| Pompeo steps up US pressure on China over pandemic handling Posted: 03 May 2020 10:45 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday stepped up a US campaign to hold China accountable for the spread of the deadly coronavirus, asserting there is "enormous evidence" the virus originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. The high-security bio-containment facility, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, has called such claims "impossible". Pompeo, speaking on ABC's "This Week," did not elaborate on what he also described as "significant amounts of evidence".
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| Bomb threat against China Airlines flight closes Anchorage airport Posted: 02 May 2020 06:22 PM PDT  The Anchorage airport, Alaska's largest, temporarily shut on Saturday to inbound traffic because of a bomb threat against a China Airlines cargo flight bound for Asia. The cargo plane diverted to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport early in the morning after leaving Seattle, airport officials said. No bomb was found and the airport was reopened shortly before noon, officials said. The plane was searched in a secure, remote section of the airport, the airport said in a statement, with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Anchorage Police Department. "After extensive investigation, no explosive device was located," the airport's police and fire department said in a statement. "Investigation at the airport has been completed, however, the investigation into the source of the threat continues. The FBI does not believe there is any continuing threat to our community as a result of this incident." The Anchorage Daily News said the plane was headed to Taipei, Taiwan and the threat had been called into the Port of Seattle, quoting an FBI spokesman who said investigators were still trying to determine the source of the threat. China Airlines, Taiwan's largest carrier, said in a statement the flight had already taken off for Taipei when it was informed of the threat by Seattle airport. The plane was then diverted to Anchorage. The crew were taken to a hotel to rest while police searched the aircraft and determined nothing unusual, it added. The aircraft is expected to land in Taipei late Sunday evening, China Airlines said. Anchorage Airport is one of the world's top five air-cargo hubs. It ranks second in the nation for weight of landed cargo. It ranks 58th in passenger travel among US airports. While passenger flights have been sharply curtailed during the coronavirus pandemic, air cargo operations are considered by the state to be essential and have continued. Flights that could not land in Anchorage on Saturday morning were advised to consider diverting to the airport in Fairbanks, another cargo hub.
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| 'Devastatingly worrisome': Dr. Deborah Birx decries scenes of protesters not practicing social distancing amid coronavirus Posted: 03 May 2020 02:54 PM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx warned that protesters who carry an infection home to their grandmother or grandfather would feel guilty for the rest of their lives.
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| Missing Idaho kids: Judge won't lower Lori Vallow's $1 million bond Posted: 01 May 2020 05:40 PM PDT  The defense believes attorney-client conversations are being recorded in jail.
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| New York's Cuomo warns against 'blindly' reopening states Posted: 02 May 2020 10:20 AM PDT  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday pushed back against what he called premature demands that he reopen the state, saying he knew people were struggling without jobs but that more understanding of the new coronavirus was needed. As governors in about half of the United States partially reopen their economies over this weekend, Cuomo said he needed much more information on what the pandemic was doing in his state, the hardest hit by the disease, before he loosens restrictions aimed at curbing its spread. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy echoed Cuomo's slow-go restart approach, even as he reported "positive trends," including a decline in the number of hospital patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
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| A Florida medical examiner sent emails begging officials to close local beaches. The beaches will open with almost no restrictions tomorrow. Posted: 03 May 2020 02:00 PM PDT  St. Johns County beaches were closed for about two weeks, partially re-opened on April 17 and will completely re-open on Monday.
