| Leaked intelligence report saying China 'intentionally concealed' coronavirus to stockpile medical supplies draws scrutiny Posted: 04 May 2020 10:24 AM PDT  The Trump administration has issued an intelligence analysis claiming China purposely delayed notifying the World Health Organization about the spread of the coronavirus.
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| Trump attacks Joe Scarborough, who tells him 'take a rest' and 'let Mike Pence actually run things' Posted: 04 May 2020 08:21 AM PDT  With the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus mounting, President Trump on Monday took aim at MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. The cable news host responded by telling Trump to let Vice President Mike Pence "run things for the next couple of weeks."
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| Venezuela: Two US citizens arrested after beach invasion aimed at capturing Nicolas Maduro, says regime Posted: 04 May 2020 06:56 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that authorities have captured 13 "terrorists", including two US citizens he described as mercenaries, over allegations that they were involved in a failed plot to invade the country and oust him. In a state television address, Maduro showed what he said were the passports and other identification cards of Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who he described as employees of Silvercorp, a Florida-based company whose owner has claimed responsibility for the invasion attempt. Venezuelan authorities said on Monday that they arrested another eight accused "mercenaries" in a coastal town and showed images on state TV of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. The Venezuelan government said that more than 25,000 troops have been mobilised to hunt for other rebels operating in the country. Diosdado Cabello, the vice-president of the ruling party, posted on his Twitter account a video of a Venezuelan identified as Josnars Adolfo Baduel, who was also detained, and claimed that two US citizens were among those arrested. Mr Baduel is shown responding to a security official who asks him about the Americans captured. Venezuelan state television broadcast the video but did not identify the Americans. But Jordan Goudreau, a Florida-based former Green Beret, said he was working with the two men in a mission launched early Sunday to "liberate" Venezuela.
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| Putin awards commemorative WWII medal to Kim Jong Un Posted: 05 May 2020 01:34 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Kim Jong Un a commemorative war medal marking the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said Tuesday. The medal was awarded to the North Korean leader for his role in preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died on North Korean territory, the statement said. Russia's ambassador in North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, presented the award to the country's Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon on Tuesday.
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| Secretary of Senate Says Office Cannot Comply with Biden’s Request to Release Tara Reade Files Posted: 04 May 2020 08:50 AM PDT  The Secretary of the Senate on Monday said that her office cannot comply with Joe Biden's request to disclose records pertaining to a complaint allegedly filed by former staffer Tara Reade."Based on the law's strict confidentiality requirements…and the Senate's own direction that disclosure of Senate records is not authorized if prohibited by law…Senate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden's letter of May 1," the office of the Senate Secretary said in a statement.Biden has stated that the only possible place where Reade's alleged complaint could be found is in Senate personnel archives. Reade, who accuses Biden of sexually assaulting her in Spring 1993, said she filed a complaint against Biden in which she alleged that the former Delaware senator engaged in inappropriate behavior, but didn't mention the assault.Biden denied the assault allegation on Friday."I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren't true. This never happened," Biden said in a statement. During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Biden also denied that a search of his personal archives held by the University of Delaware would turn up any mention of Reade, saying that those records contain private conversations with world leaders that could be used as "campaign fodder."Reade's account of the alleged assault has been corroborated in some aspects by testimony from friends and a former neighbor.The University of Delaware has refused to make the contents of Biden's archives available for research. The archives are under the direct control of the university's Board of Trustees, many of whose members have ties to Biden and have donated to his presidential campaign.
