. The FBI is required to share with the FISA Court all relevant information compiled in the Woods File when applying for a surveillance warrant.“FBI and NSD officials we interviewed indicated to us that there were no efforts by the FBI to use existing FBI and NSD oversight mechanisms to perform comprehensive, strategic assessments of the efficacy of the Woods Procedures or FISA accuracy, to include identifying the need for enhancements to training and improvements in the process, or increased accountability measures,” the report states.The OIG concludes by recommending that the FBI "systematically and regularly examine the results of past and future accuracy reviews to identify patterns or trends in identified errors" relating to the Woods Procedure, as well as double-checking "that Woods Files exist for every FISA application submitted to the FISC in all pending investigations."In a letter acknowledging the audit, FBI Associate Deputy Director Paul Abbate said that the issues "will be addressed" by the Bureau's already-issued correctives after the Carter Page review, and added that "the FBI fully accepts the two recommendations."President Trump has relentlessly attacked the FBI's FISA process and the abuses it allowed during the surveilling of his 2016 campaign. He has argued that the FISA abuses invalidate the entire investigation, which he has referred to as an “illegal attempted coup,” and slammed the officials involved, including former FBI director James Comey and former acting FBI director Andy McCabe.McCabe admitted in January that the FBI has an “inherent weakness in the process” of obtaining FISA warrants.




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Too little too late? Experts decry Mexico virus policy delay

Too little too late? Experts decry Mexico virus policy delayMexico has started taking tougher measures against the coronavirus after weeks of its president hugging followers and saying religious medals would protect him. Some experts warn the sprawling country of 129 million is acting too late and testing too little to prevent the type of crisis unfolding across the border in the United States. Last week Mexico banned non-essential government work as confirmed cases climbed, but took until late Monday to extend that to other business sectors and to bar gatherings of more than 50 people.




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CDC is weighing advising Americans to wear face masks outdoors

CDC is weighing advising Americans to wear face masks outdoorsThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering whether to update its guidelines on the new coronavirus to advise Americans to wear homemade masks outside of the home — not so much to protect the people wearing the mask but as another tool to limit the spread of COVID-19, The Washington Post reports. The new virus can be spread through saliva droplets emitted during a cough, sneeze, or even talking, and having a mask to capture those drops would presumably keep sick, especially asymptomatic, coronavirus carriers from spreading the disease.The CDC currently recommends keeping six feet apart, among other social distancing practices, and washing hands frequently and thoroughly for 20 seconds. It would not recommend people use surgical or N95 masks, in short supply and great demand for doctors, nurses, and other first responders treating COVID-19 patients. Instead, people would be urged to make their own masks out of old T-shirts, sheets, and paper towels, as Jeremy Howard, a University of San Francisco research scientist and advocate for the DIY approach, explains in the video below.Many Asian countries recommend citizens wear masks to fight the spread of the coronavirus, and the homemade masks have some prominent proponents in the U.S., including former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb; Thomas Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; and former National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus. Other health experts worry that encouraging mask-wearing would instill a sense of false security and make Americans more reckless, might inadvertently contaminate someone else who handles the mask, and could further deplete the personal protective equipment stockpiles needed for medical professionals.More stories from theweek.com Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like The case for cautious optimism about the pandemic Chris Meloni's Elliot Stabler reportedly getting Law & Order: SVU spinoff show on NBC




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Man planned to bomb hospital during pandemic to publicize white supremacist views

Man planned to bomb hospital during pandemic to publicize white supremacist viewsTimothy Wilson, 36, died March 24 when the FBI sought to arrest him after a six-month investigation.




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Coronavirus: New York bar owner becomes first to be arrested for ignoring lockdown

Coronavirus: New York bar owner becomes first to be arrested for ignoring lockdownThe owner of a bar in New York City has been arrested for operating in contravention of the city’s coronavirus lockdown measures.New York police confirmed on Monday that 56-year-old Vasil Pando had been arrested on Saturday night at an address in Brooklyn.




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Mitch McConnell tries to weasel his way back into Trump's good graces — by blaming coronavirus on impeachment

Mitch McConnell tries to weasel his way back into Trump's good graces — by blaming coronavirus on impeachmentYes, that's right. Mitch McConnell just blamed the coronavirus pandemic on Democrats fulfilling their moral obligation to impeach President Trump.