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| Random coronavirus testing indicates nearly a third of Kabul could be infected Posted: 03 May 2020 08:14 AM PDT  Some countries have been receiving relatively good news about their coronavirus epidemics — Spain for instance is easing restrictions thanks to a dwindling case load, and Madrid just reported its lowest one-day death increase since March 18. South Korea, meanwhile, reported only 13 new cases Sunday, and is getting prepared to rollback some elements of its lockdown, as well. But those positive steps are far from a global trend.India and Russia both reported record daily infections, while deaths continue to climb in the United States and the United Kingdom. One country that has people particularly worried is Afghanistan, where the health ministry revealed Sunday that a small study indicates about a third of Kabul's residents could be infected with COVID-19. The study involved 500 random COVID-19 tests that resulted in 156 positives. Overall, Afghanistan has taken close to 12,000 samples, with 2,700 coming back positive.The latest news has officials worried the disease is spreading more rapidly than originally thought. Afghanistan has long been seen as a country vulnerable to the pandemic, especially as the government and the Taliban struggle to broker a peace deal to end their violent, decades-long conflict. Kabul and other cities in the country are on lockdown.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathing cartoons about Democrats' MeToo hypocrisy 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Mike Pence's unmasked hospital visit The angst over Joe Biden's assault allegation has an easy resolution
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| The US records its highest daily death toll as almost 20 states ease lockdown restrictions, WHO reports Posted: 03 May 2020 03:28 AM PDT  On Friday, the country saw a total of 2,909 total deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in 24 hours — its highest number yet.
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| Nearly 10,000 inmates freed as virus hits Philippine jails Posted: 02 May 2020 02:28 AM PDT  Nearly 10,000 prison inmates have been released in the Philippines as the country races to halt coronavirus infections in its overcrowded jails, a Supreme Court official said Saturday. The move follows a directive to lower courts to release those awaiting trial in prison because they could not afford bail, Associate Supreme Court Justice Mario Victor Leonen told reporters. Covid-19 outbreaks have been reported at some of the country's most overcrowded jails, affecting both inmates as well as corrections personnel.
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| China releases animation mocking US response to coronavirus outbreak Posted: 02 May 2020 09:11 PM PDT  China has published a short animation titled "Once Upon a Virus" mocking the US response to the new coronavirus using Lego-like figures to represent the two countries. Washington and Beijing are locked in a war of words over the origins of the disease, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has grown into a global pandemic. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence. In the animation posted online by China's official Xinhua news agency, red curtains open to reveal a stage featuring Lego-like figures in the form of a terracotta warrior wearing a face mask and the Statue of Liberty. "We discovered a new virus," says the warrior. "So what?" replies the Statue of Liberty. "It's only a flu."
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| Venezuela says it foiled attack by boat on main port city Posted: 03 May 2020 05:55 AM PDT  Venezuelan officials said they foiled an early morning attempt by a group of armed "mercenaries" to invade the country in a beach landing using speedboats Sunday, killing eight attackers and arresting two more. Cabello said it was carried out by neighboring Colombia with the United States backing the plot to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro - a claim dismissed by U.S. and Colombian officials. "Those who assume they can attack the institutional framework in Venezuela will have to assume the consequences of their action," said Cabello, adding that one of the detained claimed to be an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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| U.K.'s Johnson says doctors prepared to announce his death as he fought COVID-19 Posted: 03 May 2020 03:03 AM PDT  Johnson said he was "in denial" and he initially brushed off the seriousness of the situation when he tested positive for the virus in late March.
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| U.S. processes over $500 billion in small business loans to stem coronavirus fallout Posted: 03 May 2020 07:04 AM PDT  The SBA has processed about 2.2 million loans worth more than $175 billion since Congress last month authorized more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, part of almost $3 trillion in spending to fight the heavy economic toll of the pandemic, which has thrown about 30 million Americans out of work.
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| Fact check: Will Florida order residents to get vaccinated for COVID-19? Posted: 02 May 2020 10:04 AM PDT  An Instagram post says Florida can order people to take a coronavirus vaccination. That is true, but it is false to imply this will happen right away.
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| 19 minors aged 9 to 16 are accused of stealing 46 cars worth a total of $1.1 million from dealerships in North Carolina Posted: 02 May 2020 01:38 PM PDT  The Winston-Salem Police Department said that since March 17, 46 vehicles have been stolen from 12 car dealerships.
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| A US researcher who worked with a Wuhan virology lab gives 4 reasons why a coronavirus leak would be extremely unlikely Posted: 02 May 2020 05:11 AM PDT  A fringe theory posits that the coronavirus accidentally leaked from a Wuhan lab. But a US researcher says there's no evidence for that.
