| Trump says the measure of his success against coronavirus will be the final death toll. How's he doing? Posted: 21 Apr 2020 01:41 PM PDT  For the past several weeks, a fixture of President Trump's daily coronavirus task force press briefings has been his insistence that the ultimate measure of his administration's handling of the pandemic will be the number of Americans killed by COVID-19.
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| Syria refugees to face their torturers in German court Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:45 PM PDT  Six years ago Wassim Mukdad fled Syria, demoralized and fearing for his life as the country spiraled ever deeper into all-out war. This week, the 34-year-old will come face-to-face with the man accused of running a government detention center where Mukdad and thousands of others were tortured during the early months of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Together with more than a dozen other witnesses, Mukdad will testify before a German court in the trial of Anwar R., a former member of Syria's secret police suspected of overseeing the abuse of detainees at a notorious jail near Damascus known as Al Khatib, or Branch 251.
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| Asia virus latest: China sued by US state; northeast China tightens curbs Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT  The US state of Missouri has sued China's leadership over the coronavirus crisis, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing over the "absurd" claim. Missouri is seeking damages over what it described as deliberate deception and insufficient action to stop the pandemic. New clusters of coronavirus infections in northeast China near the Russian border led officials to tighten restrictions on movement as they seek to prevent another outbreak.
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| 'That makes no sense': Anderson Cooper stunned by Las Vegas mayor during wild CNN interview Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:40 PM PDT  At one point, Anderson Cooper had to remove his glasses, rub his eyes, and take a breath before continuing.
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| German Public Deficit to Widen to More Than 7% of GDP This Year Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:22 AM PDT |
| Defiant Louisiana pastor arrested over COVID-19 protest Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:59 PM PDT  Louisiana authorities arrested a pastor on an assault charge on Tuesday after he admitted that he drove his church bus toward a man who has been protesting his decision to hold mass gatherings in defiance of public health orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| CDC chief warns second COVID-19 wave may be worse, arriving with flu season Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:38 PM PDT  "There's a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through," CDC Director Robert Redfield told the Washington Post in an interview. "We're going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time," he said, and the combination would put even greater strain on the nation's healthcare system than the first outbreak. The first known U.S. infection, a travel-related case, was diagnosed on Jan. 20 in Washington state near Seattle.
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| Fox’s Brit Hume Says Biden Is Senile: I Have the ‘Same Kind of Memory Problems’ Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:15 PM PDT  Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume chose an unexpected tack to back up his accusations that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is senile on Tuesday night—he pointed to his own age and memory issues.Appearing on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hume was asked to weigh in on host Tucker Carlson's theory that Democratic Party leaders will look to replace Biden as the party's nominee with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over fears about the former vice president's mental acuity. (Carlson has been pushing this prediction for weeks now.)Hume, who has repeatedly claimed that Biden is suffering from cognitive mental decline, said he thinks Democrats "have to be worried about Biden." Pointing to recent gaffes in TV interviews, Hume asserted that the 77-year-old ex-veep is "having a hard time keeping his thoughts together and being able to say what he needs to say."The 76-year-old longtime Fox personality then decided to use himself as an example to make the case that Biden had lost his mental faculties."I have no doubt about what the problem is," Hume continued. "I'm about the same age as he is and I experience the same kind of memory problems he does. I think he's senile and I don't think there can be much doubt about it."The Fox News analyst said "it's not necessarily crippling but it doesn't help," insisting that Biden is President Donald Trump's "best hope" of getting re-elected due to concerns over Biden's mental fitness."I think Donald Trump will have an uphill struggle," he added. "Biden might save him by being Biden."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| American among tourists found living in Indian cave during lockdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:13 AM PDT  Local police said the six spent nearly four weeks in the cave after running out of money for a hotel.
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| Iran says it launched military satellite as Trump threatens ships Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Iran said it put its first military satellite into orbit Wednesday, making it an emerging "world power", as the US issued new threats amid rising naval tensions in the Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hailed the launch as a milestone, in the face of intense US pressure and Washington's allegations that the space programme is a cover to develop ballistic missiles. Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated again last week with Washington accusing its arch-foe of harassing its ships in the Gulf.
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| Cuomo Pushes Back On Lockdown Protesters: ‘Economic Hardship Doesn’t Equal Death’ Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:31 PM PDT  New York governor Andrew Cuomo pushed back on claims that state lockdowns were creating more harm than the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "how can the cure be worse than the illness if the illness is potential death?"Speaking to reporters as protestors demonstrated outside New York's state capitol in Albany, Cuomo denied that his measures, which closed nonessential businesses and banned unnecessary gatherings, "equal death.""Economic hardship — yes, very bad — not death. Emotional stress, from being locked in a house — very bad, not death. Domestic violence on the increase? Very bad, not death. And the death of someone else," he stated. "See, that's what we have to factor into this equation. Yea, it's your life, do whatever you want, but you're now responsible for my life, you have a responsibility to me. It's not just about you, you have a responsibility to me, right?"> A reporter asked Gov. Cuomo what he'd say to New Yorkers who want to go back to work because they're running out of money, to which he replied, "economic hardship doesn't equal death"> > "You want to go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker" he added https://t.co/BgwoOZsQRy pic.twitter.com/WxGQxtg49p> > -- CBS News (@CBSNews) April 22, 2020Lockdown protests have occurred across the country, with some governors pushing back. During an address on Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer compared state residents protesting her social distancing restrictions to Americans who protested the World War II production effort in the 1940s.On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr said that the Justice Department could take action against states whose measures are deemed too strict, as a coalition of southern states — Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee — all plan to reopen businesses in coming days.Cuomo, who last week extended the rules to May 15 in coordination with other states, added that "when I see 484 New Yorkers die, I feel that it's like people in my family, and nothing comes before the public health risk of somebody else's life.""We started here saying, 'it's not about me, it's about we,' get your head around the 'we' concept. So it's not just all about you. It's about me too, it's about we," he explained. " . . . And think about it as if, it was your family that might get infected, right? And that's what we're talking about. And when you think about it as your family, you have a different perspective."Pressed on claims that New Yorkers wanted to return to work, Cuomo retorted, "if you want to go to work, go take the job as an essential worker. Do it tomorrow."