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| Former FDA commissioner says U.S. may be unable to decrease coronavirus transmission much more Posted: 05 May 2020 07:16 AM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes the United States may not be able to reduce coronavirus transmission much more, saying we should prepare for a "new normal."Gottlieb spoke with Today on Tuesday as many states allow some nonessential businesses to begin reopening and after a key model that's been cited by the White House significantly raised its projected death toll from COVID-19 to almost 135,000 by early August."We still have a high level of infection in this country," Gottlieb said. "We've reached a plateau, but we haven't seen the kind of declines that we were expecting to see at this point. And as we start to reopen the country, cases are likely to go up, not down."Gottlieb went on to suggest that as cases continue to rise in many states, the country may not be able to lower the rate of infection much further."I think that we need to understand, this may be the new normal," he said. "We may not be able to get transmission down much more. I hope we can."Gottlieb expanded on this in a Twitter thread, in which he wrote that "we need to prepare to deal with covid as a persistent threat," including by protecting those who are most vulnerable and being "prepared with case-based interventions, and widespread screening, to slow the transmission."On Monday, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is privately forecasting that the U.S. daily coronavirus death toll will reach 3,000 by June 1, up from about 1,750, as well as 200,000 new cases a day by the end of the month, up from about 25,000. > "We need to understand this may be the new normal. We may not be able to get transmission down much more. I hope we can." -@ScottGottliebMD pic.twitter.com/yF1eijFIDV> > -- TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 5, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| U.S. files first criminal charges for defrauding coronavirus bailout program Posted: 05 May 2020 12:11 PM PDT |
| Body of 18-year-old missing since leaving Target in January is found Posted: 05 May 2020 06:48 AM PDT  Abdullahi "Abdi" Sharif was last seen on security video on Jan. 17 leaving the Target store at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines where he and his sister, Ifrah, had worked for about two years.
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| How the coronavirus undid Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Posted: 04 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Long before the coronavirus outbreak turned him into one of the least popular governors in the nation, DeSantis of Florida was something of a conservative golden boy.
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| Trump allies fall silent amid SCOTUS financial records case Posted: 05 May 2020 07:08 AM PDT  Allies of President Trump are remaining quiet amid a Supreme Court battle over his financial records.
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| As states push ahead with reopening, CDC warns coronavirus cases and deaths are set to soar Posted: 04 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is quietly projecting a stark rise in the number of new cases of the virus and deaths from it over the next month.
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| 20 Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs capture the stunning violence from last year's Hong Kong protests Posted: 05 May 2020 02:08 PM PDT  Pulitzer Prize winning photos reveal how the protests in Hong Kong last year turned violent, destructive, and deadly.
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| W.Va. woman charged with mishandling classified information Posted: 04 May 2020 12:08 PM PDT  A West Virginia woman who had already been accused of kidnapping her daughter faces a new charge of retaining top-secret information from the National Security Agency in a storage unit she leased, court papers show. Elizabeth Jo Shirley was charged with willful retention of national defense information in a two-count criminal information document filed in federal court in West Virginia last week. The document contains only sparse information about the allegations, but says that between 1999 and August 2019, Shirley had unauthorized possession of documents "relating to the national defense" and "failed to deliver them to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive them."
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| Drone discovers mass grave of Islamic State victims at bottom of gorge in Syria Posted: 05 May 2020 02:29 AM PDT  Islamic State fighters used a stunning gorge in north-eastern Syria as a mass grave for their victims, a human rights group has revealed, after it deployed a drone to confirm the suspicions. In a new report, Human Rights Watch said the terror group dumped the bodies of people it had abducted, tortured and executed in al-Hota gorge, near Raqqa. It is one of around 20 mass graves containing thousands of bodies in areas that were formerly held by the so-called Islamic State (IS). Local villagers told researchers from Human Rights Watch that people had been threatened by IS fighters with being thrown into the gorge, while videos posted on Facebook in 2014 show two victims being cast in. The clothes on the men's bodies in that video match the clothing of two men being killed on camera in a separate propaganda video, Human Rights Watch said. Activists used a drone to fly into the gorge, where they discovered six bodies floating in the water in a state of decomposition. "Al-Hota gorge, once a beautiful natural site, has become a place of horror and reckoning," said Sara Kayyali, Human Rights Watch's Syria researcher. "Exposing what happened there, and at the other mass graves in Syria, is crucial to determining what happened to the thousands of people ISIS executed and holding their killers to account." It is likely that there are more bodies at the very bottom of the gorge, which the drone was unable to reach as it was underwater. Human Rights Watch has now called on Turkish forces, which control the area, to retrieve and identify the bodies so as to begin building a criminal case against IS for the atrocities committed in 2014 and beyond. "Whichever authority controls the al-Hota area is obliged to protect and preserve the site," added Ms Kayyali. "They should facilitate the collection of evidence to hold ISIS members accountable for their horrendous crimes, as well as those who dumped bodies in al-Hota before or after the ISIS rule." She also called on the Turkish military to clear the al-Hota area of boobytraps and other hazards that prevent thorough investigation of the site.
