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The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million today, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders' resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work. "It's not just a number. It's human beings. It's people we love," said Dr Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to Covid-19 in February. "It's our brothers, our sisters. It's people we know," he added. "And if you don't have that human factor right in your face, it's very easy to make it abstract." The bleak milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Jerusalem or Austin, Texas. It is 2.5 times the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969. It is more than four times the number killed in the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Advertisement Even then, the figure is almost certainly a vast undercount because of inadequate or inconsistent testing and reporting and suspected concealment by some countries. And the number continues to mount. Nearly 5000 deaths are reported each day on average. Parts of Europe are getting hit by a second wave, and experts fear the same fate may await the US, which accounts for about 205,000 deaths, or 1 out of 5 worldwide. That is far more than any other country, despite America's wealth and medical resources. Spencer Cushing, 29, tends to David Feinour, a 71-year-old Covid-19 patient, at St. Jude Medical Centre in Fullerton, California. Photo / AP "I can understand why ... numbers are losing their power to shock, but I still think it's really important that we understand how big these numbers really are," said Mark Honigsbaum, author of "The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris". The global toll includes people like Joginder Chaudhary, who was his parents' greatest pride, raised with the little they earned farming a half-acre plot in central India to become the first doctor from their village. After the virus killed the 27-year-old Chaudhary in late July, his mother wept inconsolably. With her son gone, Premlata Chaudhary said, how could she go on living? Three weeks later, on August 18, the virus took her life, too. All told, it has killed more than 95,000 in India. "This pandemic has ruined my family," said the young doctor's father, Rajendra Chaudhary. "All our aspirations, our dreams, everything is finished." When the virus overwhelmed cemeteries in the Italian province of Bergamo last spring, the Reverend Mario Carminati opened his church to the dead, lining up 80 coffins in the centre aisle. After an army convoy carted them to a crematory, another 80 arrived. Then 80 more. Eventually the crisis receded and the world's attention moved on. But the pandemic's grasp endures. In August, Carminati buried his 34-year-old nephew. Advertisement Cemetery workers in protective clothing bury three victims of Covid-19 at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo / AP "This thing should make us all reflect. The problem is that we think we're all immortal," the priest said. The virus first appeared in late 2019 in patients hospitalised in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first death was reported on January 11. By the time authorities locked down the city nearly two weeks later, millions of travelers had come and gone. China's government has come in for criticism that it did not do enough to alert other countries to the threat. Government leaders in countries like Germany, South Korea and New Zealand worked effectively to contain it. Others, like US President Donald Trump and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, dismissed the severity of the threat and the guidance of scientists, even as hospitals filled with gravely ill patients. Brazil has recorded the second most deaths after the US, with about 142,000. India is third and Mexico fourth, with more than 76,000. The virus has forced trade-offs between safety and economic wellbeing. The choices made have left millions of people vulnerable, especially the poor, minorities and the elderly. With so many of the deaths beyond view in hospital wards and clustered on society's margins, the milestone recalls the grim pronouncement often attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: One death is a tragedy, millions of deaths are a statistic. Advertisement The pandemic's toll of 1 million dead in such a limited time rivals some of the gravest threats to public health, past and present. It exceeds annual deaths from Aids, which last year killed about 690,000 people worldwide. The virus' toll is approaching the 1.5 million global deaths each year from tuberculosis, which regularly kills more people than any other infectious disease. But "Covid's grip on humanity is incomparably greater than the grip of other causes of death," said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. He noted the unemployment, poverty and despair caused by the pandemic, and deaths from myriad other illnesses that have gone untreated. Cemetery workers place the coffin containing the remains of Jose de Arimateia, 65, who died from Covid-19 complications, into a niche at the municipal cemetery in Nova Iguacu, Brazil. Photo / AP For all its lethality, the virus has claimed far fewer lives than the so-called Spanish flu, which killed an estimated 40 to 50 million worldwide in two years, just over a century ago. That pandemic came before scientists had microscopes powerful enough to identify the enemy or antibiotics that could treat the bacterial pneumonia that killed