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| Trudeau: Canadian planes sent to China to pick up medical supplies returned empty Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:35 AM PDT |
| 'Will we have enough food?:' Millions of Americans are now unemployed and hungry. Food banks worry they can't feed them. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:43 PM PDT  A San Antonio food bank CEO said Americans are waiting 12 hours before they distribute food in "lines that are longer than I've ever seen in my life."
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| Factories Tip-Toe Back After India Partially Lifts Lockdown Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:10 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- India's industrialists are tentatively reopening their factories, as the government eases the world's biggest lockdown to revive an economy that was slowing even before the coronavirus outbreak.Ajit Gupta, managing director of Ajit Industries Pvt., spent most of Monday supervising sanitization of his factory near the border of Delhi, which produces adhesive tapes used to insulate electric wires, package goods, or protect fridges and other electronics during transport. Printed signs at the gate urged staff to stay at least three feet from each other at all times and workers were hosed down with disinfectant after masked security guards took their temperature with thermal guns and handed out bottles of hand sanitizers. If even one employee tests positive for Covid-19, law mandates that the entire factory be shut for months."It's very risky for us to restart business," Gupta, 55, said by phone. "But the first quarter of this financial year will be washed out anyway and if the situation continues for a longer time, we may have to close down some operations."Following Monday's partial lifting of the lockdown, Nomura Holdings Inc. estimates as much as 60% of India's economy can now be open, but not before shrinking output by 0.4% for the year started April 1 compared with growth of 4.6% the previous year. One industry body predict labor shortages could last for as long as six months and as many as 40 million people may lose their jobs by September."India's decision to partly relax the lockdown highlights the growing trade-off faced by developing countries of the economic costs of a lockdown versus health," Nomura economists led by Sonal Varma wrote in a note. "Policies will need to be nimble because infection rates could resurge."Rural ExemptionsIndia has 17,615 confirmed cases, including 559 deaths. In an attempt to contain the outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi doubled the duration of the initial 21-day lockdown but allowed farmers and certain industries outside virus hotspots to resume operations from Monday.Companies that wish to restart however need to first get approval from local authorities, which is a tough task, according to Amritanshu Khaitan, managing director at Eveready Industries Ltd., the country's biggest maker of flashlights and batteries. "Wherever we have got approvals, we are working with skeletal staff," he said by phone.The current fiscal year will also be a "litmus test" for Indian shadow lenders that depend on financial technology, according to the local unit of Fitch Ratings.It estimates that such firms have total outstanding debt of about 30 billion rupees ($392 million), of which half is funded by banks and other lenders that may now hold back refinance. So-called non-bank financiers were allowed to resume operations in Mumbai on Monday, joining traditional banks that continued to function during the lockdown as they were classified as essential services.'Tough Situation'"Immediate liquidity relief" from banks is a priority for Jindal Stainless Ltd., said managing director Abhyuday Jindal. India's biggest stainless steel producer plans to gradually restart both its factories located in the states of Haryana and Odisha after it deals with issues including supply chain disruptions, congestion at ports and a labor shortage.Companies in the petroleum industry, including Indian Oil Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp., resumed work on projects worth 2 trillion rupees following relaxation of the lockdown, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a Twitter post. About 511 projects such as refinery, exploration and production, marketing and infrastructure, pipelines and city gas distribution have kick-started operations. Most of India's automobile and phone manufacturers remained shut on Monday and will reopen later.Indranil Pan, chief economist at IDFC First Bank Ltd., said firms will struggle to ramp up production to pre-lockdown levels. It's very likely these companies, especially smaller units that employ the bulk of India's workforce, will be forced to slash their staff, he said.Risks also loom for Gupta, whose revenue was lower than target last financial year as India's economy began slowing. He's concerned about the future of his 500 employees, about 150 of whom were expected to turn up on Monday, some with pay cuts. Only about 75 showed up."It is a tough situation for us," he said.(Updates on oil sector in 11th 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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| Wife of pastor arrested for nearly hitting protester with church bus flashes wads of cash as she bails him out Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:39 PM PDT  The Apostle Paul was jailed in Rome for preaching that Jesus Christ was God. Some 2,000 years later, another evangelist - Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell - was jailed for trying to hit a protester with a bus.While legend holds that Paul was eventually beheaded by Emperor Nero, Mr Spell will have to suffer no such fate; his wife, Shaye, flashed $5,000 at the local jail, made bail, and brought her husband home.
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| FT analysis sees UK coronavirus death toll at 41,000 Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:57 PM PDT  The novel coronavirus outbreak has caused as many as 41,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, according to a Financial Times analysis of statistics office data. The latest hospital death data show 17,337 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus across the United Kingdom as of this Monday. On Tuesday the Office for National Statistics reported that 18,516 people died in England and Wales in the week ending April 10, or 7,966 more than the five-year average.
