| Yahoo News/YouGov coronavirus poll: Most Americans reject anti-lockdown protests Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:42 AM PDT  The total number of protesters may be small. But the public's dismissive attitude toward them reflects a deeper sentiment: Americans strongly disagree with those who claim the country is ready to reopen for business.
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| Joe Biden said he'd pick Michelle Obama as his running mate 'in a heartbeat' but wouldn't commit to choosing a woman of color Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:44 AM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden said Monday his 2020 campaign was "just beginning the process" of selecting his running mate.
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| Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says its handheld device can detect coronavirus, scientists scoff Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Iranian scientists have rejected the claim and other government officials have distanced themselves.
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| Police hunt for motive as Canada's worst mass shooting death toll rises to 23 Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:59 PM PDT  The Canadian Broadcasting Corp said the death toll included the suspect. The RCMP said in a statement it was investigating the 16 crime scenes that were part of the murder spree, several of which included burnt-out homes. Police said there were also injuries in the attack, but did not say whether the death toll would rise further.
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| Ocasio-Cortez deletes tweet celebrating crash in oil prices Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:54 AM PDT  "You absolutely love to see it," she wrote
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| Poisonings linked to cleaning supplies spike in US during pandemic Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Calls to US poison centers have risen 20 percent this year because of exposure to bleach and other disinfectants, health authorities said Monday, linking the surge to COVID-19 cleaning recommendations. From January to March 2020, poison centers received 45,550 calls about dangerous exposure to cleaning chemicals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report, up from 37,822 the year before. Exposure to bleaches, non-alcoholic disinfectants and hand sanitizers all saw sharp rises, with the main route being inhalation.
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| 9 Homes For Sale With Beautiful Workout Facilities Posted: 21 Apr 2020 02:36 PM PDT |
| Conte Softens Italy’s Red Lines Over European Virus Aid Plan Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:06 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Just two days before a crucial European Union summit, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signaled a more conciliatory approach to the EU's efforts to craft a trillion-euro rescue package that would mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic.Speaking in Rome to senators in protective masks and gloves, Conte welcomed an initiative by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to boost the joint EU budget, saying it "could have all the characteristics" that Italy demands.Europe is struggling to piece together a rescue plan to avert what's projected to be its steepest recession in living memory. Conte, who has been under pressure from populists both within and outside his fragile coalition, said that any EU recovery fund must be much larger than what previously had been considered, available immediately and come with no strings attached."The European Union and the euro zone cannot allow themselves to repeat the mistakes made in the 2008 financial crisis," Conte said. "The common shock was not tackled in a coordinated or supportive way."Rescue ProposalThe plan being prepared would see the commission use its budget to borrow from financial markets and then channel cheap loans to the worst-hit nations, according to two diplomats briefed on the ongoing preparations.The commission plan largely shuns demands made by Italy and Spain to finance the recovery with joint debt issuance, a controversial proposal rejected by Germany and the Netherlands. The bulk of the leverage created in the so-called recovery instrument of the new EU budget would take place over the next two years and the loans would be repaid after 2027, according to one of the diplomats.Italy's own counterproposal also backtracks from earlier demands from Eurobonds. According to Ansa, it envisages a fund managed by the Commission that raises money in the market with the backing of the EU budget and of member states. The funds would then be used to lend to individual countries with long maturities.Conte also backtracked on an earlier rejection of a proposal to use the European Stability Mechanism, the euro area's bailout fund, to open credit lines for countries in need. "We are ready to work on this new credit line, so that no conditionalities are introduced," the prime minister said.Several EU countries had shown interest in the credit lines without conditions, Conte said. "Rejecting this new credit line means doing a disservice to these countries which flank us in the battle," Conte said. It is too early to tell whether the credit lines will be without conditions, he added."I will not be able to accept watered-down compromises, there will not be some winners or losers," Conte said. "Either we all win or we all lose."Wave of AngerConte's conciliatory new path comes amid a wave of anger in Italy directed at the EU, which many perceive as having done too little when the pandemic hit. In one survey, most Italians described China as a friend and almost half said Germany was the enemy.Earlier Tuesday, Ralph Brinkhaus, the head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's parliamentary caucus, pushed back against portrayals of Germany as failing to demonstrate adequate solidarity over the outbreak."I personally am a little bit sad that the large degree of solidarity that we are showing on European issues is constantly being questioned," Brinkhaus told reporters. "It seems, partly also here in Germany, that the only good European is the one who supports joint debt. That is not our position.""We are not only the biggest net contributor in the European Union but we are also assuming the main burden of the rescue packages for the euro, and we are carrying the main burden of immigration," Brinkhaus added.Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement, the biggest force in Conte's coalition, has long campaigned against ESM credit lines as requiring unacceptable loan conditions.Opposition leader Matteo Salvini of the anti-migrant League, who has criticized the EU for failing to step up for Italy, also has denounced the ESM.(Updates with details of Italian proposal in seventh 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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| Fauci warns protesters about dangers of ending lockdowns prematurely: 'It's going to backfire' Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:56 AM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning about the dangers of reopening the United States too quickly in a message to those protesting stay-at-home orders.Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, appeared on Good Morning America on Monday after protests in some cities against stay-at-home orders; at one in Texas, video captured protesters calling for Fauci to be fired. Polls, however, have found that more Americans are worried about restrictions being loosened too soon than not soon enough.Asked for his message to those protesting, Fauci told ABC, "The message is that clearly this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics ... but unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not going to happen."Fauci went on to stress the importance of a gradual reopening."If you jump the gun, and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you're going to set yourself back," he said. "So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening -- it's going to backfire. That's the problem."These comments come after President Trump on Friday appeared to express support for stay-at-home protesters in some states on Twitter. During a White House briefing on Sunday, Trump said those protesting stay-at-home orders have "cabin fever" and "want their life back." > "Clearly this is something that this is hurting …. but unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not going to happen." -- NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci on protests against stay-at-home orders. pic.twitter.com/n7x3cunEAm> > -- Good Morning America (@GMA) April 20, 2020More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Gretchen Whitmer's pandemic competence is a mirage Hospitals are seeing heart attack and other emergency patients drop off over coronavirus fears
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| China Daily Bureau Chief: Trump a ‘Racist A**hole’ for Suggesting China Has More Coronavirus Deaths than U.S. Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:47 PM PDT  The European bureau chief of China's state-run publication China Daily has called President Trump a "racist a**hole" for claiming China "must have the most" deaths from the global coronavirus pandemic."We don't have the most-in-the-world deaths — the most in the world has to be China," Trump said during Friday's White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. "It's a massive country. It's gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem. And they must have the most."China Daily's Chen Weihua, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's coronavirus response, responded by tweeting that Trump's suggestion was "coldblooded." He added in a later tweet that "Trump is like a mad dog with rabies biting everyone, only to divert attention from his failures," before tweeting that it was "irresponsible" and "immoral" for Trump to suggest that the virus could have come from a Wuhan lab. He also floated a theory pushed as Chinese propaganda that a U.S. military athlete brought the disease to China.In 2018, U.S. officials flagged the Wuhan Institute of Virology as the potential starting point of a "future emerging coronavirus outbreak," citing the lack of safety protocols applied to the Institute's research on "SARS-like coronaviruses in bats."While there is no documented evidence that China has more coronavirus deaths than the U.S., reports have detailed how China covered up the initial coronavirus outbreak, with the Chinese Communist Party recently restricting research into the pandemic's origins and censoring reports of thousands of asymptomatic cases. Radio Free Asia reported in March that Wuhan residents were dismissing the government's reported death counts, anecdotally referencing steep increases in funerals and cremations to estimate at least 40,000 deaths during the city's lockdown.Chen Weihua has been outspoken on Twitter about what he claims is the "racist" U.S. response to the pandemic, echoing a tactic used by other Chinese media outlets to suggest any scrutiny of China's handling of the coronavirus is xenophobic.
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| Saudi executions a record last year Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  "The death penalty is another violation which has gone in line with that trend of a real deterioration in civil and political rights," said a rights advocate.
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| U.S. Supreme Court requires unanimous jury verdicts for serious crimes Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:16 AM PDT  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the constitutional guarantee of trial by jury requires a unanimous verdict for serious crimes, siding with a Louisiana man convicted of murder and paving the way for potentially hundreds of defendants found guilty by divided juries to receive new trials. Only two of the 50 states, Louisiana and Oregon, have permitted non-unanimous verdicts. Writing for the court in the 6-3 ruling, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that the non-unanimous verdict requirement in both states traced back to past racist policies intended to reduce the power of non-white jurors to influence the outcome of trials.
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| AOC deletes tweet saying she ‘loved’ to see US oil prices at record-low after being accused of cheering job losses Posted: 21 Apr 2020 06:29 AM PDT  Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has deleted a tweet that celebrated the crash of the oil market which said: "You absolutely love to see it."As the price of US oil dropped to minus $37 a barrel on Monday, the Democrat had said on Twitter that the crash was an opportunity to 'save the planet'.
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| People are accidentally poisoning themselves with bleach as they try to disinfect their homes to prevent the coronavirus, CDC says Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:05 AM PDT  Accidental poisonings due to cleaning and disinfectant products are on the rise since coronavirus hit the US, according to CDC report.