most of the victims. It also ran a far different course. In the US, for example, the Spanish flu killed about 675,000. But most of those deaths did not come until a second wave hit over the winter of 1918-19. Up to now, the disease has left only a faint footprint on Africa, well shy of early modelling that predicted thousands more deaths. Advertisement But cases have recently surged in countries like Britain, Spain, Russia and Israel. In the United States, the return of students to college campuses has sparked new outbreaks. With approval and distribution of a vaccine still probably months away and winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, the toll will continue to climb. "We're only at the beginning of this. We're going to see many more weeks ahead of this pandemic than we've had behind us," Gostin said. - AP

A Delaware judge has rejected a challenge by the state Republican Party to the constitutionality of a new law allowing universal voting by mail in this year's elections. The judge on Monday denied the GOP's request for an injunction to prevent vote-by-mail ballots from being counted in the November election. The judge said the General Assembly's decision to use its emergency powers to declare that voting by mail was necessary to protect public health and ensure the continuity of governmental operations during the coronavirus epidemic was not "clearly erroneous." US Capitol Building in Washington DC. Photo / Brandon Bourdages "Legislation enjoys a presumption of constitutionality," wrote Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III, noting that he was not a legislator, "let alone a super-legislator charged with perfecting the laws of the state." The GOP filed a lawsuit last month arguing that lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled legislature exceeded their constitutional authority in invoking emergency powers to pass the measure. In passing the bill, Democrats asserted that voting by mail is "necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations" amid the coronavirus epidemic. They also declared that conforming to the requirements of Delaware's constitution, including its explicit limitations on absentee voting, "would be impracticable." Advertisement At the time lawmakers passed the bill, Delaware was in "phase 2" of its coronavirus economic reopening, with indoor gatherings of up to 250 people allowed, businesses authorised to double occupancy limits, and convention centres and meeting facilities allowed to open. Julia Klein, an attorney representing the GOP, said the law impermissibly expanded the constitutional allowances for casting absentee ballots. She cited a 1972 opinion in which the Delaware Supreme Court said that it was "beyond the power of the legislature, in our opinion, to either limit or enlarge upon the... absentee voter classifications specified in the constitution for general elections." State attorneys, meanwhile, argued that courts are required to give deference to decisions of the General Assembly. They also said that, even though all polling places will be open and there is no prohibition against in-person voting, not allowing universal voting by mail could interfere with the "free and equal" elections guaranteed by the constitution. Glasscock said that the constitutional provision authorising the General Assembly to exercise emergency powers acted as a "safe harbour" allowing it to authorise "general absentee voting," that otherwise would be prohibited under the state constitution. "Amending the Delaware constitution to provide for remote voting in response to an epidemic, before Election Day 2020, would be not only impractical, I note, but impossible," he wrote. The judge noted that the plaintiffs' challenge to the law could not stand unless they were able to demonstrate clearly and convincingly that the legislature's finding that the law is necessary was either false or unwarranted. "On the facts of record, the plaintiffs do not come close to meeting that standard," he wrote. Advertisement The legislature, in the face of an epidemic of airborne disease and in light of the health emergency declared by the Governor, has made a determination that vote-by-mail is necessary for the continued operation of governmental functions, and that it would be impracticable to address this problem other than by otherwise-extraconstitutional means," the judge concluded. "These finding are not clearly erroneous. " - AP

United States President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court has close ties to a charismatic Christian religious group that holds men are divinely ordained as the "head" of the family and faith. Former members of the group, called People of Praise, say it teaches that wives must submit to the will of their husbands. Federal appeals judge Amy Coney Barrett has not commented publicly about her own or her family's involvement, and a People of Praise spokesman declined to say whether she and her husband are current members. But Barrett, 48, grew up in New Orleans in a family deeply connected to the organisation and as recently as 2017 she served as a trustee at the People of Praise-affiliated Trinity Schools Inc., according to the nonprofit organisation's tax records and other documents reviewed by AP. Only members of the group serve on the schools' board, according to the system's president. Advertisement Judge Amy Coney Barrett applauds as President Donald Trump announces Barrett as his nominee at the White House. AP also reviewed 15 years of back issues of the organisation's