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| The angst over Joe Biden's assault allegation has an easy resolution Posted: 02 May 2020 03:35 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden finally confronted the rape accusation against himself on Friday. He went on MSNBC's Morning Joe, where he categorically denied the events described by his accuser, Tara Reade, had happened and insisted that he would not release his Senate papers early so reporters could look at them. On the other hand, he also said "Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make."All this is no doubt intensely frustrating for loyal Democratic voters. President Trump has been accused of worse than what Biden is alleged to have done, and on more than one occasion, yet largely skated from serious scrutiny. That is probably why when Chris Hayes did a segment on the story on his own MSNBC show, furious Democratic partisans made FireChrisHayes trend nationally on Twitter.But getting mad is not going to get Democrats out of their Biden fix. Only one thing can do that — pressuring Biden out of the race, and replacing him with someone else.As I have previously written, Reade's story about Biden is credible. It would never meet the courtroom standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt," but given that Reade is now known to have privately told at least five people what happened at the time or in the years following, it can't be dismissed out of hand. Biden has a track record of behaving creepily around women, and has a long history of ridiculous exaggeration and telling bald-faced lies. At bottom, it is quite similar to many other MeToo stories.The plain fact is that this accusation is going to dog Biden for the rest of the campaign. Trump has already started talking about it. The right-wing media will cover the story for purely political reasons. Fox News does not care about MeToo, but the story damages Biden, demoralizes Democrats, and makes liberals look like egregious hypocrites. The sight of nearly every Democratic-aligned women's rights group queasily keeping silent about the story is simply delicious for the likes of Sean Hannity (though a few have started speaking out).It's also hard to see how Biden could conclusively "address" the story, as some liberals have advocated. At bottom it is a case of he-said-she-said, and Biden does not have a record of scrupulous honesty.Many mainstream and lefty journalists will continue to cover it. The Reade accusation is unquestionably news, and outside of the right-wing press, there is still a broad ethic of covering stories even if they are politically inconvenient. It is not always honored, but it's still there. As The Intercept's Ryan Grim writes, "I decided early in my career that I would never suppress a story if the only reason I were doing so was concern about its political implications. If you do that, you're no longer a journalist."However, Biden still has not been officially nominated. The Democratic National Convention is not until August 17, and before then he could be pressured into dropping out. If Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, a critical mass of the rest of other Democratic elected officials, and all the various Democratic-aligned activists groups all said in unison that Biden was unfit to be president, and should drop out for the good of the party, he probably would withdraw. The primary rules regarding candidates who drop out are somewhat vague, saying that delegates cannot be "mandated" to vote for someone else, and "shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." But this would seem to allow Biden to instruct his delegates to support another candidate, and in 11 states there are specific rules for doing so. Realistically, no unclear legal technicalities are going to prevent someone else from getting the nomination if Biden refuses to take it.Bernie Sanders would certainly be ruled out, despite the fact that he would have the second-most number of delegates. The entire point of the panicked scramble to endorse a clearly lousy candidate before Super Tuesday was to keep Sanders from winning. But it still could be somebody else — perhaps Washington Governor Jay Inslee, or California Governor Gavin Newsom, both of whom have handled the coronavirus pandemic relatively well (unlike New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose incompetent bungling created the worst outbreak in the world). Inslee or Newsom would not be my first choice, but at least they have no rape allegations against them and are in full possession of their faculties.Or simpler still, as Alex Pareene suggests, Democrats could simply re-start the primary and see who wins. There would surely be some controversy, but most Democratic voters would wind up happier in the end.Frankly, I cannot possibly believe this will happen. Democratic elites had no problem bending the rules to help Michael Bloomberg, or indeed sending their loyal voters out into the teeth of a viral pandemic to vote in person to put away Sanders. It is clearly within their power to send Biden packing. But they have neither the wisdom nor the foresight of the cynical party bosses of old, who would have thrown him out on his ear long ago.Biden could also still win. Given the appalling economic conditions likely to prevail in November, a random person picked off the street would have a good chance of beating Trump. But still, if you are already exhausted at the prospect of months of arguments about whose sexual assault allegations are worse, the escape hatch is still open.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathing cartoons about Democrats' MeToo hypocrisy 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Mike Pence's unmasked hospital visit Oxford scientist says if coronavirus vaccine is effective it will likely be seasonal
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| New Mexico blocks all roads into Gallup, a 'frightful' hot spot near Navajo Nation Posted: 02 May 2020 10:37 AM PDT  "The virus is running amok there," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said of McKinley County. "It must be stopped, and stricter measures are necessary."
