 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People Dispatch, where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the world, our headlines. Conservatives in the US protest lockdown measures, South Korean government returns to power with record majority, Israel, raids and shuts down Palestinian authority clinic, and Bangladesh deports Rohingya refugees. We begin with an update on the global coronavirus pandemic, yesterday saw one of the highest spikes in new cases with over 84,500 cases added, bringing the total reported infections to 2.09 million. The number of recovered cases has crossed the half a million mark, with the numbers standing at 516,000. The United States alone added 30,000 new cases yesterday. The state of New York itself has crossed a 200,000 mark and is now more cases than any other country in the world. Even as the US continues to struggle with the pandemic, Conservatives and right-wing groups are making it difficult for local and state authorities to implement containment measures. Yesterday, armed protesters blocked roads and hospital entrances and stormed the state legislature building in the city of Lansing, the capital of the US state of Michigan. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer had recently joined the state's set of imposter state home order in view of the rising number of cases. The state is among the worst affected with over 28,000 cases, putting it in the fourth place in the country. The state also reported a third highest number of deaths with over 1,900 due to the outbreak. However, Conservative and right-wing groups have opposed measures to shut down non-essential economic activities, arguing that it hurts businesses and the economy. The Michigan Conservative Coalition, right-wing lobby, is one of the leading opponents of the lockdown and enforced social distancing measures and has dubbed it Operation Gridlock. They are the ones who organize a large protest in Lansing. They mobilize hundreds of people to descend to the state capital in their cars, blocking major intersections and hospital entrances. Dozens of them stormed the entrances of the capital building, which houses major offices of the state government and the legislature. Whitmer, a Democratic Party governor, had recently witnessed a major spike in a popularity, with recent polls suggesting that more than 70% of Michigan's residents approved of the measures. But the state's business class, many of whom supported the Conservative Coalition, have vociferously opposed it. Many of the protesters at the capital building were seen armed. Most of them held placards that had slogans like lock her up and recall Whitmer, referring to the governor. Many were also seen with flags and symbols often associated with alt-right and neo-Nazi hate groups in the US. In our in-focus section, we talk to Dr. T. Sundar Raman, coordinator of the People's Health Movement, on the impact of the US withdrawing funding to the World Health Organization. Hello and welcome to People's Dispatch. Today, we are joined by Dr. T. Sundar Raman of the People's Health Movement and the Jan Swasti Abhyan. And we're going to be talking about the World Health Organization in the light of Donald Trump's announcement that he's going to cut funding pending a review. Thank you so much, Dr. Sundar Raman, for joining us. So the first thing we wanted to know was, of course, we've seen the political aspect of it. Trump has been trying to find a scapegoat. He's blamed China. He's blamed WHO. He threatened last week that he would withdraw. And finally two days ago, he did withdraw support to WHO, that is. But in technical terms for the World Health Organization, what does a funding cut of this size at this point of time mean? It is a serious setback because many of the WHO funds are tight funds. I can't use that liberally. When an emergency arises and much of their core works out of something called the CES funds, where each nation, which is a member, pays something in proportion to its GDP. So not surprisingly, the largest single donor will be the US. The US has already got arrears, even before it has the tune of $200 million. And it has chosen from the 1980s, mid-1980s, to freeze its contribution initially onto a percentage added later in nominal terms also so that it pays the same amount instead of letting it float with the GDP. So therefore, the US instead, instead of paying as part of the CES, it moves its contribution to what are called voluntary donations, which are basically bilateral agreements, which are signed with WHO, which have very project-specific and very clearly earmarked so that it, in fact, doesn't allow WHO autonomy on using its funds. In effect, it means the autonomy of the WHO to spend that money on its sense of priorities is completely abridged. And there are certain vertical programs that they each choose to focus on. It also means that in a number of systems development areas, the WHO will be subcritical in its function. Now, as it stands, the US and its allies, especially in the developed world, through not only mechanisms of funding, but mechanisms of bilateral negotiation and by its overall influence, dominate every key appointment and decision-making, all the resolutions are meted by it. And therefore, it is very surprising for them to actually be seen as having been not supporting them enough. The point is that currently, there is a great perception of threat within the US with respect to its own rather poor performance, which is now being increasingly compared to China, much to its own. So whereas they are now exceeded in deaths and in a number of cases far beyond the Chinese, they need to now point fingers and say, no, the Chinese under-recorded. They may not have. That's beyond the point. But it's really not in WHO's remit. Does the WHO stand guarantee to the US figures or the India figures or the figures of any country? It's not within its scope. There is a diplomatic protocol. It can persuade, it can negotiate. It is not like the IAEA, the Atomic Energy Regulation, that