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| China to ease entry ban on foreigners with South Korea 'fast track' Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:59 AM PDT  China has reached an agreement with South Korea to set up a "fast track" for businesspeople to travel between the countries as Beijing looks to ease an entry ban on foreigners imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. With the deadly disease spreading globally, China last month blocked almost all foreigners from entering as authorities fretted over cases being imported from abroad. Beijing is also in talks with other countries including Singapore to set up a similar channel to stabilise economic cooperation and ensure supply chains run smoothly, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing Tuesday.
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| Kim Jong Un may be in ‘grave danger’ after surgery: CNN Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:12 PM PDT  Reports saying Kim Jong Un underwent a recent medical procedure are fueling speculation about the North Korean leader's health after his unprecedented absence from events last week marking his grandfather's birthday.
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| 'Inherently high-risk setting': Are cruise ships unsafe – and will they change? Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:34 AM PDT  What can the cruise industry do to reassure passengers after multiple outbreaks of coronavirus on cruise ships?
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| Syria: Israel fired missile on areas near historic Palmyra Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:33 PM PDT |
| Worker who died was never moved into new role, away from sick inmates Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:18 PM PDT  Robin Grubbs, a caseworker at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, was found dead in her home Tuesday and posthumously tested positive for the virus.
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| As virus crisis swirls, Trump puts immigration front and center Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  The United States is still battling coronavirus, but with six months to go before he faces re-election, President Donald Trump has shifted gears to put immigration -- a bread-and-butter issue for his supporters -- atop the agenda. "In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!" he wrote. To curb the spread of the deadly contagion, Trump placed restrictions on travel between the US and China in January, and eventually barred foreigners from traveling between the US and most of Europe.
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| Italy's daily coronavirus death toll climbs, new cases also up Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:10 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 534 on Tuesday, up from 454 the day before and the largest daily tally since Friday, the Civil Protection Agency said. The number of new infections also increased to 2,729 from 2,256 on Monday.
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| Alexis Martin: Governor commutes sentence of sex trafficking survivor supported by Kim Kardashian West Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:52 AM PDT  The governor of Ohio has commuted the sentence of a woman previously imprisoned in relation to the fatal shooting of the man who allegedly forced her into sex work.Governor Mike DeWine announced on Friday that he had granted seven commutation requests and denied 84.
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| The IMF says governments should consider new wealth taxes to raise cash from the rich as coronavirus slams the global economy Posted: 21 Apr 2020 01:03 PM PDT  In recent years, the IMF has shifted its focus from tax cuts and recommended policies aimed at reducing income inequality.
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| The new coronavirus may be mutating to a less deadly form Posted: 20 Apr 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Life will not return to normal anytime soon, even if states lift COVID-19 lockdowns in an attempt to revive hard-hit economies. Face masks will be de rigueur, people may be "trapped indoors for months," and crowded public events are out, science reporter Donald McNeil Jr. writes at The New York Times, citing more than 20 health and science experts. Until there's a vaccine, "if Americans pour back out in force, all will appear quiet for perhaps three weeks. Then the emergency rooms will get busy again."Among the many things we don't yet understand about this new coronavirus is how deadly it is or how many people have been infected. "Fatality rates depend heavily on how overwhelmed hospitals get and what percentage of cases are tested," and those numbers keep getting revised in hard-hit areas, McNeil reports. People who die of the disease at home or in overwhelmed hospitals are not counted, but people with few or no symptoms are never tested, so "if you don't know how many people are infected, you don't know how deadly a virus is."The changing fatality rate is one reason the models keep fluctuating, McNeil says, but "there may be good news buried in this inconsistency: The virus may also be mutating to cause fewer symptoms. In the movies, viruses become more deadly. In reality, they usually become less so, because asymptomatic strains reach more hosts. Even the 1918 Spanish flu virus eventually faded into the seasonal H1N1 flu."While we don't know the fatality rate or level of contagion, the "refrigerated trucks parked outside hospitals tell us all we need to know: It is far worse than a bad flu season," McNeil writes. How the pandemic ends depends on the virus' lethality, medical advances, and how individuals behave, he adds. "If we scrupulously protect ourselves and our loved ones, more of us will live. If we underestimate the virus, it will find us."More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are reportedly actively exploring a bid for the New York Mets A parade that killed thousands?