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| Afghanistan probes reports Iranian guards forced migrants into river Posted: 03 May 2020 01:55 AM PDT |
| AP Was There: National Guard kills 4 students at Kent State Posted: 03 May 2020 07:19 AM PDT  The Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college students during a war protest at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Four students were killed, and nine others were injured. Not all of those hurt or killed were involved in the demonstration, which opposed the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia during the Vietnam War.
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| What states are opening up, and when? States are constantly changing their restrictions — here's a list Posted: 03 May 2020 12:41 PM PDT  States have a patchwork of constantly evolving plans to relax social distancing restrictions, plans that often vary by county and even city at times.
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| Southwest Airlines CEO says it's safe to fly again Posted: 03 May 2020 02:08 PM PDT  The CEO of Southwest Airlines, one of the largest US air companies, insisted Sunday that travelers could again fly in safety and added that air traffic, nearly paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic, was gradually reviving. "I don't think the risk on an airplane is any greater risk than anywhere else," Kelly said. Kelly said he believes the worst has passed for the industry.
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| Daniel Pearl: Parents of murdered journalist launch appeal in Pakistan Posted: 03 May 2020 12:53 AM PDT  The US journalist was murdered in 2002 while investigating Islamist militants in Karachi.
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| Illinois anti-lockdown protester waves Nazi slogan from Auschwitz concentration camp Posted: 03 May 2020 11:26 AM PDT  An anti-lockdown protester in Illinois has been widely condemned for brandishing a sign bearing a Nazi slogan from the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp.The woman, who has not been identified, was part of a group protesting to "Re-Open Illinois' in Chicago on Friday.
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| North and South Korean troops exchange fire along border Posted: 03 May 2020 08:04 AM PDT  North and South Korean troops exchanged fire along their border on Sunday, the South's military said, the first such incident since the rivals took unprecedented steps to decrease frontline tensions in 2018.
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| Letters to the Editor: The Democratic Party's #MeToo hypocrisy on Joe Biden is stunning Posted: 03 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Democrats who expect all voters sick of President Trump to vote for Joe Biden are insulting people who care more about the issues than the party.
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| Boris Johnson: 'race to develop a coronavirus vaccine is the endeavour of our lifetime' Posted: 03 May 2020 12:30 PM PDT  Boris Johnson will on Monday describe the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine as "the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes" as he urges countries not to see it as a competition. The Prime Minister will co-host a virtual Coronavirus Global Response International Pledging Conference, aiming to raise £7 billion to develop vaccines, treatments and tests to help end the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Johnson is expected to say: "To win this battle, we must work together to build an impregnable shield around all our people, and that can only be achieved by developing and mass-producing a vaccine. "The more we pull together and share our expertise, the faster our scientists will succeed. The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes. It's humanity against the virus – we are in this together, and together we will prevail." The US will not attend today's summit. President Trump has instead said his focus is "Operation Warp Speed", which aims to have enough doses to cover most Americans by the end of this year, sparking concerns he is adopting an "America First" approach. In March, the German newspaper Die Welt reported that the Trump administration had offered a German medical company "large sums of money" for exclusive access to a vaccine.
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| Violent clash over coronavirus tests at ICE detention center in Massachusetts Posted: 02 May 2020 02:43 PM PDT  The incident ended with three detainees sent to a hospital and $25,000 in damage to the detention center, officials said. Congressman Joe Kennedy is calling for an investigation.
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| These photos show thousands flocking to New York's parks over the weekend after Mayor de Blasio said that good weather 'is very much a threat to us' Posted: 03 May 2020 09:40 AM PDT  But it appeared as if people who were going to the parks were also following the social-distancing measures as much as possible.