internal magazine, "Vine and Branches," which has published birth announcements, photos and other mentions of Barrett and her husband, Jesse, whose family has been active in the group for four decades. On Saturday NZT, all editions of the magazine were removed from the group's website. People of Praise is an intentional religious community based in charismatic Catholicism, a movement that grew out of the influence of Pentecostalism, which emphasises a personal relationship with Jesus and can include baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. The group organises and meets outside the purview of a church and includes people from several Christian denominations, but its members are mostly Roman Catholic. Barrett's affiliation with a conservative religious group that elevates the role of men has drawn particular scrutiny given that she would be filling the high court seat held by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a feminist icon who spent her legal career fighting for women to have full equality. Barrett, by contrast, is being hailed by religious conservatives as an ideological heir to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch abortion-rights opponent for whom she clerked as a young lawyer. In this June 11, 2011 photo, then-University of Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett speaks to Trinity at Greenlawn graduates at the Trinity People of Praise Centre in South Bend, Indiana. In accepting Trump's nomination on Sunday, the Catholic mother-of-seven said she shares Scalia's judicial philosophy. "A judge must apply the law as written," Barrett said. "Judges are not policy makers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold." Advertisement Barrett's advocates are trying to frame questions about her involvement in People of Praise as anti-Catholic bigotry ahead of her upcoming Senate nomination hearings. Asked about People of Praise in a televised interview last week, Vice-President Mike Pence responded: "The intolerance expressed during her last confirmation about her Catholic faith I really think was a disservice to the process and a disappointment to millions of Americans." But some people familiar with the group and charismatic religious groups like it say Barrett's involvement should be examined before she receives a lifelong appointment to the highest court in the nation. In this page from the May 2006 issue of Vine and Branches produced by People of Praise, Amy Coney Barrett is seen at left at a People of Praise Leaders' Conference for Women in 2006. "It's not about the faith," said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University, who has studied similar groups. He says a typical feature of charismatic groups is the dynamic of a strong hierarchical leadership, and a strict view of the relationship between women and men. Several people familiar with People of Praise, including some current members, told AP that the group has been misunderstood. They call it a Christian fellowship, focused on building community. One member described it as a "family of families," who commit themselves to each other in mutual support to live together "through thick and thin." But the group has also been portrayed by some former members, and in books, blogs and news reports as hierarchical, authoritarian and controlling, where men dominate their wives, leaders dictate members' life choices and those who leave are shunned. Advertisement AP interviewed seven current and former members of People of Praise, reviewed its tax records, websites, missionary blogs and back issues of its magazine to try to paint a fuller picture of an organisation that Barrett has been deeply involved in since childhood. In this April 2, 2014, photo, then-Indiana Governor Mike Pence, speaks at Trinity School at Greenlawn. People of Praise was founded in South Bend, Indiana, in 1971 as part of the Catholic Pentecostal movement, a devout reaction to the free love, secular permissiveness and counterculture movements of the 1960s and early '70s. Many of the group's early members were drawn from the campus of nearby Notre Dame, a Catholic university. The group has roughly 1800 adult members nationwide, with branches and schools in 22 cities across the US, Canada and the Caribbean. All members are encouraged to continue to attend church at their own parishes. After a period of religious study and instruction that lasts from three to six years, people involved in People of Praise can choose to make a lifelong covenant pledging love and service to fellow community members and to God, which includes tithing at least 5 per cent of their gross income to support the group's activities and charitable initiatives, according to a statement on the group's website. People of Praise's more than 1500 word covenant, a copy of which was reviewed by AP, includes a passage where members promise to follow the teachings and instructions of the group's pastors, teachers and evangelists. Advertisement "We agree to obey the direction of the Holy Spirit manifested in and through these ministries in full harmony with the church," the covenant says. It's unclear whether Barrett took the covenant. But members of the organisation and descriptions of its hierarchy show that members almost invariably join the covenant after three to six years of religious study or they leave, so it would be very unusual for Barrett to continue to be involved for so many years without having done so. A 2006 article in the group's magazine includes a photo of her attending a People of