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| Former FDA commissioner says coronavirus antibody tests are returning tons of false positives Posted: 04 May 2020 07:14 AM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb said Monday that if he took a coronavirus antibody test to see if he had built up any protection against the virus, he'd receive his result and then take the test again two more times.Gottlieb, during an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box, said people shouldn't "put any stock" in a single antibody result, because the current tests on the market are churning out a high rate of false positives, which could lead people who don't have immunity to think they're safe. If those people repeat the tests, though, their chances of getting an accurate result increase.> "I wouldn't put any stock in any single result," says @ScottGottliebMD on anti-body testing for COVID19. "Quite frankly if it was me I'd repeat it three times." pic.twitter.com/w429b3PEUg> > — Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 4, 2020Antibody tests aren't useless from Gottlieb's perspective, though. He believes they can help paint a clearer picture of the scale of the pandemic — that is, while they may not help dictate what an individual should do going forward, they can help scientists and doctors understand the larger trend. Gottlieb has said he believes the number of coronavirus cases in the United States is likely 10 to 20 times higher than what's been recorded, and that would likely include folks who have already recovered.He also said he's fairly confident antibodies do point to some immunity, meaning it's unlikely people would get re-infected, or, if they do, they probably would experience a mild case since the body is more experienced at fighting the virus. The question, of course, is how long that immunity lasts.More stories from theweek.com How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not Trump was the disaster we should have seen coming
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| Bangladesh eases some restrictions, extends lockdown to May 16 Posted: 04 May 2020 02:08 AM PDT  Bangladesh authorities said on Monday they will gradually open up more factories, as well as farms and logistics operations, as they try to diminish the economic impact of a coronavirus lockdown which they extended to May 16. The move followed a decision last week to reopen more than 2,000 garment factories that supply global brands, after a month-long shutdown. The official tally of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose by 688 to surpass 10,000, the health ministry said.
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| This Extremely Detailed Owl Puzzle Has Unique Wooden Pieces That Create a Colorful Masterpiece Posted: 05 May 2020 09:31 AM PDT |
| Trump says he might give federal coronavirus aid to states if they comply with his political demands Posted: 05 May 2020 01:10 PM PDT  Trump has been sharply criticized for suggesting a quid pro quo between states and the federal government during a public-health crisis.
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| Cuomo Blasts Trump: Your Bailout Strategy Will Doom Us All Posted: 05 May 2020 11:03 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Republicans' refusal to bail out cash-strapped states "will lead to defeat for us all," in an epic rant on Tuesday against the federal government's "decades" of mismanagement and crippling partisanship in the face of COVID-19."It's not red or blue, it's red, white, and blue. This coronavirus doesn't pick Democrats or Republicans. It doesn't kill Democrats or Republicans, it kills Americans," Cuomo said during his daily press briefing in New York City, urging the nation to embrace "factual, productive and united" bipartisanship to pass a virus relief stimulus bill necessary to "get this economy back on its feet.""The virus is less discriminating and more of an equalizer than the lens through which we're viewing it," he added. "And if we can't get past this now, when can we get past this? You can't put your politics aside even now, even today?"Cuomo Slams McConnell: 'I Dare You' to Let States Declare BankruptcyCuomo has repeatedly feuded with Republican leadership over the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a Monday interview with the New York Post, Trump said he wouldn't provide federal aid to states that have been hit hard by the coronavirus, including New York, because they're mostly blue states."I think Congress is inclined to do a lot of things, but I don't think they're inclined to do bailouts. A bailout is different than, you know, reimbursing for the plague," Trump said. "It's not fair to the Republicans because all the states that need help—they're run by Democrats in every case. Florida is doing phenomenal, Texas is doing phenomenal, the Midwest is, you know, fantastic—very little debt."Trump, who was happy to bail out the airline and cruise ship industries with $58 billion, has also floated the idea of incorporating a state's use of "sanctuary cities" in bailout considerations. "If you starve the states, how do you expect the states to be able to fund this entire reopening plan?" Cuomo said, adding that Democratic lawmakers will not pass another bill that does not provide