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| Landlords on the pandemic: 'Everyone has an impression of us as rich and greedy' Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Many renters can't afford to pay – and some are threatening rent strikes. But some landlords say they're being unfairly punished * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageThe coronavirus pandemic has brought mass unemployment . To prevent a spate of homelessness, governors across the US have promised moratoriums on evictions, and mortgage forgiveness for those who can't keep up with their payments. But many renters say the protections do not go far enough, and some are threatening rent strikes.Ricardo Reis, who owns 16 properties in Michigan, says there is a stigma against landlords, which means people are less empathetic about their needs during such times."Everyone has an impression of us as being rich and greedy. A lot of tenants will be thinking, how can they ask [us to pay] during this time? But in reality, there are costs involved," says Reis.Those costs include property taxes, insurance, maintenance and mortgage payments. Although homeowners will be provided with mortgage relief during the pandemic, many renters are wondering why they should still pay rent. But plenty aren't aware that commercial property owners – landlords, in other words – are not entitled to this benefit. Furthermore, forbearance programs only defer mortgage payments, rather than completely forgiving the cost."They are seeing this as an opportunity, as opposed to asking for help and relief … to inflict damage on the landlord as some sort of a class warfare," says Jay Martin, the executive director of the community housing improvement project (Chip) in New York.Many landlords say this class-warfare view – the moneyed landlord versus the renter – is misguided. Reis, who also manages properties on behalf of a property management company, says that renters are used to a faceless landlord and don't realize that on the other side is a family looking to pay the mortgage."Tenants have a misconception that landlords make a lot of money, because they think what they pay goes straight into the landlord's pocket," says Reis. In his state,he says most make less than what is presumed."In Michigan, landlords make around $200 to $300 per month for each property, after expenses are accounted for."He adds that the risk landlords take on is high: they take the loan , risk foreclosure if they can't pay the mortgage, and could potentially lose everything. "It's an extremely risky position. And as they say, with risk comes a little bit of reward … and in this case that's dependent on their tenant making their payment on time."Reis believes most tenants won't pay rent if they don't have to, and so criticizes the government for leaving landlords with that risk by offering eviction moratoriums."The state is trying to put it on landlords to house individuals for free," he says. Reis says the government "should instead bolster social housing if they believe that people should live rent-free".He says understands people might look at his 16 homes as a lot. But he says: "For a true real estate investor, it's not a lot. My wife is a school teacher."Greg Margulies, a landlord in LA, is not worried about rent strikes. He says most people understand the consequences of not paying rent.> What could be more greedy than withholding rent that you have the ability to pay?> > Jay Martin"They'll only band together for a very short time – until the first eviction paper comes [through]. Then I think it will hit home," said Margulies. He owns four properties in LA and still has a mortgage on each of them, and he says his property taxes on each building costs him between $500-$1,000 per property.While eviction moratoriums prevent them from being evicted now, in the long term, landlords still have the upper hand: "I can't imagine most landlords are going to look favorably on renters who band together like that. I expect they will get their leases non-renewed, even if they don't get evicted."Margulies empathizes with the fact that there are currently millions out of work. He stresses that most landlords want to work with tenants, to keep them in their properties, not to work against them – he has allowed one tenant who could only pay partial rent, and another who has had to defer payment.But that sympathy can only go so far, he says. "At the same time, [they] still get to stay in the unit: you have a safe place to sleep, you're away from the virus."It's unfortunate you're not working, but that should have nothing to do with paying for what you used. You still have to pay for gas, you still have to pay for groceries."Asked what message he would give to renters thinking of striking, Margulies advises them to keep in contact with their landlord. "We are not blind to what's going on in the world – we see that the world has been turned upside down. We are willing to work with tenants, but if you ignore the landlord, thinking it's going to go away, it's not."But Reis warns that reforms such as moratoriums or rent caps, which are intended to help the tenant, will always ending up costing them as landlords cut corners to seek to make costs back."Moratoriums sound great right now, but come fall [we will have to start changing] how we screen tenants," he says. "It's opened up our eyes, we realize there is just not enough security if the government can freeze rents or put a moratorium in place and just leave us stranded."Martin says it is the behavior of renters rather than landlords that should concern people at the moment."What could be more greedy than withholding rent that you have the ability to pay? [You will] damage the entire housing market, push it towards collapse. To me, it's incredibly short-sighted."
