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Michael_Novakhov shared this story from  The Brooklyn News And Times.
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Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠ | In Brief |
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| Ocean Parkway Cluster of Covid-19 in Brooklyn – Google Search | ||
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| Four NYC areas have 20 percent of city’s COVID-19 cases | ||
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September 22, 2020 | 10:21pm | Updated September 22, 2020 | 11:13pm Six Big Apple neighborhoods now account for 20 percent of all coronavirus cases citywide part of a local surge in the global pandemic that includes a stretch of southern Brooklyn dubbed the Ocean Parkway Cluster, health officials said Tuesday. The cluster, along the thoroughfare in Midwood, Borough Park and Bensonhurst, reported a 4.7 percent rate of positive tests last week alone, well above the citywide average of 1 percent, according to data from the city Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. They werent alone. Nearly 3.7 percent of those tested in Edgemere-Far Rockaway also tested positive, as did 2.2 percent in Kew Gardens. Williamsburg also recorded a 2 percent positive-test rate. The areas Williamsburg, Far Rockaway, Ocean Parkway and Kew Gardens have seen cases double or triple since Aug. 1, and now make up one in every five cases in the city. Health officials called the situation urgent, and said the test results represent a significant concern that will require further action if noncompliance with safety precautions is observed. At this point in time, these increases could potentially evolve into more widespread community transmission and spread to other neighborhoods unless action is taken, the department said in an email. We are monitoring the situation for the need to take further steps in these areas. City and state officials have struggled with large gatherings in largely Hasidic communities that violate social distancing restrictions. The state law prohibits large gatherings and requires masks and social distancing. Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed last month to crack down on large social events in Brooklyn after The Post reported massive gatherings at three Brough Park banquet halls hosting Hasidic Jewish weddings. Mayor Bill de Blasio has also warned about an uptick in cases this summer, in part due to large Hasidic gatherings. The Orthodox communities were among the hardest hit after the outbreak of the virus in March. More StoriesWould you like to receive desktop browser notifications about breaking news and other major stories?
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| VEB Russian Bank Linked To Spy Ring | ||
In 2014, the FBI was in the late stages of an elaborate sting. An undercover agent posing as an energy analyst leaked binders with fake commercial secrets to two Russian spies operating in New York. The spies took the binders back to the Rezidentura, the New York base of operations for the SVR, Russias foreign intelligence agency. Microphones hidden inside the leaked material relayed the spies every word back to American counterintelligence agents. The pair of SVR officers were caught gabbing about their secret roles, from the difficulties of recruiting prospective agents to the disappointment that their day-to-day work was not even close to movies about James Bond. In their free-flowing conversations, they discussed an SVR agent working for them under deep cover in New York: Evgeny Buryakov. Ostensibly, Buryakov was a representative of a Russian bank called VEB. But in reality he worked for the SVR, collecting economic intelligence. FBI transcripts show the two spymasters discussed how Buryakov had traveled the world as a bank employee, spying while he went, and how they wanted him to take on an important task: find out how the US planned to bar Russian firms from its financial system. |
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon New York Post.
Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