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Mexico president ramps up rich vs poor rhetoric in coronavirus fight

As the outlook for Mexico's economy gets gloomier during the coronavirus crisis, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has driven home the message that his government is ready to help the poor to weather the storm - but that the rich can forget it.


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Australian authorities take cluster approach to contain coronavirus

Australian authorities will open a pop-up coronavirus testing clinic next to Sydney's Bondi Beach on Wednesday as health workers try to contain clusters of infections across the country.


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Paris Club creditors agree to cancel $1.4 billion of Somali debt

The Paris Club of creditor nations agreed on Tuesday to restructure Somalia's debt, including immediately canceling $1.4 billion owed by the impoverished Horn of Africa country.


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Tokyo may keep city-run schools closed through early May: media

Tokyo is considering keeping city-operated schools closed through early May, public broadcaster NHK and other local media reported on Wednesday, a day after coronavirus infections in the Japanese capital hit a daily record of 78.


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Monday 30 March 2020

Coronavirus: Has the virus brought borders back to Europe?

The BBC’s Gavin Lee took a road trip in Europe's Schengen area to see how free movement has changed.

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How (not) to cut your hair at home

Stuck at home, some people have enlisted their children to help cut their hair.

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Coronavirus: The good that can come out of an upside-down world

There are reasons to believe the world may emerge from this upheaval enhanced, writes Matthew Syed.

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'The phone slipped into the bath': Conference call tales

How to avoid some of the pitfalls of teleconferencing and how it is changing the way we meet and do business.

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Coronavirus: What should you do if you are stuck abroad?

The government has outlined plans aimed at bringing stranded Britons home.

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The UK's coronavirus lockdown could be extended for up to 6 months, with some restrictions lasting even longer

The UK's coronavirus lockdown could be extended for up to 6 months, with some restrictions lasting even longerThe UK government's deputy chief medical officer said it would probably take three to six months "to see at which point we can get back to normal."




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Indian police fire tear gas at jobless workers defying coronavirus lockdown

Indian police fire tear gas at jobless workers defying coronavirus lockdownNEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Police in India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry, authorities said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the country's 1.3 billion people to remain indoors until April 15, declaring such self-isolation was the only hope to stop the viral pandemic. On Sunday, about 500 workers clashed with police in the western city of Surat demanding they be allowed to go home to other parts of India because they had no jobs left.




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Trump extends social distancing guidelines to April 30, predicts 'great things' by June 1

Trump extends social distancing guidelines to April 30, predicts 'great things' by June 1Trump last week said he wanted to see the much of the country opening back up by Easter.




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Serial killer dubbed Grim Sleeper dies in California prison

Serial killer dubbed Grim Sleeper dies in California prisonLonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday evening. An autopsy will determine the cause of death; however, there were no signs of trauma, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement.




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Surge of virus cases in California threatens hospitals

Surge of virus cases in California threatens hospitalsA surge of coronavirus cases in California has arrived and will worsen, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday, while the mayor of Los Angeles warned that by early next week his city could see the kind of crush that has crippled New York.




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New York's coronavirus death toll just topped 1,000, but Gov. Cuomo warns that 'thousands' will die

New York's coronavirus death toll just topped 1,000, but Gov. Cuomo warns that 'thousands' will dieAccessible, rapid testing could bring a "return to normalcy," Cuomo said. But for now, he's extending New York's lockdown another two weeks.




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U.S. Congress eyes next steps in coronavirus response

U.S. Congress eyes next steps in coronavirus responseThree days after passing a $2.2 trillion package aimed at easing the heavy economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Congress was looking on Monday at additional steps it might take as the country's death toll approached 3,000. Democrats who control the House of Representatives were discussing boosting payments to low- and middle-income workers, likely to be among the most vulnerable as companies lay off and furlough millions of workers, as well as eliminating out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus medical treatment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would work with Republicans to craft a bill that could also provide added protections for front-line workers and substantially more support for state and local governments to deal with one of the largest public health crises in U.S. history.