Praise Leaders' Conference for Women. The magazine also includes regular notices when members are "released from the covenant" and leave the group. AP's review found no such notice of Barrett's or her husband's departure. Sen. Kamala Harris is uniquely positioned as a Democratic vice presidential nominee and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which offers recommendations on Supreme Court nominees before the Senate holds a vote. https://t.co/lM689M6ZTT — ABC News (@ABC) September 28, 2020 A request to interview Barrett made through the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, where she currently serves as a judge, was declined. Jesse Barrett did not respond to voicemail or email sent through his law firm in South Bend. People of Praise spokesman Sean Connolly declined to discuss the Barretts or their affiliation with the group. "Like most religious communities, the People of Praise leaves it up to its members to decide whether to publicly disclose their involvement in our community," Connolly said by email. "And like most religious communities, we do not publish a membership list." Advertisement Several people familiar with the group told AP that, unlike some other charismatic movements, People of Praise has a strong commitment to intellectualism, evidenced in part by the schools they have established, which have a reputation for intellectual rigor. On the GOP agenda before Election Day: Confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.Can they do it in 36 days? Well, they’re certainly going to try. pic.twitter.com/4EyiyFNQo6 — The Recount (@therecount) September 28, 2020 Barrett's father, Michael Coney snr, has served as the principal leader of People of Praise's New Orleans branch and was on the group's all-male Board of Governor's as recently as 2017. Her mother, Linda Coney, has served in the branch as a "handmaid," a female leader assigned to help guide other women, according to documents reviewed by AP. "One of the key principles of People of Praise is freedom, the exercise of our own freedom in following the Lord and in following our own – what we believe, what we think is right," Michael Coney, 75, said in an interview with AP. Americans by a nearly 20-point margin say the next Supreme Court justice should be left to the winner of the presidential election and a Senate vote next year, a new @ABC News/WaPo poll found. https://t.co/cv45wUm6O4 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 28, 2020 Joannah Clark, 47, grew up in People of Praise and became a member as an adult. She acknowledged that the board of governors consists of all men, but said that is not a reflection on the "worth or ability of women," but rather the approach the group has chosen for that level of leadership. "In a marriage, we look at the husband as the head of the family. And that's consistent with New Testament teaching," said Clark, who is the head of Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. Advertisement "This role of the husband as the head of the family is not a position of power or domination. It's really quite the opposite. It's a position of care and service and responsibility. Men are looking out for the good and well-being of their families." Clark said she had previously served as a "handmaid." The term was a reference to Jesus' mother Mary, who called herself 'the handmaid of the Lord.' The organisation recently changed the terminology to "woman leader" because it had newly negative connotations after Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel A Handmaid's Tale was turned into a popular television show. Republicans in Pennsylvania have asked the Supreme Court to halt a major state court ruling that extended the deadlines for mail-in ballots to several days after the election.https://t.co/BX3PaoyZEd — Axios (@axios) September 28, 2020 Clark said the woman leaders in People of Praise do things like provide pastoral care and organise help for community members, such as when people are sick or need other help. "They're also in a role of advising, so the men will ask the women leaders' advice on issues that affect the patterns of life within the community, certainly issues that affect women and families," Clark said. Advertisement Barrett, in accepting Trump's nomination at the White House, put particular emphasis on the equality of her own marriage, saying she expected from the start the she and her husband would run their household as partners. "As it has turned out, Jesse does far more than his share of the work," she said. "To my chagrin, I learned at dinner recently that my children consider him to be the better cook." Though People of Praise opposes abortion, those familiar with the group said it would be a mistake to pigeonhole their politics as either left or right. While socially conservative in their understanding of family and gender, some members are deeply committed to social justice in matters of race and economics, they said. Barrett's parents are both registered Democrats, according to Louisiana voter registration records. Mitch McConnell has said there's precedent for the speedy Supreme Court confirmation process Republicans are planning for Amy Coney Barrett.But that data skips over 45 years of recent history.https://t.co/7DWNHme9hA — BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) September 28, 2020 Tax records and other documents show that as recently as 2017 Barrett sat on the board of Trinity Schools, a campus of which was recently designated by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as