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| Georgia Governor Allows Gyms, Salons, and Bowling Alleys to Reopen Friday as Coronavirus Cases Climb Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:03 PM PDT  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced on Monday that gyms, hair salons, nail salons, barbershops, and bowling alleys will be allowed to reopen in the Peach State on Friday—even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. During an afternoon press conference, Kemp said that the statewide shelter-in-place order will expire on April 30, however he urged the "medically fragile" to continue to hunker down until May 13. The governor, who cited the pandemic's heavy toll on the state's economy, said that some restaurants and movie theaters can reopen on Monday as long as they adhere to social-distancing guidelines. Bars and nightclubs will remain closed. He also gave the green light to churches to hold in-person services.You Might Get a Coronavirus Vaccine Shot in 2021—If You're LuckyThe announcement comes even as top health officials maintain that the best way to prevent further spread of the virus at this stage of the pandemic is to continue enforced social distancing.The governors of two other Southern states, South Carolina and Tennessee, moved to ease restrictions on businesses shortly after Kemp's announcement. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced that retail stores, including department stores and flea markets, will be allowed to reopen on Monday at 5 p.m. with social distancing requirements. McMaster's order—which also lifted closures of public beaches, piers, and docks—requires stores to operate at 20 percent capacity or less and customers to stand six feet apart. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said that most businesses will be allowed to reopen on Monday, saying that "as we open up our economy it will be more important than ever that we keep social distancing as lives and livelihoods depend on it."As of Monday, Georgia has recorded over 18,301 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 637 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.Savannah Mayor Van R. Johnson told The Daily Beast that he is "beyond disappointed" in Kemp's order, which he called "premature, irresponsible, and places the lives of Savannahians at risk.""The science has been clear that expanded and comprehensive testing, combined with decelerated infections rates and reduced hospitalizations are the prerequisites to any phased re-openings or relaxation of emergency order," he added. "It is not clear to me that all of these boxes have been checked."Kemp said his primary concern is Georgians "going broke worried about whether they can feed their children and make the mortgage payment.""These are tough moments in our state and our nation. I hear the concerns of those that I'm honored to serve," Kemp said. "I am confident that together we will emerge victorious from this war we have been fighting."The order requires businesses to meet a set of 20 guidelines to reopen, including screening employees for symptoms of COVID-19, ramping up sanitation procedures, and making people stay six feet apart. Just last week, Kemp insisted that his main focus was to increase testing capacity in the state and said it was ultimately too early to determine whether he would relax restrictions in place to control the spread of the virus, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.The governor has faced criticism for his delayed response to the outbreak, finally issuing a shelter-in-place order weeks after the first reported infections in the state. As he defended that decision, he claimed on April 2 that he had only just found out that the virus could be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. "Those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn't know that until the last 24 hours," the governor said, as he announced the statewide order. The governor's revelation, which he called a "game-changer," shocked health officials who had been warning for weeks of the risk of those who could spread the disease without exhibiting any symptoms. Dr. Sanjay Gupta called his remarks "inexcusable" in an interview with CNN, adding, "We've known this for a long time. "To say that we've just found out in the last 24 hours and that's why we're doing this, this is just not right." Last week, President Donald Trump said that governors can call their own "shots" on reopening their states and relaxing social distancing guidelines. Kemp's order comes amid conservative protests against shelter-in-place orders across the country, demanding that state governors end enforced social distancing. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| For many black women during salon closures, home styling is a hair-raising challenge Posted: 21 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT  "Corporate America does not understand I can't perm or straighten my own hair."
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| Vietnam protests China's expansion in disputed waters Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Vietnam protested on Sunday at China saying it had established two administrative units on islands in the South China Sea, in Beijing's latest move to demonstrate its assertiveness in the disputed waters.
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| China Spots An Opportunity On Hong Kong Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus pandemic has halted protests in Hong Kong over the extent to which China looms over the Asian financial hub's affairs. Even so, it may have just driven that discontent briefly underground.Hong Kong sits uneasily within Chinese rule. It was rocked by enormous, violent protests last year. Now it seems China has decided the moment is right to try and stamp dissent out for good.Over the weekend the Beijing-backed Hong Kong government arrested 15 people, including prominent pro-democracy activists and a lawmaker. It came after Xia Baolong — a close aide to President Xi Jinping — was installed to oversee Hong Kong affairs.China had expressed exasperation of late over opposition lawmakers in Hong Kong's parliament, accusing them of potentially violating their oaths by filibustering and stalling government policy. Legislative elections are scheduled for September.So this latest move is not a massive surprise. China is banking on the virus keeping protesters at bay. Still, it's a risky gambit given the discontent not just with Beijing but with perceived failures by the local government, including on issues like housing and the cost of living. The protests last year drew crowds estimated in the millions.There's