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| California becomes 1st state to endorse coronavirus testing for people without symptoms Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:03 PM PDT  California is changing up who can receive coronavirus testing, becoming the first state to broaden the strict federal guidelines.Public health officials in the state said Tuesday they are now recommending that asymptomatic people who work or live at places where the coronavirus could spread easily, like prisons or nursing homes, get tested, labeling them "Priority 1.""California is leading the way," Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Riverside, told the Los Angeles Times. "We will be able to test more individuals, identify more people with COVID-19, isolate them, and thereby both flatten the curve and prevent the future spread of infection."The federal guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list hospitalized patients and health care workers displaying coronavirus symptoms as the primary people eligible for testing, followed by elderly symptomatic patients and those with underlying health conditions. People who do not show any symptoms are a non-priority. While doctors do have a say in who can get tested, hospital administrators have been citing CDC guidelines in order to hold on to tests for the sickest patients, the Times reports.Last Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said there was a shortage of testing swabs in the state, and on Monday, Los Angeles County announced it was experiencing a testing backlog. Bob Kocher, a member of Newsom's task force on testing, told the Times while some labs do have shortages of extraction chemicals, "we've come up with good plans to resolve bottlenecks. We have a nice supply." He also said that combined, high-volume labs in the state are able to run more than 80,000 coronavirus tests every day.More stories from theweek.com How close are we to herd immunity? The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine
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| Trump signs executive order limiting immigration Wednesday Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:23 PM PDT  Trump said the order would "pause" issuing green cards for 60 days, and the policy would then be revisited.
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| Beijing names islands in disputed South China Sea Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:45 AM PDT  China on Tuesday defended its naming of 80 islands and other geographical features in the South China Sea in a move likely to anger neighbours as the country asserts its territorial claims. A joint announcement of the names on Sunday from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Civil Affairs came a day after China established new administrative districts for the contested Spratly and Paracel island chains. China last released such a list in 1983 when it named 287 geographical features across the disputed waterway.
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| Argentina doesn't make payment, starting default countdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:52 PM PDT  Argentina said it didn't make $500 million in debt payments due Wednesday, starting a 30-day countdown to a possible default unless the government and bondholders can reach a deal on restructuring its massive foreign debt. The failure to pay came a week after the government of President Alberto Fernández presented a proposal to restructure roughly $70 billion in debt involving the suspension of its debt obligations for three years and a 62% reduction for interest payments. Argentina will use the period to seek creditor acceptance of its proposal, which it has said will remain in force until May 8 and aims at "restoring the sustainability of public debt in foreign currency."
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| Photos show how San Francisco emerged from a lockdown too soon during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, leading to an even deadlier second wave that rampaged through the city Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:23 PM PDT  The city went from a national role model to one of the worst-hit cities after lifting shutdown orders prematurely, resulting in over 45,000 cases.
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| Trump Is Urged to Pressure China on Its Promise to Buy U.S. Oil Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT |
| Anti-Vaxxers and Lockdown Protesters Form an Unholy Alliance Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:42 AM PDT  Protests against social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines in states across the country have become fertile ground for anti-vaccine activists, foreshadowing future showdowns over government-led efforts to help bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic.Del Bigtree, a notorious anti-vaccination activist before the emergence of COVID-19, attended a reopening rally in Austin last weekend to find out why the protesters were showing up. Bigtree told The Daily Beast that he saw a lot of overlap between anti-vaccine activists who distrust vaccines and the rally-goers, who were complaining that the public health policies put in place by state governments are unconstitutional and draconian relative to the health crisis at hand."I think the science is falling apart," Bigtree said, citing models he called "a disaster." On April 17, Bigtree featured Wendy Darling, founder of anti-stay-at-home-order group "Michigan United for Liberty" and an attendee of one of the Michigan protests, on his online show The High Wire, which usually dedicates programming to questioning health professionals and settled science. Asked by Bigtree whether the demonstrations showed that at least some Michiganders "are not afraid of dying from the coronavirus," Darling said: "In our group, in particular, we've got thousands of people in Michigan United for Liberty and the consensus there is, you know, we are not. We're more afraid of the government than we are of the virus at this point." Trump Calls Rule-Breaking Coronavirus Protesters 'Very Responsible People'Bigtree isn't the only drawing connections between the anti-vaccine movement—which advocates for the fallacious notion that vaccines cause autism or other ailments—and the movements against the stay-at-home orders. Anti-vaccine activists have pushed a hashtag calling for President Donald Trump to fire the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci—a message that evolved into a "Fire Fauci" chant at the Texas rally Bigtree attended. Some participants in the reopening rallies have also adopted "I Do Not Consent" as their go-to sign formulation, which is the same language that's become a popular phrase for anti-vaccination activists. "That's one of their biggest slogans," said Amy Pisani, the executive director of pro-vaccine group Vaccinate Your Family. The predominantly right-wing activists calling for states to reopen businesses amid the pandemic have also criticized vaccines in their online communities. On "Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine," a Facebook group with more than 350,000 members that has become a hotbed for anti-social distancing protests in the state, thousands of members said they wouldn't take any future vaccine. Some posters pushed conspiracy theories that the vaccine would be the "mark of the Beast" or a tracking device used by billionaire Bill Gates. A user in "Reopen Missouri," another Facebook group devoted to rapidly reopening businesses, made a popular post that included