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The U.S. is preparing for a medical supply airlift of unprecedented scale

The U.S. is preparing for a medical supply airlift of unprecedented scaleAs hospitals across the United States face a shortage of medical supplies in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic, planes are gearing up to bring in reinforcements.The first aircraft in a series of flights scheduled by the White House over the next 30 days arrived in New York from Shanghai on Sunday morning, bringing with it 12 million gloves, 130,000 N95 masks, 17.6 surgical masks, 50,000 gowns, 130,000 hand sanitizer units, and 36,000 thermometers, all of which will be distributed throughout the New York tri-state area. A non-government distributor had actually already bought the supplies and planned to sell them in New York, but they'd normally arrive on ships. A sea voyage would've taken over a month, so the government is expediting the process by air. Going forward, the U.S. has 22 similar flights coming in over the next two weeks that will distribute supplies to different parts of the country, per Axios.Navy Rear Admiral John Polowcyzk, who is running the Federal Emergency Management Agency's coronavirus supply chain task force, said he doesn't think the U.S. has ever seen anything like this on its own soil. "I don't know of another effort like this," he told Axios.Polowcyzk is hoping it's only a two- or three-week effort, but admitted planes could be coming in over the next month. Read more at Axios.More stories from theweek.com Trump's message to blue states battling coronavirus: Drop dead Fox News reportedly fears its early downplaying of COVID-19 leaves it open to lawsuits How coronavirus has reshaped Trump's economy-driven, rally-heavy re-election campaign




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Mexico's president shifts tone on coronavirus, urges people to stay home, warns of dire consequences

Mexico's president shifts tone on coronavirus, urges people to stay home, warns of dire consequencesCritics said Mexico's president was downplaying the coronavirus threat. But he has now shifted his tone.




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Coronavirus: 'Millions' of Americans could be infected, expert warns

Coronavirus: 'Millions' of Americans could be infected, expert warnsThe US government's leading expert warns up to 200,000 people could die, as cases continue to rise.




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Kremlin Fights U.S. Sanctions, Backs Maduro in Rosneft Deal

Kremlin Fights U.S. Sanctions, Backs Maduro in Rosneft Deal(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin’s sudden shift of ownership of multi-billion-dollar oil projects in Venezuela shields oil giant Rosneft PJSC from further U.S. sanctions but keeps Moscow firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro amid a wider stand-off with Washington.“Russia is not walking away from Maduro and will seek to thwart U.S. efforts to depose him,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former diplomat and foreign policy analyst in Moscow. “Moscow is just shielding Rosneft from sanctions which could result in a blanket embargo on all Rosneft exports.”Fears of broader sanctions have grown after the U.S. in recent months slapped restrictions on Rosneft trading companies for handling business with Venezuela. More recently, the U.S. has hinted that it might step up pressure on the Russian oil sector to reduce production. That followed Moscow’s decision early this month not to deepen output cuts agreed with OPEC led Saudi Arabia to boost output, flooding the market and pushing prices to the lowest levels in decades.The administration of President Donald Trump has already reached out to Saudi leaders to reconsider their strategy, which has battered producers in the U.S. with low prices. Trump said Monday he plans to speak by phone with Putin later in the day to talk about the oil market and may discuss sanctions and Venezuela.Read: Putin and MBS Draw Trump Into Grudge Match for Oil SupremacyRosneft late Saturday announced it’s turning over its Venezuelan projects to an unnamed state-owned company in what it called an effort to protect its shareholders’ interests.Sechin AutonomyAs part of the deal, Rosneft gets 9.6% of its own shares previously held by state holding company Rosneftegaz, bringing direct government ownership to just over 40%, according to two people familiar with the transaction. While Rosneft will remain firmly under Kremlin control, the shift in ownership could give Igor Sechin, who as chief executive and a longtime Putin ally is already one of Russia’s most influential people, even more autonomy, these people said.“Sechin gets Rosneft shares and Putin gets the chance to trade with Trump,” said Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Fund in Moscow.Neither the company nor the government would comment on whether the deal will bring state ownership below 50%.Rosneft, which produces 40% of Russian oil and 5% of world output and has substantial exposure in the western financial system, can’t afford the risk of broad U.S. sanctions that could cripple its operations. Earlier this month, a Chinese company said it wouldn’t buy crude from Rosneft because of the risks caused by the sanctions on the trading companies.“As recently as February, the Venezuelan business was profitable, which offset the sanctions risk,” said Ivan Timofeyev, an analyst at the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “Now the desire to avoid sanctions coincided with the need to avoid losses” after oil prices plunged, he added.The Russian giant has already cut its exposure under multi-billion-dollar prepayment deals reached several years ago. Venezuela’s oil producer PDVSA owes Rosneft only $800 million at the end of the third quarter of 2019, according to the last available data, down from $4.6 billion at the end of 2017.Sanctions ProtectionThe latest Russian maneuver mirrored its strategy in 2018 when it used Promsvzyabank to set up a new banking vehicle to serve the defense industry after state-owned weapons producers came under U.S. sanctions, thereby shielding the country’s two largest banks, government-controlled Sberbank and VTB. Unlike those big lenders, which have significant exposure to western financial institutions and thus are at risk from sweeping U.S. sanctions, the new special entity operated largely out of Washington’s reach.While Rosneft may even push to have the recently imposed sanctions on the trading units lifted, risks remain.“Rosneft is trying to stay out of the firing-line but nothing stops the Americans from finding another pretext to sanction it,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, who heads the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group in Moscow that advises the Kremlin.“Russia understands that Maduro is in an awful situation, especially with oil prices at rock bottom,” he said. “But Putin’s psychology is that you should stick with partners in difficulty.”Frolov said, “Moscow thinks that Maduro is actually winning the fight with the opposition and is likely to split it to the point where he would be able to win parliamentary elections this year.” Russia has backed Maduro even as the U.S. and its allies back opposition leader Juan Guaido.Maduro said on state TV on Saturday evening that ”President Putin sent me a message through his ambassador reaffirming their strategic and integral support to Venezuela in all areas.”(Updates with Rosneft stake shift in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.