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| Gilead Sciences exporting remdesivir, CEO says Posted: 03 May 2020 04:50 PM PDT  The head of the maker of remdesivir, an anti-viral shown to reduce recovery times in COVID-19 patients, said Sunday the company has been exporting the drug and is making it available to patients in the United States through the US government. Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O'Day said the company is donating its entire existing supply of the drug -- 1.5 million vials, enough to treat 100,000 to 200,000 patients. "And our collaboration with the government has been such, we have been very transparent with them here in the United States and we have a good relationship on future allocation."
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| Trump administration terminates funding of coronavirus bat research in China Posted: 03 May 2020 12:28 PM PDT  The Trump administration has cut funding for U.S. nonprofit research into coronaviruses in bats. The renowned EcoHealth Alliance saw its $3.7 grant revoked over their ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused of engineering the novel coronavirus in one of its labs. Professor Robert Garry of the University of Tulane joins CBSN to talk funding cuts, conspiracy theories, and the importance of cataloging the hundreds of different coronaviruses found in Chinese bats.
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| South Korea: Kim did not have surgery amid lingering rumors Posted: 03 May 2020 03:05 AM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not undergo surgery or any other medical procedure, a South Korean official said Sunday, amid speculation about his health that continues to linger even after he reappeared publicly in recent days. While North Korean video showing a smiling Kim moving around, cutting a red ribbon and smoking quelled intense rumors that he might be gravely ill or even have died, some media outlets and observers still raised questions about his health, citing moments when his walking looked a bit stiff at the factory. A senior South Korean presidential official told reporters Sunday that the government had determined that Kim did not have surgery or any other procedure, according to the presidential Blue House.
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| Trump says new FBI notes exonerate Michael Flynn, analysts say that's not the case Posted: 03 May 2020 02:02 PM PDT  Critics said Trump is distorting the contents of notes about an FBI interview in which Flynn apparently lied about talks with a Russian ambassador.
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| Primary schools to reopen in June as part of blueprint to 'unlock' Britain Posted: 02 May 2020 01:20 PM PDT  Primary schools are due to reopen as soon as June 1, as part of Boris Johnson's blueprint for gradually "unlocking" Britain, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. The Prime Minister is expected to unveil the Government's "roadmap" out of the coronavirus lockdown in an address to the nation next Sunday, after ministers take stock of a study showing the rate of the virus's transmission in the UK. One of the plans being discussed to help to reopen workplaces across the country is to ask companies to routinely test asymptomatic staff as part of a national effort to track the disease and isolate those who could be infectious. Based on the current, reduced infection rate, Mr Johnson is hoping to put teachers on three weeks' notice to reopen primary schools in England to all pupils on June 1, Whitehall sources said. Year 10 and Year 12 pupils are then expected to form the first wave of secondary pupils returning to school at a later point, if such a move would be unlikely to increase the transmission rate over the threshold that Mr Johnson warned could result in a dangerous second peak. The earliest possible return of primary schoolchildren is intended to minimise the threat to "early years development" and help parents to return to work. On Saturday, Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary, said: "Home learning is not easy, particularly when one or both parents are trying to work from home as well."
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| Italy's daily coronavirus death toll jumps, new cases stable Posted: 02 May 2020 09:11 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy jumped by 474 on Saturday, against 269 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, posting the largest daily toll of fatalities since April 21. The steep increase in deaths followed a long, gradual declining trend and was due largely to Lombardy, the country's worst affected region, where there were 329 deaths in the last 24 hours compared with just 88 the day before.
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| Nearly four decades later, disappearance of Shelley-Anne Bacsu in Canada still a mystery Posted: 03 May 2020 08:44 AM PDT  Shelley-Anne Bacsu was last seen walking down Highway 16 toward her home in Hinton, Alberta, Canada, on May 3, 1983. She had called her mother at 8 p.m. to let her know she was on her way and asked her to make her something to eat. But Shelley-Anne never made it home. Some of her clothing and a library book were later found alongside Highway 40 near the Athabasca River. The Hinton RCMP Detachment and the RCMP Historical Homicide K Division are investigating.