a vow to never take any future coronavirus vaccine. "I refuse to receive said vaccine to make others feel more safe," it read. "I won't set myself—or my children—on fire to keep you warm."Facebook Axed Pro-Vaccine Ads, Let Anti-Vaxxer Conspiracies Slip ThroughThe possibility of anti-vaccine advocates gaining a foothold in the protests against public safety laws could portend even dicier problems for government agencies ahead. Health officials have said that a vaccine for coronavirus is one of, if not the, surest ways to emerge through the crisis and return to a semblance of social normalcy. But that depends on wide-scale cultural acceptance of the vaccination—which optimistically could be 18 months away from production—and the coronavirus pandemic has drawn more online interest to anti-vaccine causes. Jackie Schlegal, the founder of well-funded anti-vaccine group Texans for Vaccine Choice, claims that her group has received an "overwhelming influx of support" and a load of traffic from people concerned about coronavirus vaccine exemptions. The anti-vaccine language used by the reopening activists marks the latest confluence between anti-vaccine activists and anti-government groups, who have teamed up in the past to fight vaccine mandates, according to Pisani. "It's not new that these libertarians and ultra-anti-government individuals have been working together with anti-vaccine activists in recent years," she said. Much of the rhetoric at the reopening rallies mirrors the language of anti-vaccine activists, according to Professor Jennifer Reich, a University of Colorado Denver sociologist who has studied why parents don't vaccinate their children. According to Reich's research, the rise in non-vaccinations among children has come as a result of two trends: pressure on parents to research every detail of the choices available to their children; and the idea that individuals, not public health experts or doctors, are best positioned to handle their own health decisions. "We've perfectly set the stage for parents not to trust vaccines," Reich said. Now those same trends are coming into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reich. Just as anti-vaccine parents claim they can best handle the decision to vaccinate their children, anti-social distancing protesters have vowed to judge the risks of walking around in public, not wearing masks, or not taking any vaccine themselves. "A lot of their rhetoric is really about individual self management, and that they want to be in control of mitigating their own risk," Reich said of the rally goers. Reich fears that the demands for public health officials to move expeditiously in finding a solution to coronavirus could only feed skepticism of vaccines, as the skeptics will point to shortened clinical trials to cast doubt about its safety or efficacy. Already anti-vaccine activists like Bigtree are questioning the coronavirus vaccine process. "It's going to affirm the worst fears of those who already distrust the vaccine system," Reich said. For Pisani, the head of the pro-vaccine group, the coronavirus pandemic represents a crucial point for the ongoing fight pitting pro-vaccine forces and health experts against anti-vaccine groups. The pandemic could ramp up skepticism about government health advice, giving anti-vaccine activists a broader platform. But at the same time, the general public has never been so interested in vaccines and virology in recent memory, or more desperate for a vaccine. "I just can't understand if they had an elderly family member and there was a vaccine — they wouldn't want to give the vaccine to that person?" Pisani said. "It's unbelievable."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| China dismisses Missouri's 'absurd' virus lawsuit Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:28 AM PDT 
"Such abuse of litigation is not conducive to the epidemic response at home in the United States and also runs counter to international cooperation," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a daily briefing, adding that China's response is not under the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and it has provided updates on the outbreak to the United States since January 3. Missouri became the first U.S. state on Tuesday (April 21) to sue the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus, saying that China's response to the outbreak that originated in the city of Wuhan brought devastating economic losses to the state. The civil lawsuit filed in federal court alleges negligence, among other claims.
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| Coronavirus outbreak in Philippines jail sees 123 inmates infected Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  A prison in the Philippines is suffering from a major outbreak of the new coronavirus with 123 infected inmates, officials said on Wednesday, adding to concerns among activists about contagion risks in some of the world's most overcrowded jails. The mayor of Cebu City said a new building in the prison capable of handling 3,000 people would be used as an isolation facility to contain an outbreak that accounts for 40% of cases in the Philippines' second biggest city. Eighteen cases have been found at a jail in Manila's Quezon City, among them nine members of staff, and media has reported infections at other facilities.
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| Coronavirus Kills More Americans in One Month Than the Flu Kills in One Year Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Although there is still much we don't know about the coronavirus, we know enough to say that it is far more dangerous and deadly than the flu. It took twelve months and 61 million infections for the H1N1 swine flu to kill 12,500 Americans in 2009–10. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the seasonal flu killed 34,200 Americans during the 2018–19 flu season. In 2019, car crashes killed 38,800 Americans.As for the new coronavirus? On March 20, the death toll in the United States was 225. By April 20, the coronavirus had killed more than 42,000 Americans.Last week The New Atlantis produced a chart that starkly portrays just how quickly COVID-19 became one of the leading causes of death in the United States:> Why "it's not as bad as flu" — or car crashes or the 1957 pandemic — is not credible.> > New from the @tnajournal team: https://t.co/SVNscTHZrQ> > -- Ari Schulman (@AriSchulman) April 13, 2020Despite the rapidity with which the coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of Americans, some on the right have continued to argue that the pandemic will end up being no more serious than a bad flu season. On Fox News last week, Bill Bennett said that "we're going to have fewer fatalities from this than from the flu." He pointed to the fact that the IMHE model from the University of Washington estimated that COVID-19 would most likely kill about 60,000 Americans and that the seasonal flu killed 61,000 Americans in 2017–18, a particularly bad flu season.But as Rich Lowry pointed out last week, "if we are going to have 60,000 deaths with people not leaving their homes for more than a month, the number of deaths obviously would have been higher — much higher — if everyone had gone about business as usual." Indeed, the IMHE model is making an estimate of the death toll only for a first wave of infections, and most of the country will still be vulnerable to infection after the first wave passes.While there are 800,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States — that's 0.24 percent of the U.S. population — former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb has noted that anywhere between 1 percent and 5 percent of Americans may have actually already been infected with the virus. But that's far short of the 50 percent to 70 percent required to achieve herd immunity. The seasonal flu, by contrast, infected 12 percent of the American population last year because we have a flu vaccine and some more immunity from previous infections.Not only does the new coronavirus have the potential to infect many more people than the seasonal flu does, it appears to kill a greater percentage of those infected. You don't need to rely on various statistical models to come to that conclusion. You just have to look at the reality of what has already happened around the world and in our own country.The seasonal flu kills 0.1 percent of people infected, but the new coronavirus has already killed 0.1 percent of the entire population of the state of New York. That may seem like a small percentage. But imagine the entire country getting hit as badly as New York state: 0.1 percent of the U.S. population is 330,000 people. And there's no reason to believe that New York's current death toll marks the upper limit of the virus's lethality.The Wall Street Journal reported that confirmed coronavirus cases in the Italian province of Bergamo (population 1.1 million) had killed 0.2 percent of the entire population in one month. The true percentage may be higher: There were 4,000 more deaths in Bergamo in March 2020 than the average number of deaths in March in recent years, but only 2,000 of those deaths were attributed to confirmed COVID-19 cases.We are talking not about statistical models of what might happen in the future but about the reality of what has already happened. The virus has killed 100 Italian doctors. That doesn't happen during a bad flu season. The virus has killed 30 employees of the New York City Police Department. That doesn't happen during a bad flu season.And then there's the experience of China, where the official death toll in Wuhan is 2,500, according to the Communist regime. But there are reports that the true death toll in Wuhan (a city of 10 million) was more than 40,000 people. That's 0.4 percent of the city's entire population.Almost all conservatives are skeptical of Communist China's official coronavirus death toll. Why, then, do some think that the coronavirus is not much more deadly than the flu? Did Communist China, a regime not known for valuing human life, shut down much of its economy for a couple of months because of a bad flu? Or did Communist leaders fear that without the costly shutdown the virus would inflict much greater harm on their nation and threaten their grip on power?You don't have to have a Ph.D. in epidemiology to answer those questions.No nation can afford to endure a lockdown until a vaccine is developed for the new coronavirus. But having a proper understanding of the virus's past and present danger matters. Knowing that it is extremely unlikely that the threat will be gone once the first wave passes will help guide the government, businesses, and individuals to take precautions that will limit the virus's death toll in the months to come.
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| Iran reportedly launches first military satellite as Trump makes threats Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:25 PM PDT  The Noor was launched by a three-stage rocket and, according to Iran officials, had reached a 425 km high orbitIran has claimed it has put its first military satellite into orbit, further raising tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the satellite "Noor" (Light) was in a 425km (264 miles) high orbit, after a successful launch. Iran launched its first civilian satellite in 2009.It came on the day Donald Trump went on Twitter to announce he had ordered the US navy "to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea", following an incident in which nearly a dozen small Iranian boats had steered within a few yards of US warships.The Pentagon said it was too early to say whether the Iranian satellite launch had been successful but the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) issued a new code designator for an orbiting object which appeared consistent with Noor."I consider that this confirms that the Iranian satellite successfully reached orbit," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, commented on Twitter.The Noor satellite was launched by a three-stage rocket which the IRGC said was powered by a combination of solid and liquid fuels.The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the launch violated a 2015 UN security council resolution."I think every nation has an obligation to go to the United Nations and evaluate whether this missile launch was consistent with that security council resolution," Pompeo told reporters. "I don't think it remotely is, and I think Iran needs to be held accountable for what they have done."The 2015 UN resolution Pompeo was referring to was intended to endorse a nuclear deal with Iran that the US abrogated in 2018. The resolution (UNSC 2231) said: "Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."Although there is technological overlap between space launches and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), Iran denies that the aim of its space programme is to pursue ICBM technology."It's achieving both their objective of flexing muscle and implying they have the ability to go further if needed without giving the US the legal grounds to go to the UNSC," said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US."Covid-19 hasn't slowed down the tensions between the two sides, it's exacerbated them. Neither side has shown a willingness to back down from its policy. The Trump administration introduced new sanctions even as Iran was grappling with the outbreak. Iran has resumed provoking actions."Trump went on Twitter on Wednesday to declare: "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."The tweet came a week after 11 IRGC speed boats deliberately cut across the paths of US warships patrolling the Gulf, one of them coming within 10 yards in what US Central Command called "dangerous and harassing approaches".The Trump tweet does not appear to have marked a change of US posture in the Gulf by changing the circumstances in which the US would open fire. But General John Hyten, the vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, welcomed Trump's threat."I like that the president warned an adversary. That's what he's doing," said Hyten. "He's providing a warning. If you want to go down that path, we will come and we will come large."Hyten warned the Iranian gunboats: "[If] you're waving, that's one thing. If you have a gun, and you point it at me, that's another thing – we know exactly what that means. So if you cross that line, we know what that line is, and we will respond."
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| Two pet cats in New York test positive for coronavirus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:15 PM PDT  This marks the first time a pet has tested positive for the virus in the United States.
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| Taiwan president apologises for virus infections on navy ship Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen apologised Wednesday for "major shortcomings" within the military after a cluster of coronavirus infections emerged on a navy vessel recently returned from a goodwill mission to Palau. "I am the Commander-in-Chief, the military's business is my business and my responsibility," Tsai said in a speech broadcast live.