it can go in and command inspection and demand the papers. It has to go by the record as submitted. But in terms of its international commitments, it had raised it to a global pandemic by January 30th. It had already called upon isolation and identification and pre-contact tracing as mandatory requirements. Now remember, if you actually freeze international contact travel, then there are huge economic implications. And countries do not like that being done easily, nor is it necessary unless you are unable to restrict flow from a particular country. You have no visa, for example. Otherwise, and WHO has sort of quietly maintained it, even as compared to lockdowns, what are really required is the process of identifying, of quarantining, of contacting. These are what is really going to sustain you in the wrong level. Anytime now, international travel will restart and when it starts, the virus will restart. The world has lived with the yellow fever for years. It has lived with Zika virus. It has lived with Ebola. We don't have to have complete star sensation of international travel. This is a new virus, but precautions are needed. And to that extent, the WHO at war. So I don't think the WHO can be faulted on its performance. What is really there is a delayed response from the US in starting up contact tracing, in being serious to the thing. They first started with suspending flights, but even after that, more than 3,000 flights have come in from China. And that was anyway not the main way. Trump himself came to India on February 24th. He had a major event over here with a lot of people Obviously, that sense that you need an international travel restriction had not happened at that time. And it's not anybody's particular fault because the focus of the epidemic can anyway shifted to Europe by then. China, even China's distant provinces have not really gone into the epidemic. The epidemic has been largely confined in the Hubei province. So it was what measures were taken are adequate as of date. Now, next story, in what is seen as a verdict of the government's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, South Koreans voted back with the biggest majority ever. This election held on April 15th for South Korea's National Assembly had the final results declared today. The Liberal Progressive Ruling Coalition of the Democratic Party and the Together Citizens Party that supports incumbent President Moon Jae-in won the largest majority that any political bloc has won since the nation's transition to liberal democracy in 1987. The elections also saw a major spike of 8.2% in turnout despite the COVID-19 outbreak, which has infected more than 10,000 people in the country. The coalition won 163 of the total 300 seats and increased the 35 seats compared to 2016. The newly formed right wing United Future Party won only 84 seats, while its coalition partner, the Future Korea Party, won 19. The United Future Party was formed out of a major split from the Liberal Korea Party led by the impeached former president Park Gwin-hui who was the daughter of former military dictator Park Gwin-hui. In our next story, the Israeli police raided and shut down a health clinic set up in occupied East Jerusalem with the help of the Palestinian Authority or the PA. The Israeli police reportedly also arrested the Palestinian activists and organized with the clinic. The clinic was established by Palestinian activists in collaboration with the PA at a local mosque in the Silva neighborhood to provide testing for COVID-19. Israeli authorities claimed that the reason they shut down the clinic was to prevent any governmental activity by the PA in occupied East Jerusalem. The clinic was closed in a curfew on the end of Passover on Tuesday. According to one of the clinic's managers, there was an acute shortage of testing kits in Silva and as a result of which the makeshift clinic was set up. There have already been 40 cases of coronavirus in Silva and it is feared that overcrowded conditions in the neighborhood could have led to the virus spreading quickly among other residents. There have already been 316 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the occupied West Bank and 13 in Besiegedkaza. And finally, authorities in Bangladesh announced today the deportation of 396 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. These refugees were stranded for nearly two months in their bit to reach Malaysia and were rescued from the sea by Bangladeshi coast guards on Wednesday. A large number of those rescued women and children, many were also reported to be sick due to the long exposure to rough weather and the shortage of food and water. According to reports, they were attempting to escape the harsh conditions in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Their forced deportation to Myanmar would be in violation of Article 33 of the UN Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees, to which neither Bangladesh nor Myanmar are partied. According to the Dhaka Tribune, nearly 480 people left from the refugee camps in Cox Bazaar nearly two months ago attempting to reach Malaysia. Fading to reach the Malaysian coast, they were stranded at sea. Around two dozen of them died. East Asian states have imposed strict border controls as a protective measure against the COVID-19 threat. All the three major countries in the region, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, have more than 5,000 confirmed cases. Thailand is more than 2,500 cases. On April 5th, the Malaysian authorities detailed around 200 Rohingyas who were trying to enter the country. More than a million Rohingyas have fled Myanmar in the last decade to save themselves from persecution. Myanmar refuses to recognize them as citizens and discriminates against them on the ground of the religion, most of the Rohingyas are Muslims. That's all we have time for today in the International Daily Roundup. To know more about these stories, visit our website peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for watching.