funding for states. "The president, in my opinion, has to be the responsible one here."Cuomo, who has been asking for federal funding for weeks, said the federal government has the authority to "literally determine how many people live or die." New York is grappling with a $13.3 billion budget shortfall and is projected to lose another $61 billion over four years as a result of the public health crisis.Cuomo said New York was resilient enough to bounce back from what he previously called an "economic tsunami" but he said he was more appalled that the federal government was in a stalemate over allocating funds in the next stimulus bill to state and local governments."It's not a blue-state issue. Every state has coronavirus cases. This is not any mismanagement by the states," Cuomo said. "If anything, the mismanagement has been on behalf of the federal government, and that's where the mismanagement has gone back decades." Trump's comments to the Post echoed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who suggested last week that states most affected by the pandemic should consider filing for bankruptcy rather than seeking additional aid from the federal government. McConnell said any additional assistance to state and local governments needed to be "thoroughly evaluated."Cuomo, who has repeatedly slammed McConnell for his "absurd" suggestion, said Tuesday that New York had paid $116 billion more than it had received from the federal government annually, money he wished "to get back" if Republicans refused to provide relief funding. New York had given the most money to the federal government, while Kentucky—McConnell's home state—was among the top three states to receive more than they give, he added. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also slammed Trump on Tuesday, calling the president "a pure hypocrite" for putting politics over the coronavirus response. In his daily briefing, de Blasio said Trump claimed he does not "do bailouts" but provided nearly $58 billion to the airline industry amid the pandemic.Trump Wants to Bail Out Airlines and Cruise Ships. How About Us?"He says he's not inclined to do bailouts. He's a pure hypocrite given how much money he's put in the hands of the corporations and the wealthy already," de Blasio said, noting that the pandemic is projected to cost the city $7.4 billion in lost tax revenue next year. "That means he's not inclined to help firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, police officers, doctors, nurses, health-care workers, teachers, sanitation workers."Seemingly in response to Cuomo's harsh words, Trump took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to suggest "poorly run" states were using the pandemic as an excuse to secure federal funds. "Well run States should not be bailing out poorly run States, using CoronaVirus as the excuse!" Trump tweeted, adding that "the elimination of Sanctuary Cities, Payroll Taxes, and perhaps Capital Gains Taxes, must be put on the table." The political squabble comes as New York officials shift their attention to reopening the economy. To date, 25,000 state residents have died and 318,953 more have been infected with the coronavirus. Cuomo said that, although 230 people died in the last 24 hours, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths have decreased over the last week. And while the state seems to be past the worst of the pandemic, Cuomo stressed his continued apprehension about lifting shelter-in-place restrictions too early, triggering a second wave of the disease. "There's a cost to staying closed, no doubt. Economic cost, personal cost. There's also a cost to reopening quickly. Either option has a cost," Cuomo said. "The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost, but the higher the human cost because the more lives lost. That, my friends, is the decision we are really making. What is that balance? What is that trade-off?"Federal projections now estimate the COVID-19 death toll will increase from 60,000 to 100,000. Cuomo reiterated Tuesday that, despite political and economic pressure to loosen restrictions, New York still has a long way to go between public life to return to a "new normal." 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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| Boko Haram jihadists clash with army near key Niger city Posted: 05 May 2020 09:14 AM PDT  Boko Haram fighters clashed with government forces on Sunday in Diffa, the largest city in southwestern Niger, in what the jihadists said was a successful attack on a military camp. A propaganda video released by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group affiliated to the so-called Islamic State, purports to show heavily-armed insurgents storm an army camp following sustained fighting and heavy weapons fire. The area around Diffa, a city of around 200,000 people located near the Nigerian border, has been repeatedly attacked by the jihadist group, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009.
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| Trump makes false statement, claims Biden offered him an apology Posted: 04 May 2020 03:45 AM PDT  President Trump falsely stated on Sunday that Joe Biden apologized for calling him xenophobic after he issued travel restrictions on China.