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| A coronavirus patient thought he was recovering. Then doctors found blood clots in his lungs — a new and potentially deadly complication of the virus. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:38 AM PDT  "It feels like a toxin is in my body," Michael Reagan, a coronavirus patient who was told he had dozens of blood clots in his lungs, said.
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| U.K. Starts Human Trials of Coronavirus Vaccine on Thursday Posted: 21 Apr 2020 01:14 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. will begin human trials of a coronavirus vaccine Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as he argued that the government's strategy for fighting the disease had succeeded."In the long run, the best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine," Hancock told the government's daily news conference. "The U.K. is at the front of the global effort. We have put more money than any other country into a global search for a vaccine and, for all the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home."The trials will be of a drug developed at Oxford University. Hancock said the government would give 20 million pounds ($25 million) to support the research. "In normal times, reaching this stage would take years," he said. Another 20.5 million pounds will go to a separate project at London's Imperial College.Read more: Sunak's 'Whatever It Takes' Virus Support Unprecedented in U.K.Hancock was trying to show progress as the government faces criticism over shortages of protective medical equipment. He was speaking on the day that the Office for National Statistics released data showing the dramatic toll of the virus. It said that in the week ending April 10, 18,516 deaths had been registered, the highest weekly number in more than two decades and 76% more than the average for that week.Complaints from health workers about the availability of personal protective equipment continue, but Hancock was keen to emphasize the government's achievements. He said that with the number of people hospitalized with the virus declining, the ministers had achieved their goal of protecting the National Health Service from being overwhelmed."At no point in this crisis has anyone who could benefit from critical care been denied that care because there weren't enough staff, or beds, or ventilators to treat them," Hancock said.His announcement came as:A further 852 people were announced to have died in U.K. hospitals from the virus, a sharp increase from prior days, taking the total to 17,366Prime Minister Boris Johnson told President Donald Trump that he was "feeling better and on the road to recovery," according to the White HouseThe government's scientific advisory committee met to discuss whether the public should wear face masksBut deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam told reporters the government didn't want to do anything that might lead to shortages for medical staffThe health secretary said the process for finding a vaccine would take "trial and error," but he has told U.K. scientists leading the search he would "back them to the hilt and give them every resource they need" in order to succeed. "After all, the upside of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that I am throwing everything at it," he said.'Balancing Act'Van-Tam said the number of new cases being diagnosed in the U.K. remained high. "It isn't clear there is an enormous downturn at this point," he said. "The numbers are varying day to day, but they remain high and we remain in a situation of danger that we must take very seriously indeed."He also set out the difficulty facing governments in deciding how to ease restrictions on public activities. "We do at some point hope that we turn this curve down," he said. The difficulty then, he said, was "easing some of the restrictions we are under without letting this virus just chase off again. That's a really difficult balancing act."The U.K. has been in a nationwide lockdown since March 23 and will continue to be so for at least another three weeks.(Adds highest deaths in 20 years in fourth 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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| Local authorities worry New Zealand is getting complacent as police record 1,000 lockdown breaches in two days. But an expert says it's a small number in the scheme of things. Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:58 PM PDT  The rise in breaches happened days before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country's level 4 lockdown would move to level 3.
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| Coronavirus to accelerate Social Security, Medicare depletion dates, U.S. officials say Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:35 PM PDT  Job and revenue losses prompted by the coronavirus will likely accelerate the depletion of Social Security and Medicare reserves, U.S. officials said on Wednesday as they released reports showing little change in the federal benefit programs' pre-pandemic finances. The 2020 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports released on Wednesday did not reflect projections from the coronavirus pandemic but showed continued long-term funding shortfalls for retirement, disability and seniors' healthcare benefits. Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund can pay scheduled in-patient hospital expenses until 2026, also the same as in last year's report.
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| Speeding car filmed flying from road and crashing into side of family home in California Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Shocking CCTV footage has shown the dramatic moment a speeding car crashed through the wall of a family's home in California.In the video, a Toyota Camry soars from the pavement into the side of a house, and two men can be seen running away from the crash moments later.
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| Coronavirus: Why some Nigerians are gloating about Covid-19 Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Many rich Nigerians, including the political classes, used to go abroad for medical treatment - but no longer.
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| Liberal candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court seat performed far better among mail-in votes, bucking past trends Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:32 AM PDT  Wisconsin's elections earlier this month were odd in many ways, most notably because they took place during the coronavirus pandemic, when many other states were pushing their in-person voting back. But the fact that the election took place wasn't the only anomaly.A New York Times analysis found that liberal jurist Jill Karofsky, who won a seat on Wisconsin's Supreme Court in an upset, significantly outperformed her opponent, the incumbent conservative Justice Daniel Kelly, when it came to mail voting. The Times reached the conclusion after looking at data from the 27 Wisconsin municipalities which separated their in-person votes from those sent by mail. In one precinct, for example, Kelly won 64 percent of the election day vote, while Karofsky took 70 percent in the mail.The news was a shock for many political scientists, who have traditionally found that voting by mail doesn't provide much of an advantage for either party. "It's convincing and surprising that Karofsky appears have done better among mail voters than in-person voters," said Barry Burdern, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "That's a change from past trends. It's unclear if that's going to be something permanent or very something very specific to the election."Either way, the Times notes, the results likely won't do much to dispel the opposition to mail voting from President Trump and Republicans who worry it will enhance Democratic turnout. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Georgia's dangerous coronavirus experiment How close are we to herd immunity?