also the question of America. President Donald Trump is increasingly pivoting toward China blame for the coronavirus spread. There's an incentive there for him as he assesses his own re-election prospects in November.Already the U.S. has criticized the weekend arrests in Hong Kong. It wouldn't take much for Trump to decide to weigh in there also.Global HeadlinesCulture wars | Trump is dealing with his biggest crisis as U.S. president by stoking the nation's partisan divide over the pandemic. With his poll numbers down, he's egging on protesters against stay-at-home restrictions in states governed by Democrats. The battle over when to ease the lockdown has intensified as cases increase across the U.S., even as slowdowns in deaths and hospitalizations in the epicenter prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo to say New York appeared to be "on the other side" of the outbreak.Cautious optimism | Germany is among the first nations in Europe to ease virus restrictions, allowing smaller stores to reopen this week. With reported cases today rising by the least this month, Europe's biggest economy will be watched closely by countries from Italy to the U.S. Amid declining infections, South Korea will relax some restraints and may resume normal life from May 6, while New Zealand, which was quick to impose a widespread lockdown, will partially ease containment measures in a week.Angry defense | Boris Johnson's government issued two separate, lengthy rebuttals to criticism of its handling of the pandemic after newspaper reports suggested the U.K. prime minister failed to take the virus seriously early on and criticized its procurement of ventilators. Britain has faced a shortage of tests, protective equipment for health workers, and a soaring death toll. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair told Bloomberg TV today the U.K. was "somewhat behind the curve" in suppressing the virus.Divided approaches | President Jair Bolsonaro is still pushing to reopen Brazil's economy, speaking yesterday at a protest against measures imposed by state governors to slow the coronavirus spread. The far-right president has repeatedly defied medical guidance on social distancing by mingling with supporters, and last week fired his health minister amid differences over how to handle the pandemic.Gang truce | South Africa's notorious gangs have responded to the virus outbreak by agreeing to a cease-fire that's slashed the drug trade and seen an unprecedented drop in murders in a country with one of the world's highest homicide rates. As Loni Prinsloo and Pauline Bax report, a network of gang leaders known as the Council is providing funds to their members until June so they can feed their families during the shutdown.What to Watch This WeekItalian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called again for joint euro-area bonds to aid economies hit by the virus, previewing a testy summit Thursday of European Union leaders. Republicans and Democrats are optimistic about reaching a deal to bulk up a loan program for small firms, with news also that burger chain Shake Shack will return a $10 million loan. The U.K. and the EU start talks today over their future relationship after a six-week interruption by the coronavirus. Oil has fallen to the lowest in more than two decades on concern the world is running out of places to store crude after output cuts proved insufficient to cope with plunging demand. Argentina's debt renegotiation process enters the bargaining phase between the government and bondholders after the country presented its offer on Friday.Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday and congratulations to Christopher Genco, who was the first to name South Korean President Moon Jae-in as the leader who secured a strong win in parliamentary elections. Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... As the Amazon becomes a virus hotspot in Brazil, indigenous leaders are, with the help of federal police, blocking the entrances to their territory. Local residents in the area are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus as requirements for maintaining sanitary conditions — including running water — are often lacking. For some, the closest medical help is an overburdened and ill-equipped hospital days away by boat. 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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| United Auto Workers union backs Democrat Biden for president Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:40 AM PDT  The United Auto Workers union is endorsing Democrat Joe Biden for President. The roughly 400,000-member union says in a statement Tuesday that the nation needs stable leadership with less acrimony "and more balance to the rights and protections of working Americans." The union says Biden has committed to reining in corporate power over workers, encouraging collective bargaining, and making sure workers get the pay, benefits and protections they deserve.
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| The White House appears to have silenced the surgeon general for his remarks on racial disparities in the coronavirus outbreak, as data shows black communities are hardest hit Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Health officials told Politico that Surgeon General Jerome Adams was one of the few to be talking about the impact on minority communities.
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| Turkey's Erdogan accuses Syrian government of violating Idlib ceasefire Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:10 AM PDT  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the Syrian government was violating a ceasefire in the northwestern Idlib region, warning that Damascus would suffer "heavy losses" if it persisted. Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria's war, agreed on March 5 to halt hostilities in northwestern Syria after an escalation of clashes there displaced nearly a million people and brought the two sides close to confrontation. Speaking in Istanbul after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said the Syrian government was using the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to ramp up violence in Idlib, and added that Turkey would not allow any "dark groups" in the region to violate the ceasefire either.
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| Delaware medical supplier says FEMA seized 400,000 N95 masks, now he's out millions of dollars Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:05 PM PDT  A Delaware importer says the Federal Emergency Management Agency seized a shipment of N95 masks two weeks ago – charges FEMA denies.