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| Iranian airline linked to Revolutionary Guards 'defied coronavirus ban on China flights' Posted: 05 May 2020 03:08 AM PDT  An Iranian airline with links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps may have contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the Middle East after it continued to fly to China despite a ban imposed by the Iranian government, an investigation has claimed. Mahan Air, a privately owned airline, flew between Iran and China 157 times between early February and March, an analysis of flight tracking data by BBC Arabic found. The Iranian government banned flights to and from China on January 31. Mahan said it was suspending flights and ticket sales to and from China on February 2, in accordance with instruction from the World Health Organisation and Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation. It has previously said it carried out several evacuation flights of Iranian citizens after that date, and published a message of thanks from Iranian aviation authorities for doing so on its website on February 7. The flights included an Airbus 310 that repatriated 70 Iranian students from Wuhan to Tehran on February 6, and then flew on to Baghdad the following day. Four more flights were operated between February 3 and February 6, carrying repatriated Chinese and Iranian citizens in either direction. But the BBC found that that airline continued to fly regularly to destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen after that. It also claimed that Mahan had continued to fly to Iraq after the government of that country banned flights from Iran on April 20, and to the United Arab Emirates after it introduced a ban on February 25. Iraq and Lebanon reported their first cases of coronavirus in travellers from Iran in February. The BBC claimed both cases arrived on Mahan Air flights. Iran was one of the worst-affected countries at the beginning of the pandemic and has so far recorded almost 100,000 cases of the coronavirus. Allegations that Mahan was flouting the flight ban were first reported in the Shargh daily, a reformist newspaper in Iran. Mahan said in a statement at the time that since the ban on China routes it had only flown repatriation and aid flights at the request of the country's ministries of health and foreign affairs. It said it had also agreed to fly industrial materials from China for Iranian manufacturers. "Obviously, our company would be in such a situation that regardless of material interests and even accepting losses, it had to assist the esteemed government and the country's industries and carry over hundreds of tons of industrial items to Iran," it said. Mahan has faced US sanctions because of its suspected links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps. Germany, France and Italy banned Mahan flights in 2019, following requests from the United States. Germany cited "security" concerns and the airline's alleged role in flying personnel and material to conflict zones including Syria. The airline's last European Union route, a twice-weekly service between Tehran and Barcelona was cancelled in March after Spain revoked its landing license. Mahan did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
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| How child abusers and other criminals are exploiting COVID-19 realities Posted: 05 May 2020 04:29 AM PDT  "There is no doubt that with more children online, we need to work harder to protect those children," National Crime Agency boss says.
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| Philippine telecoms body orders TV broadcaster that irked Duterte to shut Posted: 05 May 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Duterte has repeatedly threatened to block the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise, after the channel refused to air his 2016 presidential campaign commercials.
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| Tokyo governor Koike to ask businesses to refrain from operating until end of May - NHK Posted: 04 May 2020 11:29 PM PDT  Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will ask businesses in Japan's biggest city to refrain from operating until the end of this month, following the central government's extension of the state of emergency, a public broadcaster NHK reported. The Tokyo government will pay more financial aid to businesses that remain closed during the period, the report said, adding that she will announce details at a media briefing later on Tuesday. Japan on Monday extended a nationwide state of emergency to May 31, saying the new coronavirus infection rate had yet to drop enough to justify ending measures aimed at slowing the outbreak.
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| Woman killed by alligator in SC was doing homeowner's nails Posted: 05 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT |
| Airbnb is holding an all-hands meeting and rumors are circulating among employees that layoffs may be on the agenda Posted: 05 May 2020 11:32 AM PDT  Sources confirm that the company is holding an all hands meeting, while online forums suggest the company may be discussing additional layoffs.