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| Exclusive: Sen. Marsha Blackburn, ‘China, you had the information, you lied. You need to be held to account for this.’ Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:53 PM PDT  Senator Marsha Blackburn spoke with Fox News about the Stop COVID Act and how the legislation will allow Americans to file lawsuits against China for its role in the origin and spread of the coronavirus.
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| 26 Cheap, Neutral Rugs That Actually Look Good Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:10 AM PDT |
| Hong Kong teens charged with murder over protest death Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:55 AM PDT  Luo Chang-qing died in November when pro-democracy supporters and government loyalists started hurling bricks at each other in the border town of Sheung Shui. Luo, 70, died from a blow to the head. Hong Kong's protests were sparked by an attempt to allow extradition to China's opaque justice system but soon morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule.
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| Almost 25,000 email addresses and passwords reportedly for groups like WHO and the Gates Foundation were dumped on the internet Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:55 PM PDT  Cybersecurity expert Robert Potter told The Washington Post that WHO's password system was "appalling" — saying 48 people had "password" as their password.
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| Italy to Relax Lockdown in Key Step for Europe’s Virus Fight Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:17 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Italy will present a plan this week to ease its rigid lockdown, joining Germany, France and Austria in pursuing a gradual return to normality as coronavirus infection rates fall and pressure mounts to reopen businesses.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte aims to roll out a detailed restart program beginning on May 4, saying in a post on Facebook that the process will take time in order to mitigate risks of re-igniting the spread of the disease. On Tuesday, the nation reported an almost equal number of virus recoveries and infections for the first time."Now, we must loosen restrictions," Conte later told lawmakers in Italy's Senate. "We must do everything possible to preserve the industrial sector. The country's engines must restart."Italy's commitment to relax containment measures is an important marker in Europe's battle with the pandemic. The original center of the continent's outbreak suffered the most deaths after the U.S. and has the third-most cases in the world.With more than 100,000 fatalities in the region, Europe's leaders are seeking to strike a balance between saving lives and securing jobs. The first steps to loosen curbs in Austria, Denmark and Norway are putting pressure on others to follow suit, despite the lack of treatments or a cure.Italy recorded 2,729 new cases of the disease, compared with 2,256 a day earlier, the first increase in five days, according to the civil protection agency on Tuesday. Against that, the number of recovered patients hit 2,723 over the past 24 hours, a daily record.Italy's current restrictions -- in force since mid-March -- shutter all non-essential businesses, ban movements within the country, and all but confine people to their homes except for buying food, going to work and seeking medical help.Conte is juggling caution from scientific and public-health advisers, who insist the decline in new cases is still slow and relaxed restrictions could trigger a new outbreak, with demands from businesses and regional governors to restart the economy.Similar pressures are playing out in capitals across Europe, and leaders are pleading for patience.Because of contagion risks, Munich canceled its famed Oktoberfest for the first time since World War II, and Spain won't hold the traditional running-of-the-bulls festival in Pamplona in July, the latest signs that disruptions will linger for months to come."We agreed that the risk is simply too great" to hold the traditional beer and folk festival in Munich, Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder said. "We are living in different times, and living with corona means living carefully." The move deals a $1.3 billion blow to the local economy, according to the city's mayor.Germany, which had the smallest rise in new cases this month in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, started to allow small stores and some other retailers to reopen on Monday and will weigh next steps on April 30. France will unveil plans within two weeks to progressively lift restrictions amid falling numbers of patients in hospitals and in intensive care, and Spain plans to loosen rules for children.The European Union cautioned against complacency. Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said containment efforts that end too quickly and aren't coordinated across the bloc could threaten the sacrifices made by citizens and medical staff.As part of efforts to develop a vaccine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will host an online event on May 4 to generate funding pledges and mobilize investment necessary for research into effective treatments, she told the European Parliament's health committee.The pressures facing policy makers are evident in Austria. Despite being one of the first European nations to ease restrictions, the economy may take as long as three years to recover, according to a group of leading economists. Unemployment and state-wage support have skyrocketed, with almost every third worker receiving some form of subsidy due to the pandemic.After allowing small shops and hardware stores to open from April 14, Austria will let all other retailers resume operations in May and will begin to reopen schools, restaurants and places of worship May 15.Conte said that his cabinet is working with various experts to coordinate the so-called "phase 2," when Italians will have to adapt to the lingering threat of the virus, such as maintaining social-distancing guidelines and wearing masks in public.The plan could include a full reopening of stores on May 11 or more likely May 18, La Repubblica reported. Full movement for citizens would only come after that, the newspaper said.The lockdown is crippling an already fragile and debt-ridden economy. In an attempt to obtain some relief, Conte will make another push for so-called coronabonds, or joint debt issuance, at a virtual gathering of European Union leaders on Thursday.Italy's easing plan will be laid out at the national level but will take into account regional differences, according to the country's leader."I would like to be able to say: we will open everything. Immediately. Tomorrow morning," Conte said in a post on Facebook. "But a decision like that would be irresponsible" and could "jeopardize all the efforts we've made until now."(Updates with new Italian' cases and recoveries from second 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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| Chinese envoy takes veiled swipe at Trump for politicizing coronavirus Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:15 AM PDT  China's ambassador to the United States took a thinly veiled swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday by criticizing politicians bent on making "groundless accusations" that distract from scientific information on the deadly coronavirus. Speaking at a webcast Bloomberg event, Cui Tiankai also defended the handling of the disease by China, which has drawn fire from Trump and others for allegedly failing to alert the world to risks of the coronavirus in a timely and transparent fashion.