a National Blue Ribbon School. The schools are coed, but most classes are segregated by gender. Advertisement The school's website says the group sees men and women "created by God equal in dignity but distinct from one another." "We seek to uphold both that equality and appropriate distinction in our culture," it goes on. Similarly, People of Praise meetings are often segregated by gender. And as they become adults, members frequently live together in same-gender communal houses sometimes owned by the group, or they are invited to live with a family within the community. Articles in the People of Praise magazine frequently note when young single members get married to each other. Multiple birth announcements often follow. The group's magazine also offers insights into the group's views on marriage, community and members' finances. A 2007 issue discusses how the 17 single women who live together in a household, called the Sisterhood, had their pay direct deposited into a single bank account. One member said she had "no idea" what the amount of her pay was. Advertisement The pooled money was managed by one woman, who budgeted for everyone's clothing and other expenses, including US$36 weekly per person for food and basics like toilet paper. All women were expected to give 10 per cent of their pay to People of Praise, another 1 per cent to the South Bend branch and additional tithes to their churches. Married couples and their children also often share multi-family homes or cluster in neighbourhoods designated for "city building" by the group's leaders, where they can easily socialise and walk to each other's houses. 36 days until election.How long it took to confirm:RBG 50Gorsuch 66Roberts 72Sotomayor 72Breyer 77Kagan 87Kavanaugh 89Alito 92Thomas 106The average confirmation time for a Supreme Court nominee, from 1975 to present, is 70 days (per CRS). — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 28, 2020 As part of spiritual meetings, members often relay divine prophecies and are encouraged to pray in tongues, where participants make vocal utterances thought to carry direct teachings and instructions from God. Those utterances are then "interpreted" by senior male leaders and relayed back to the wider group. A 1969 book by Kevin Ranaghan, a co-founder of People of Praise, dedicates a chapter to praying in tongues, which he describes as a gift from God. "The gift of tongues is one of the word-gifts, an utterance of the Spirit through man," Ranaghan wrote in Catholic Pentecostals. "Alone, the gift of tongues is used for prayer and praise. Coupled with the gift of interpretation it can edify the unbeliever and strengthen, console, enlighten or move the community of faith." Advertisement In a blog entry on the group's website from March of this year, a mother described taking her children to pray in tongues as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. The GOP strategy is to turn Amy Coney Barrett into a vessel for their base's feelings of victimhood, so they have to invent a fictitious anti-Catholic campaign against her: https://t.co/J6OSnVqOie — Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) September 28, 2020 While People of Praise portrays itself as a tightknit family of families, former members paint a darker picture of that closeness. Coral Anika Theill joined People of Praise's branch in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1979, when she was a 24-year-old mother of 6-month-old twins. "My husband at the time was very drawn to it because of the structure of the submission of women," recounted Theill, who is now 65. Theill, who converted to Catholicism after getting married, said in her People of Praise community women were expected to live in "total submission" not only to their husbands, but also the other male "heads" within the group. In a book she wrote about her experience, Theill recounts that in People of Praise every consequential personal decision – whether to take a new job, buy a particular model car or choose where to live – went through the hierarchy of male leadership. Advertisement Members of the group who worked outside the community had to turn over their paystubs to church leaders to confirm they were tithing correctly, she said. Theill says her "handmaid," to whom she was supposed to confide her innermost thoughts and emotions, then repeated what she said to the male heads, who would consult her husband on the proper correction. "There'd be open meetings where you just have to stand for the group and they'd tell you all that was wrong with you," Theill recounted to AP last week. "And I would ask questions. I was a critical thinker." When she told her husband she wanted to wait to have more children, Theill said, he accompanied her to gynecological appointments to ensure she couldn't get birth control. "I was basically treated like a brood mare," she said, using the term for a female horse used for breeding. During her 20-year marriage, Theill had eight children from 11 pregnancies. Theill, who says she declined to take the covenant, described being dominated and eventually shunned because of the doubts she expressed about the group. Advertisement Clark, a current member in Oregon, said she had never heard of members being shunned. "At any point, a community member can decide to leave and is free to do so," Clark said. She said she has friends who have left the community. "These are people I've maintained a good friendship with and people who've maintained friendships with other people in community." But