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| Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson Calls AOC a ‘Child of Privilege’ Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:02 PM PDT  Multimillionaire primetime Fox News star Tucker Carlson labeled progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) a "child of privilege" on Monday night—just two weeks after his colleague Laura Ingraham mocked AOC over her bartender past.Taking aim at widespread criticism of the Fox News-hyped nationwide anti-social distancing protests, Carlson first ridiculed several media figures for their commentary. He then took aim at the young Democratic congresswoman, who has long been a favorite target of his."The most consistent byproduct of privilege always and everywhere is narcissism, so it's not surprising that our pampered overlords just cannot shut up about themselves," the top-rated conservative host huffed."Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn't make sense as a person until you learn she grew up as Sandy Ocasio within the affluent suburb of Westchester," he continued. "Then went on to get a silly pointless degree from a silly pointless private college."The 30-year-old New York lawmaker was born and raised in the Bronx until her family moved to a home in Westchester when she was a child. After graduating from Boston University, she moved back to the Bronx, where she worked as a bartender and waitress. Ocasio-Cortez has said she worked those jobs to help her mother, a bus driver and house cleaner, fight off foreclosure."Of course she did," Carlson exclaimed, concluding his rant. "And it's so obvious once you know it. Thank you, Wikipedia. And she is a child of privilege, not some kid from the streets. Someone who actually grew up in the Bronx would be far too embarrassed to drone on about herself on Instagram."According to Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson's own Wikipedia page, the Fox host knows a thing or two about privilege himself. Carlson's father is Richard Carlson, former director of the Voice of America and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who also served as a U.S. ambassador. His stepmother is an heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune.Carlson, after attending an elite boarding school, attended the private liberal arts school Trinity College, where he graduated with a degree in history. Before becoming a Fox News on-air personality in 2009, Carlson was fired from both CNN and MSNBC after his shows at those networks failed.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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| Three Florida newborns abandoned at same apartment complex are siblings, DNA shows Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:04 PM PDT  The babies, born and abandoned in 2016, 2017 and 2019, have the same mother and father, Orlando police said.
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| Saudi says closely monitoring oil markets, ready to act Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:19 AM PDT  OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it was closely monitoring oil markets and stood ready to take further measures after crude prices plunged to historic lows. "The kingdom continues to closely monitor the situation in the oil markets and is prepared to take any additional measures in cooperation with OPEC+ and other producers," the cabinet said in a statement cited by the official Saudi Press Agency. It said cabinet reiterated that the kingdom is constantly working to achieve stability in the oil market, reaffirming a commitment along with Russia to implement agreed output cuts over the next two years.
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| Should you wipe down your food or packages? What the FDA is saying now Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:15 AM PDT  NBC consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen shares the latest guidelines for handling grocery items, cardboard boxes and more.
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| Barr Threatens Legal Action Against Governors Over Lockdowns Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:41 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department will consider taking legal action against governors who continue to impose stringent rules for dealing with the coronavirus that infringe on constitutional rights even after the crisis subsides in their states, Attorney General William Barr said.Blunt means to deal with the pandemic, such as stay-at-home orders and directives shutting down businesses, are justified up to a point, Barr said in an interview Tuesday on "The Hugh Hewitt Show." Eventually, though, states should move to more targeted measures, Barr said. He cited the approach laid out by President Donald Trump."We have to give businesses more freedom to operate in a way that's reasonably safe," Barr said. "To the extent that governors don't and impinge on either civil rights or on the national commerce -- our common market that we have here -- then we'll have to address that."Barr's comments come as the Trump administration and states are struggling -- and at times fighting with each other -- over the best strategy to deal with the crisis. Trump has stoked tensions with some Democratic governors who are dealing with protests against stringent social-distancing rules, even as his administration backs guidelines that call for states to open up gradually.One way the Justice Department might act against state or local officials is by joining lawsuits brought by citizens or businesses over restrictions, Barr said. He acknowledged that state governments are at "a sensitive stage," as they try to balance health and safety against pressure to reopen. But he said that "as lawsuits develop, as specific cases emerge in the states, we'll take a look at them.""We're looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place," Barr said. "And if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. And if they're not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs."In a sign of the president's contradictory messages on the issue, Trump tweeted last Friday that his supporters should "liberate" Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia -- three states with Democratic governors and strict stay-at-home orders. The move came just a day after Trump outlined the return-to-work guidelines that are contingent on states meeting specific benchmarks on testing and a decline in Covid-19 cases.'Off the Rails'Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, responded angrily to Trump's tweets, accusing him of "fomenting rebellion" and "spewing dangerous, anti-democratic rhetoric.""The White House released a sensible plan," Inslee said in a statement, and "less than 24 hours later the president is off the rails."Trump will meet with one Democratic governor, New York's Andrew Cuomo, at the White House on Tuesday. Cuomo said he'll use his 4 p.m. session in the Oval Office to lobby for more supplies needed to process coronavirus tests. Trump last week said states have the primary responsibility to expand virus testing.The latest developments signal that as Trump's public support over his handling of the virus crisis weakens, he and his top aides are increasingly looking at ways to move on.Pressuring BarrConservative groups and activists have been ramping up pressure for the Trump administration -- and Barr in particular -- to act against governors taking a hard line.Alleging "rampant abuses of constitutional rights and civil liberties," a group led by former Attorney General Ed Meese wrote Barr this week urging him "to undertake immediate review of all the orders that have been issued by the states and local governments across the nation."In Tuesday's radio interview, Barr said "these are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty. And we adopted them, we have to remember, for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread, that is bending the curve. We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease.""You can't just keep on feeding the patient chemotherapy and say well, we're killing the cancer, because we were getting to the point where we're killing the patient," Barr said. "And now is the time that we have to start looking ahead and adjusting to more targeted therapies."(Updates with Barr's comments on supporting lawsuits in fifth paragraph, Cuomo meeting in 10th.)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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| Anthro Is Taking 25 Percent Off Mother's Day Gifts—Here's What to Buy Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:45 AM PDT |
| 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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| Air conditioning spread the coronavirus to 9 people sitting near an infected person in a restaurant, researchers say. It has huge implications for the service industry. Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT  As restaurants slowly reopen, they will likely have to reduce capacity, and patrons may have a limit on how long they can stay and eat.