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AI tool predicts which coronavirus patients get deadly 'wet lung'

AI tool predicts which coronavirus patients get deadly 'wet lung'Researchers in the US and China reported Monday they have developed an artificial intelligence tool that is able to accurately predict which newly infected patients with the novel coronavirus go on to develop severe lung disease. Once deployed, the algorithm could assist doctors in making choices about where to prioritize care in resource-stretched health care systems, said Megan Coffee, a physician and professor at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine who co-authored a paper on the finding in the journal Computers, Materials & Continua. The tool discovered several surprising indicators that were most strongly predictive of who went on to develop so-called acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), a severe complication of the COVID-19 illness that fills the lungs with fluid and kills around 50 percent of coronavirus patients who get it.




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Brazil's Bolsonaro urges no more coronavirus quarantine, says jobs being lost

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that there can be no more quarantine measures imposed on the country than those already in place to combat coronavirus because jobs are being destroyed and the poor are suffering disproportionately.


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In scrappy Cambodian casino town, Chinese plan future beyond coronavirus

When casino owner Kang Qiang looks out the window of his 20th floor office in this city on the remote Cambodian coast, he sees construction cranes sitting idle.


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Sunday 29 March 2020

Rob Lawrie, the ex-squaddie, and the girl taken

Rob thought he was helping a refugee girl and her father as they struggled to get to the UK. But he found out it was all a lie.

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Timelapse: The streets of London during the coronavirus pandemic

Have you ever seen the streets of the capital so empty?

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Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are people stealing hospital supplies?

Dr John Wright explains how Bradford Royal Infirmary is preparing for a "tsunami" of Covid-19 cases.

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Coronavirus and sex: What you need to know

All your questions about sex in the time of coronavirus, answered.

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A place that makes you ask the questions that really matter

The BBC's Justin Rowlatt found a visit to Antarctica made him emotional, and ultimately hopeful.

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Coronavirus: The woman behind India's first testing kit

With the first made-in-India kits, the country could hugely scale up testing for the coronavirus.

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'My $60m weight-loss app cured my personal pain'

Victoria Repa has created an app to help people lose weight, an issue she struggled with growing up.

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U.S.-backed Kurdish-led group says militants riot in jail in northeast Syria

Islamic State prisoners on Sunday seized control of the ground floor of a major prison in northeastern Syria run by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with some of the militants managing to escape, an SDF spokesman said.


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