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| 'Like the horror of war': mayor of virus-ravaged Ecuador city calls for drastic response Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:40 AM PDT  Cynthia Viteri, leader of Latin America's hardest-hit city, says Guayaquil offers a lesson to other governments * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverageThe mayor of the Latin American city hardest hit by the coronavirus has urged regional governments to take drastic steps to slow its spread and avoid the devastation she said had left Guayaquil looking like a war zone.Cynthia Viteri told the Guardian she believed thousands had probably lost their lives in the Ecuadorian port city in recent weeks and compared Covid-19's deadly impact there to "an unexpected bomb falling on a peaceful town"."It was as if we were attacked from the air like in Hiroshima," said Viteri, a 54-year-old lawyer and former presidential candidate who sent desperate tweets as the scale of the dystopia unfolding there became clear."It was the horror of a war – there were dead in the streets, dead in homes, there were dead outside the hospitals," remembered Viteri, who was infected and placed in quarantine but has recovered.The precise scale of Guayaquil's tragedy remains unclear although few doubt the number of deaths far exceeds Ecuador's official nationwide death toll of 507.Viteri said independently gathered figures from cemeteries and graveyards suggested the death toll in Guayaquil alone could be more than 8,000.She claimed the figures showed that in the first two weeks of April alone, more than 5,000 people had died of Covid-19 in Ecuador's main commercial hub, which has close to 3 million inhabitants.Last week, official data suggested the number of deaths in Guayas province – of which Guayaquil is the capital – leapt from a normal average of 3,000 to nearly 11,000 in the six weeks between the beginning of March and mid-April.Viteri said she hoped the political leaders of other Latin American countries and cities could learn from Guayaquil's calamity.Last week, Brazil's former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Guardian he feared some parts of his country could witness similar scenes to the "horrific, monstrous images we saw in Guayaquil" in the coming weeks and months.Lula accused Brazil's current leader, Jair Bolsonaro, of leading Brazilians "to the slaughterhouse" by deliberately undermining social distancing measures and efforts to lock down major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which have been partially paralysed by their governors.Viteri said such shutdowns were essential."If we have learned a lesson that Guayaquil can leave for the world, and it's a painful lesson, it is: 'Don't run from the disease; pursue it, knock on doors and save people before [the virus] gets in their lungs,'" she said.Viteri said any country that had so far failed to lock down should "look in our mirror and apply preventive measures straight away".Three weeks after the collapse of Guayaquil's health and mortuary services shocked the world, Viteri claimed authorities were regaining control and said officials had "resisted [the virus] like Spartans".Soldiers and police have cordoned off often poorer virus-hit neighbourhoods, enforcing strict lockdowns, and a municipal taskforce made up of medics, firefighters and city workers has gone house to house looking for potential cases while sanitary workers have disinfected and fumigated public areas.Authorities have also created a corpse-collecting taskforce and distributed cardboard coffins to bereaved families.Viteri said Guayaquil was building two cemeteries for victims in addition to two others being built by the central government but she admitted hospitals continued to be overwhelmed by the number of coronavirus patients.Experts say one possible reason for the number of cases in Guayaquil is the high level of air traffic between Ecuador and Spain, which has the world's third-highest number of deaths, after the United States and Italy.Spain, where more than 21,000 people have died, is home to more than 400,000 Ecuadorian migrants and the first Covid-19 case recorded in Ecuador was of a 71-year-old woman who flew into Guayaquil from Madrid in mid-February. She died there on 13 March.A failure to properly enforce social distancing in the weeks after coronavirus arrived is also suspected to have played a role.
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| How to identify and remove a skin tag Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Skin tags are benign skin growths that you may find annoying and unsightly. Though you don't have to remove a skin tag, a doctor can get rid of it.
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| Americans overwhelmingly disagree with restarting the economy at the expense of public health Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Some people are protesting ongoing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most Americans aren't on board.Just 14 percent of Americans believe the country "should stop social distancing to stimulate the economy even if it means increasing the spread of coronavirus," a Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday found. A massive 76 percent meanwhile say social distancing should continue "even if it means continued damage to the economy," the poll taken just days ago found.Protesters have gathered in state capitols and, with prodding from President Trump, demanded businesses reopen and social distancing requirements be lifted even though medical experts warn against it. This poll reflects how small that movement is, despite its continued news coverage and the fact that it seems to have prompted some governors to buck federal guidelines and move to let businesses reopen before the pandemic has even peaked. The Morning Consult poll mirrors a recent survey from Pew Research, which found 66 percent of Americans were more concerned that social distancing guidelines would be lifted too soon than last too long.Morning Consult/Politico surveyed 1991 registered voters online from April 18-19, and the poll had a two percent margin of error.More stories from theweek.com How close are we to herd immunity? The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine
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| Man dies after being denied coronavirus tests at three emergency rooms because of racism, family alleges Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:42 AM PDT  A man who died in Michigan was denied coronavirus testing at three different emergency rooms because he was black, his family has alleged, as state officials said a "medical bias" may exist in Covid-19 testing.Gary Fowler, 56, was reportedly not tested for the novel virus at the three Detroit-area emergency rooms despite having many symptoms associated with the disease, according to his stepson, Keith Gambrell.
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| This woman's trick to cutting dog nails? Peanut butter and plastic wrap on her forehead. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:19 PM PDT  "I look like a dork," Lindsey Shelton of Oklahoma said in the TikTok video while laughing. "I'm about to look like a genius!" She may have been right.
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| Child sex trafficking survivor supported by Kim Kardashian West freed from jail Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:57 AM PDT  "She will be sent to an appropriate group home and she will be under supervision for an extensive period of time," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.
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