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| Taiwan defence minister apologises after coronavirus outbreak on navy ship Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:16 AM PDT  Taiwan's defence minister apologised and said he was willing to resign after a coronavirus outbreak on a navy ship which visited the Pacific last month just as the country celebrated a huge drop in cases. Defence Minister Yen Teh-fa, speaking at a news conference, offered his apologies to the public for the outbreak and took a deep bow, flanked by senior officers. "I have asked President Tsai for punishment, and the president has asked the Defence Ministry to face the incident honestly and reflect thoroughly," Yen said, adding that he would accept any punishment including being asked to resign.
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| The Lyrid Meteor Shower Will Peak Tonight Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Here's how to watch this springtime meteor shower.
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| As Latinos lose jobs, remittances to their relatives in Latin America dry up Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:38 AM PDT  "I couldn't even pay rent this month," a Miami resident from Guatemala said, "and we need to keep a little bit of reserves so we can eat."
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| 'They should have done something': Broad failures fueled Wisconsin's absentee ballot crisis, investigation shows Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:13 PM PDT  Inadequate computer systems, overwhelmed clerks and misleading ballot information hampered the historic election, an investigation has found.
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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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| Russia’s Underfunded Hospitals Emerge as Key Vector for Virus Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:52 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Underfunded and poorly equipped, Russia's regional hospitals and clinics are emerging as hot spots for transmission as the coronavirus outbreak spreads beyond the capital into the hinterlands.In Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, a single doctor who became infected by a neighbor in his apartment building led to 78 cases in City Hospital Number 1, which is now under quarantine, regional governor Evgeny Kuyvashev said on his Instagram account Monday.Russia's regions accounted for more new cases overnight than Moscow as the capital shows signs that it may be beginning to approach the peak of the epidemic. While overall infections rose by 4,268 to 47,121 as of Monday, the number in Moscow was up by 2,026 compared to 3,570 on Sunday."The absolute number may be small in these regions, but the current rate of growth should make regional leaders think twice," Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told President Vladimir Putin at a televised videoconference Monday. Medical facilities are the main vector for spreading the virus, said Golikova, who oversees the government's health care policy.With Russia imposing restrictions nationwide as the illness spreads across the world's largest country, Putin has held frequent televised conference calls with regional heads to highlight how seriously the Kremlin takes the threat. At one meeting last week, he criticized "irresponsibility and slovenly work" for the surge of cases in some regions and warned that failure to act quickly in preparing medical facilities for the epidemic will be treated "as criminal negligence with all the consequences that come with it."Russia's sprawling regions are for the most part much poorer than Moscow, where Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has quickly built up capacity to handle the spike in hospitalizations. Medical facilities often face shortages of protective gear and staff that leave them ill-equipped to prevent contagion.In the remote northwestern Komi region, a doctor infected dozens at his hospital and led to its quarantine. Putin replaced the governor in the region, which has the highest rate of infection per 100,000 people outside of Moscow."Medical staff across the country are being deployed without proper protection, there aren't even enough basic masks,"said Semyon Galperin, head of the non-profit Doctors' Defense League. "We'll see increasing numbers of doctors and nurses falling ill. Our clinics and hospitals today are breeding grounds for coronavirus."Moscow, which is entering its fourth week of shutdown, has seen the number of severely ill stabilize over the last 10 days, Sobyanin told Putin on Monday. With 26,350 cases, it has more than half of all of Russia's recorded infections though the proportion is falling as the virus takes hold in the country.Golikova estimates that Russia's regions are two to three weeks behind Moscow, a hint that the shutdown could stretch into May. Putin has already canceled public celebrations of Russia's World War Two victory on May 9, which is the country's most important patriotic holiday.The fundamental reason for recurring cases of mass infections at hospitals is "the dilapidated state of our medical facilities and the lack of protective wear," said Andrei Konoval, co-chairman of independent medical trade union Destviye, or Action, which has branches in 50 of Russia's 85 regions. Staff shortages mean hospital administrators keep employees working even if they come into contact with infected colleagues, he said.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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