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| Trump gives up on virus fight to focus on economic recovery – and re-election Posted: 05 May 2020 09:46 AM PDT  With Covid-19 deaths set to almost double this month, the president is putting the stock market before lives, critics say * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageDonald Trump is effectively abandoning a public health strategy for the coronavirus pandemic and showing "clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones", critics say.A leaked internal White House report predicts the daily death toll from the virus will reach about 3,000 on 1 June, almost double the current tally of about 1,750, the New York Times revealed on Monday.Yet at the same time, Trump has scrapped daily coronavirus task force briefings and marginalized his medical experts in favour of economic officials flooding the airwaves to urge states to reopen for business – even amid rising infection rates.On Tuesday morning, before boarding Air Force One to visit a medical mask-making facility in Arizona for his first long trip since late March when the outbreak escalated in the US, Trump weighed a predicted surge in deaths against economic revival."There is no great win, one way or the other, but I will tell you where there is a win, we are going to build a country, I did it once, two months ago we had the best economy in the history of the world, but we are going to do it again and that's what we're starting … it's going to happen pretty fast."The top US public health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned in a CNN interview the previous evening that there will be a "rebound" of new coronavirus cases in the US if the country rushes towards a "premature" reopening of society and business."How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality sooner rather than later?" he asked.And on Tuesday morning New York governor Andrew Cuomo warned against what he called a life or death "trade-off" when planning how and when to lift restrictions."The faster we reopen the lower the economic costs, but the higher the human costs because the more lives lost. That, my friends, is the decision we are really making," Cuomo said at his daily briefing.Critics are now sharply questioning the Trump administration approach to what Fauci called "a very difficult choice" that weighs a death toll against economic catastrophe."They've decided in a very utilitarian kind of way that the political damage from a collapsed economy is greater than the political damage from losing as many as 90,000 more Americans just in June," said Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist. "We're witnessing the full-scale application of a kind of grisly realpolitik that is a clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones."In a sign of the shift, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie told CNN that increased deaths could be worth it if the economy reopens. "Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can – but the question is, towards what end, ultimately?" said Christie, a Republican who led Donald Trump's presidential transition team in 2016. He added: "Are there ways that we can … thread the needle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?"When Trump declared a national emergency on 13 March, hopes rose that, for all the early downplaying and missed testing opportunities, the federal government was finally ready to attack the crisis with full force.Trump quickly branded himself a "wartime president" and, on 31 March, somberly braced Americans for a "very, very painful two weeks" ahead. His daily White House coronavirus taskforce briefings earned comparisons with campaign rallies, sometimes running for more than two hours, but also featured respected experts, Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, armed with graphics and science.On 23 April, however, Trump pontificated about injecting disinfectant into coronavirus patients, prompting worldwide disbelief and derision. The briefings would never be the same again and over the past week have been replaced by set-piece events touting an economic comeback.On Sunday, tellingly, when Trump held a Fox News virtual town hall entitled "America Together: Returning to Work" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, he was accompanied not by Birx and Fauci but Vice-President Mike Pence and the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.The president has been egged on by Fox News hosts who question whether the virus is any worse than the common flu, doubt the value of physical distancing and contend that the economic shutdown, which has cost at least 30m jobs, shows the cure is worse than the problem.On Saturday, a Washington Post report suggested Trump had been encouraged to pivot from the health crisis to the economic fightback by an internal White House analysis that suggested the daily death toll would peak in mid-April then fall away significantly. His "decision-making has been guided largely by his re-election prospects", the Post added.But death toll predictions from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a model favored by the White House, were raised on Monday from 72,000 to 134,000 by the start of August because, it said, states are relaxing physical distancing too soon.Now, critics say, Trump seems ready to shrug at the losses as collateral damage, paying greater heed to his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, than Birx or Fauci.Wilson, author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, warned: "They may end up making the situation so bad with a second wave in the summer and a third wave in the fall that we end up with a much worse set of economic challenges than if we'd taken our bitter medicine and stayed shut down until we were through the early part of this crisis."The grim news remains inescapable but the administration hopes its economic message will offer at least some counter-programming.Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary, said: "Almost by necessity, they are changing their strategy. They are pinning all of their hopes on getting the economy reopened, using their economic spokespeople and hoping that the American public has a high toleration for the death count moving up. It sounds terrible to say and even worse to do."I think you won't be seeing much from the scientists any more – the news is that bad – and they're just going to turn a blind eye to the fact that what they're doing is going to kill more people, because ultimately the way the president makes decisions is what's good for his re-election."
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| Armed lockdown protestors who stormed Michigan Capitol represent ‘worst racism and awful parts’ of US history, governor says Posted: 04 May 2020 08:31 AM PDT  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has criticised the stay-at-home protesters who stormed the state's Capitol on Thursday, saying they represent the "worst racism and awful parts" in US history.Her heated comments came when appearing on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan and how some residents have responded to current stay-at-home measures.