Theill isn't the only former member to describe forced subjugation of women within People of Praise or shunning of former members. Among People of Praise's very first members in South Bend were Adrian Reimers and his wife, Marie. The couple was active for more than a dozen years before he said he became disillusioned and was "dismissed" from the group in the mid-1980s. Reimers, who teaches philosophy at Notre Dame, went on to write detailed academic examinations of the group's inner workings and theological underpinnings. Advertisement In a 1997 book about People of Praise and other covenant communities, Reimers wrote that fundamental principle of the group was St Paul's stipulation from the Bible that the husband is the "head" of his wife and that the wife is to "submit in all things." "A married woman is expected always to reflect the fact that she is under her husband's authority," Reimers wrote. "This goes beyond an acknowledgment that the husband is 'head of the home' or head of the family; he is, in fact, her personal pastoral head. Whatever she does requires at least his tacit approval. He is responsible for her formation and growth in the Christian life." The good news for Trump is that he’s been able to change the conversation from the coronavirus to the Supreme Court (at least before that tax story).The bad news: He's once again on the wrong side of public opinion https://t.co/FgI5n8x7tM — Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) September 28, 2020 Though women are allowed to serve in some administrative roles within the community, Reimers wrote that no woman is allowed to hold a pastoral position of leadership in which she would oversee or instruct men. "People who leave these communities are often shunned by other members and are spoken of as no longer brothers and sisters in Christ or even no longer Christian," he wrote. Reimers declined to expand on his experience with People of Praise, saying he doesn't know Amy Barrett and didn't want to get drawn into a political fight. But he said he stands by his prior account. "To quote Pontius Pilate, 'What I have written, I have written,'" he said last week, referring to the Roman official in the Bible who signed the order condemning Jesus to be crucified. Advertisement Lisa Williams said her parents joined the Minnesota branch of People of Praise in the late 1970s, when she was a fourth grader. She chronicled her experience in a blog called "Exorcism and Pound Cake," a reference to how she knew as a child that it was a meeting night because of the smell of baked goods coming from the kitchen. "I remember my mother saying a wife could never deny sex to her husband, because it was his right and her duty," said Williams, 56. "Sex is not for pleasure. It's for as many babies as God chooses to give you. ... Women had to be obedient. They had to be subservient." Corporal punishment of children was common, Williams told AP. When she was insufficiently obedient to her father, she was beaten with a belt and then required to kneel and ask forgiveness from both him and God, she said. She recalled People of Praise meetings held in her parent's living room where members prayed in tongues to cast out demons from a person writhing on the floor, rituals she described as exorcisms. When her parents, from whom she is now estranged, decided to leave People of Praise when she was a junior in high school, she remembers the leaders said her family would be doomed to hell and they were shunned. "Nobody would talk to you," she recalled. Steven Hassan, a psychologist who counsels people who have left fundamentalist authoritarian religious groups, said the culture within People of Praise as described by Theill and Williams, including the practice of shunning former members, creates fear so that people are dependent and obedient. Advertisement "A person who is in one of these groups has to suppress their own thoughts, feelings, desires that doesn't align with the dogma," Hassan said. He cautioned, however, that Theill's and Williams' experiences were from decades ago and not necessarily illustrative of how the group now operates. And current members of People of Praise interviewed by AP strongly disputed those characterisations. "There's a high value on personal freedom," said Clark, the Trinity School director in Oregon. She said she had never heard of some of the practices the former members detailed to AP, such as micromanaging finances or handing over pay. She grew emotional when she recounted the sacrifices people in the group make for each other as part of their covenant, like the case of a man known for helping his fellow members move, who was in turn cared for by group members as he died. Advertisement "I've never been asked to do anything against my own free will," said Clark, a member of the group for 25 years. "I have never been dominated or controlled by a man." Thomas Csordas, an anthropology professor at University of California San Diego, has studied the religious movement that includes People of Praise. He said such communities are conservative, authoritarian, hierarchical and patriarchal. But, he said in his view, the group's leaders are unlikely to exert influence over Barrett's judicial decisions. Coney, Barrett's father, said the culture of female submission described by some former members was based on misunderstandings of the group's teachings. "I can't comment on why they believe that. But it is certainly not a correct interpretation of our life," he said. "We're people who love each other and support each other in their Christian life, trying to follow the Lord." And, as a lawyer himself, he rejected the notion that his daughter's religious beliefs will unduly influence her opinions if she is confirmed to the high court. Advertisement "I think she's a super lawyer and she will apply the law as opposed to any of her beliefs," he said. "She will follow the law." - AP