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| 'Devastatingly worrisome': Birx says protesters gathering without face masks or social distancing could unknowingly infect high-risk relatives at home Posted: 03 May 2020 07:29 AM PDT  "It's devastatingly worrisome to me personally because if they go home and they infect their grandmother or grandfather who has a comorbid condition."
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| Over 100,000 Flamingos Reportedly Descend on Mumbai Amid India's Strict Coronavirus Lockdown Posted: 02 May 2020 09:55 AM PDT  Experts estimate that 25% more flamingos have come to the region compared to last year, according to reports
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| China condemns US tweet on Taiwan exclusion from UN Posted: 02 May 2020 03:34 AM PDT  China has condemned a US tweet backing Taiwan's push for participation at the United Nations as the global body works with its 193 member states to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing's diplomatic mission to the UN expressed "strong outrage and firm opposition" to a message on Friday by the United States calling Taiwan's exclusion an "affront" to UN principles. The self-ruled island, which Beijing considers a wayward province awaiting reunification, has been held up as a model in fighting the virus.
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| In random test of 500 in Afghan capital, one-third has virus Posted: 03 May 2020 06:30 AM PDT  One-third of 500 random coronavirus tests in Afghanistan's capital came back positive, health officials said Sunday, raising fears of widespread undetected infections in one of the world's most fragile states. Neighboring Iran, meanwhile, said it would reopen schools and mosques in some locations, even though the nation has been the regional epicenter of the pandemic since mid-February. The results of the random tests in the Afghan capital of Kabul are "concerning," said Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Mayar.
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| Coronavirus leaves Washington farmers with a big problem: What do you do with a billion pounds of potatoes? Posted: 03 May 2020 03:57 PM PDT  Washington state has a billion pounds of potatoes -- with no destination
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| North Korean media says Kim Jong Un appeared in public, though there was no independent confirmation Posted: 01 May 2020 05:49 PM PDT  President Trump declined to comment on Kim Jong Un's health as North Korea's state-run media reported the leader's first public appearance in weeks.
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| Coronavirus tests fall to fewer than 80,000 two days after hitting the Government's target of 100,000 tests Posted: 03 May 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Coronvirvus tests fell to fewer than 80,000 yesterday just two days after hitting the Government's target of 100,000 tests by the end of the month. The news came as Grant Shapps, the Transport secretary, admitted that a lack of preparedness by the Government could have cost lives. New figues showed that just 76,496 were carried out in the 24 hours up to 9am yesterday, May 3. The fall came after Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on Friday that the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April had been achieved, with more than 122,000 tests provided. That figure itself was questioned on Friday when it emerged that it included tens of thousands of swab kits sent to private homes and satellite testing sites not yet delivered to a laboratory for a result. The new figures mean that more than 1.2million tests have been carried out in the UK since the beginning of April. In the Government's daily briefing on Sunday, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said that steps taken to extend testing would help get more people back to work. He said: "We have tested over 200,000 key workers and their families, allowing those who don't have the virus to go back to work and protecting those who do." Mr Gove said officials had expected a "dip" in testing over the weekend, but it should not "detract from the amazing achievement of the NHS and others in so significantly increasing the amount of tests that are available". The NHS England's national medical director Professor Stephen Powis added: "You will see that testing capacity has ramped up very quickly over the last week or so. "We are now at a very high level of testing, over 100,000 - a little bit of a dip in the weekend, but we anticipate that that testing capacity will continue to increase." Earlier Mr Shapps had been asked by the BBC presenter Andrew Marr if testing had been expanded more quickly and earlier then "a lot of people might not have died. Mr Shapps replied: " Yes, if we had had 100,000 test capacity before this thing started and the knowledge that we now have retrospectively, I'm sure many things could be different." Asked to comment on Mr Shapps' remarks, Mr Gove said the time for lessons "about how we handled this virus in its early stages" was for the future when it was under control.
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| U.S. court dismisses New York nurses case against Montefiore for COVID-19 protection Posted: 01 May 2020 10:29 PM PDT  The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) sued Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, saying among other things that the hospital was ignoring requirements that healthcare workers receive an N95 respirator mask daily. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan on Friday granted Montefiore's motion to dismiss the case, saying he lacked authority to address the nurses' concerns.
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