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| Jim Jordan Demands Top FBI Officials Answer Questions about ‘Perjury Trap’ Set for Michael Flynn Posted: 05 May 2020 06:37 AM PDT  House Judiciary Republicans are demanding that FBI Director Christopher Wray answer for the Bureau's "targeting" of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn by making top officials and documents connected to the probe available to lawmakers.House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Representative Mike Johnson (R., La.) asked Wray to hand over all documents and communications related to the FBI's "Crossfire Razor" investigation of Flynn, as well as to address why the Bureau has not been forthcoming regarding the new information about the case that has been released in court filings."The American people continue to learn troubling details about the politicization and misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI during the Obama-Biden Administration," Jordan and Johnson wrote. "Even more concerning, we continue to learn these new details from litigation and investigations — not from you. It is well past time that you show the leadership necessary to bring the FBI past the abuses of the Obama-Biden era."Records released last week showed that handwritten notes dated January 24, 2017 — the same day of Flynn was interviewed at the White House interview by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka — showed one agent questioning whether the goal of the interview was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."Further documents released in the case also reveal that Strzok intervened to keep the Flynn case open after Crossfire Razor investigators noted on January 4, 2017 that they had found "no derogatory information" regarding Flynn's Russian contacts. That same day, Strzok also told a redacted individual that the FBI's "7th floor" had intervened — apparently referencing the floor in Bureau headquarters that houses senior FBI leadership.In their letter, Jordan and Johnson ask Wray to allow Pientka and Priestap to be made available for an interview to explain their respective roles in the case, and also ask Wray to publicly address allegations that he had opposed the disclosure of exculpatory information in the Flynn case, as reported by the Daily Caller.President Trump reportedly wants to fire Wray in response to the latest revelations, but the president is unlikely to remove him before the November election. Wray has been backed publicly by Attorney General Bill Barr, who said in an October interview that "there's been a world of change" since Wray took over in 2017. "I think that he is restoring the steady professionalism that's been a hallmark of the FBI," Barr told Fox News.
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| Blake Bivens learned on Facebook that wife, son, mother-in-law were killed Posted: 05 May 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Bivens, who last season pitched for the Montgomery Biscuits, an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, opened up about the August 2019 deaths of his family. His brother-in-law has been charged.
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| Pelosi pushes new virus package Posted: 05 May 2020 11:45 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed ahead Tuesday with the next coronavirus aid plan, a sweeping $800 billion-plus package that is expected to be unveiled soon, even as the House stays closed while the Senate reopens during the pandemic.
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| Taiwan rebuffs WHO, says China has no right to represent it Posted: 04 May 2020 11:29 PM PDT  Only Taiwan's democratically-elected government can represent its people on the world stage, not China, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to "cast off" China's control during the coronavirus pandemic. Taiwan's exclusion from WHO, due to China's objections which considers the island one of its provinces, has infuriated Taipei, which says this has created a dangerous gap in the global fight against the coronavirus. Taiwan has been lobbying to attend, as an observer, this month's meeting of the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), although government and diplomatic sources say China will block the move.
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| Italy eases virus lockdown, and gets first reckoning of toll Posted: 04 May 2020 11:28 AM PDT  Greece, Portugal and Belgium also eased virus restrictions, while Britain was poised to soon overtake Italy as the country with the most confirmed COVID-19 dead in Europe. Traffic ticked up in city centers, commuter and long-distance trains sold out and more people ventured out after restrictions on movement eased for the first time since Italy locked down March 11. "We are being careful, trying not to do too many things, but at least we are finally outside and breathing some fresh air," said Daniele Bianchi as he strolled through Rome's Villa Borghese park.