Computer systems across a major hospital chain operating in the US and Britain were down on Monday (US time) due to what the company termed an unspecified technology "security issue". Universal Health Services Inc (UHS), which operates more than 400 hospitals and other clinical care facilities, said in a short statement posted to its website that its network was offline and doctors and nurses were resorting to "back-up processes" including paper records. The Fortune 500 company, with 90,000 employees said "patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively" and no patient or employee data appeared to have been "accessed, copied or misused". UHS provided no details, but people posting to an online Reddit forum who identified themselves as employees said the chain's network was hit by ransomware overnight on Sunday. The posts echoed the alarm of a clinician at a UHS facility in Washington, DC, who described to The Associated Press a mad scramble, including anxiety over determining which patients might be infected with the virus that causes Covid-19. Advertisement John Riggi, senior cybersecurity adviser to the American Hospital Association, called it a "suspected ransomware attack", adding that criminals have been increasingly targeting the networks of health care institutions during the coronavirus pandemic. Ransomware is a growing scourge in which hackers infect networks with malicious code that scrambles data and then demand payment to restore services. Increasingly, ransomware purveyors are downloading data from networks they infiltrate before encrypting targeted servers, using it for extortion. Earlier this month, the first known fatality related to ransomware occurred in Duesseldorf, Germany, after an attack caused IT systems to fail and a critically ill patient needing urgent admission died after she had to be taken to another city for treatment. UHS itself may not be a household name, but its hospitals are part of communities from Washington, DC, to Fremont, California, and Orlando, Florida, to Anchorage, Alaska. Some of its facilities provide care for people coping with psychiatric conditions and substance abuse problems. The company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to emails seeking more information, such as whether patients had to be diverted to other hospitals. The Washington clinician described a high-anxiety scramble to handle the loss of computers and some phones starting Sunday. The person, involved in direct patient care, was not authorised to speak publicly and described the chaotic situation on condition of anonymity. The loss of computer access meant that medical staff could not easily see lab results, imaging scans, medication lists, and other critical pieces of information doctors rely on to make decisions. Phone problems complicated the situation, making it harder to communicate with nurses. "These things could be life or death," the clinician said. Advertisement The facility has a "downtime protocol" in which everything is supposed to be done with paper and pencil, the staffer added, "but no one was expecting to have to use it". Lab orders had to be hand-delivered. There was a lot of concern about how to determine whether or not patients had been exposed to the coronavirus. The clinician said no harm came to any of the 20 or so patients they attended to. However, anxiety reigned during the entire shift. Handing off a patient to another department, always a delicate task because of the potential for miscommunication, became especially nerve-wracking. "We are most concerned with ransomware attacks which have the potential to disrupt patient care operations and risk patient safety," said Riggi, the cybersecurity adviser to hospitals. "We believe any cyberattack against any hospital or health system is a threat-to-life crime and should be responded to and pursued as such by the government." Ransomware attacks have crippled everything from major cities to school districts, and federal officials are concerned they could be used to disrupt the current presidential election. Last week, a major supplier of software services to state, county and local governments, Tyler Technologies, was hit. In the US alone, 764 healthcare providers were victimised last year by ransomware, according to data compiled by the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. It estimates the overall cost of ransomware attacks in the US to $9 billion a year in terms of recovery and lost productivity. The only way to effectively recover, for those unwilling to pay ransoms, is through diligent daily system data backups. Advertisement In an apparently unrelated cyberattack affecting a US medical facility, Nebraska Medicine hospital in Omaha suffered an outage last week that led to the postponement of appointments for patients with elective procedures or other non-critical health concerns, The Omaha World-Herald reported. The hospital said emergency rooms remained open, and no patients were diverted to other hospitals. It said no records were deleted or destroyed thanks to the system's back-up and recovery processes. The statement did not include any further information about the attack. - AP