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| Report: Intel shared among U.S. allies contradicts claim coronavirus spread because of lab accident Posted: 04 May 2020 07:55 PM PDT  Intelligence shared between the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand indicates that it's "highly unlikely" the COVID-19 coronavirus originated in a Wuhan, China, laboratory, two officials told CNN on Monday, citing an intelligence assessment.The countries make up the Five Eyes alliance, and two officials said the nations are uniting around the assessment. One Western diplomat told CNN the intelligence points to the coronavirus outbreak coming from a market in Wuhan, and it's "highly likely it was naturally occurring and that the human infection was from natural human and animal interaction."Another official said "clearly the market is where it exploded from," but it's not clear how the virus got there. This official noted that each Five Eyes country does keep some intelligence to themselves, and the U.S. might not be sharing everything it knows about the coronavirus.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed there is "enormous evidence" the coronavirus spread as a result of a lab accident, backing up earlier comments made by President Trump. Officials who have examined classified U.S. intelligence reports told The New York Times that several theories are being investigated, and there is no evidence the virus was man-made or genetically modified.More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| A New York City police officer was filmed punching a bystander during arrests while enforcing social distancing measures Posted: 04 May 2020 10:03 AM PDT  An NYPD officer identified as Francisco Garcia was filmed violently punching a man named Donni Wright on Saturday.
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| Why shut down his own coronavirus task force? Trump wants someone to blame if things get worse Posted: 05 May 2020 03:34 PM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence says the cornavirus task force could end in early June. Why?
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| No sign of second wave in Germany as first data on lifting lockdown emerges Posted: 05 May 2020 08:22 AM PDT  There was no sign of a second wave of coronavirus infections in Germany as the first reliable data on the effects of lifting the lockdown emerged on Tuesday. Two weeks after shops were allowed to reopen, the rate of new infections continues to fall, the government-funded Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced. The reproduction number, or R — the number of people each person with the virus infects — is close to its lowest recorded level, at 0.71. "The rate of transmitted infections continues to fall. This is very good news," Prof Lothar Wieler, the head of the RKI said. The figures are the first to include reliable data on new infections since Germany began to lift its lockdown two weeks ago. New infections take time to develop and scientists assume a lag of 10-14 days before they are reflected in the figures. But Prof Wieler cautioned against celebrating too early. "We know there will probably be a second wave. The majority of scientists agree on this and many believe there will also be a third wave," he said.
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| The US and Sweden may have approached the coronavirus differently, but they could both end up with high death rates Posted: 05 May 2020 02:47 PM PDT  Sweden avoided a lockdown entirely, while states across the US have relied on stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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| Israel vows to pursue Syria operations until Iran leaves Posted: 05 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Israel will keep up its operations in Syria until its arch enemy Iran leaves, Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday after strikes on Iranian-backed militias and their allies killed 14 fighters. Israel has launched hundreds of attacks in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Jewish state rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria but says Iran's presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its attacks.
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| U.S. coronavirus deaths exceed 70,000 as forecasting models predict grim summer Posted: 05 May 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 - more than the combined total of the next largest outbreaks in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. A University of Washington research model https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america often cited by White House officials on Monday nearly doubled its projected U.S. death toll to over 134,000 by Aug. 4. The U.S. coronavirus outbreak is deadlier than any flu season since 1967 when about 100,000 Americans died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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| The Trump administration is privately estimating the daily coronavirus death rate will double in the next month Posted: 04 May 2020 09:56 AM PDT  Publicly, the Trump administration is pushing for states to let businesses reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Privately, it's forecasting a very disturbing future.The Trump administration is forecasting the U.S. daily death toll from coronavirus will rise to 3,000 by June 1. That's nearly twice the current toll of 1,750 deaths per day, The New York Times reports via an internal administration document.> This is what CDC thinks the future looks like. https://t.co/5NnljVJqVJhttps://t.co/bQYUD9LUGM pic.twitter.com/xGGm1SZYfF> > — Margot Sanger-Katz (@sangerkatz) May 4, 2020The White House's prediction is based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modeling, though reported COVID-19 deaths have already far outpaced the CDC's model. The CDC also predicts the U.S. could go from adding about 25,000 new coronavirus cases every day to adding 200,000 or more daily by the end of the month. As some states resume business as usual, those growth rates could further worsen.More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| Sheriff admits he killed a man when he was 14 Posted: 04 May 2020 08:03 AM PDT  A senior police officer has admitted that he killed a man when he was 14-years-old, despite not mentioning it in his job application for his current position.Broward County sheriff Gregory Tony, who became sheriff in 2019, after Scott Israel was suspended from the position, admitted to the killing after a report that was released on Saturday claimed he killed a man in 1993.
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