| Trump floats treating coronavirus patients with light and disinfectants Posted: 23 Apr 2020 05:00 PM PDT  At an unusually contentious briefing Thursday of the coronavirus task force, President Trump floated the idea that people infected with COVID-19 might be treated using injections of disinfectant and applications of ultraviolet light.
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| ICRC donates vital medical equipment to Gaza in coronavirus crisis Posted: 23 Apr 2020 05:59 AM PDT  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday donated vital intensive care equipment to Gaza hospitals but said they remain underequipped for any wider outbreak of the new coronavirus in the territory. With passage through Gaza's borders tightly controlled by neighbouring Israel and Egypt, only 17 people have tested positive in the Palestinian territory for the novel coronavirus. "The prospect of an outbreak of COVID-19 in Gaza is frightening, given the weakness of the health infrastructure and the dense population of the Gaza Strip," said Daniel Duvillard, head of the ICRC Delegation in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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| Virus-hit Iran demands US be held to account for 'cruel' sanctions Posted: 23 Apr 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Iran called Thursday for the US to be held accountable for "cruel" sanctions that have hampered its efforts to fight a coronavirus outbreak that it said claimed another 90 lives. It accuses its arch enemy the United States of making the crisis worse through sanctions imposed unilaterally since Washington pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. The latest fatalities given by the health ministry for the past 24 hours took the overall death toll in Iran from the coronavirus to 5,481.
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| HHS chief Alex Azar chose a former labradoodle breeder with minimal public health experience to lead the department's coronavirus response Posted: 23 Apr 2020 04:10 AM PDT  Alex Azar picked Brian Harrison to lead the HHS day-to-day coronavirus response. Harrison previously spent six years as a labradoodle breeder.
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| Fox’s Brit Hume Says Biden Is Senile: I Have the ‘Same Kind of Memory Problems’ Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:15 PM PDT  Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume chose an unexpected tack to back up his accusations that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is senile on Tuesday night—he pointed to his own age and memory issues.Appearing on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hume was asked to weigh in on host Tucker Carlson's theory that Democratic Party leaders will look to replace Biden as the party's nominee with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over fears about the former vice president's mental acuity. (Carlson has been pushing this prediction for weeks now.)Hume, who has repeatedly claimed that Biden is suffering from cognitive mental decline, said he thinks Democrats "have to be worried about Biden." Pointing to recent gaffes in TV interviews, Hume asserted that the 77-year-old ex-veep is "having a hard time keeping his thoughts together and being able to say what he needs to say."The 76-year-old longtime Fox personality then decided to use himself as an example to make the case that Biden had lost his mental faculties."I have no doubt about what the problem is," Hume continued. "I'm about the same age as he is and I experience the same kind of memory problems he does. I think he's senile and I don't think there can be much doubt about it."The Fox News analyst said "it's not necessarily crippling but it doesn't help," insisting that Biden is President Donald Trump's "best hope" of getting re-elected due to concerns over Biden's mental fitness."I think Donald Trump will have an uphill struggle," he added. "Biden might save him by being Biden."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Op-Ed: I'm an immigrant doctor treating COVID-19 patients. Death isn't my only fear right now Posted: 23 Apr 2020 01:07 PM PDT  In this pandemic, we need an emergency increase in the number of green cards issued to immigrants with critically required skills.
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| 4 men confine woman in her home to rob her of stimulus check, police say Posted: 23 Apr 2020 04:12 PM PDT  The woman whose house was broken into told police the suspects were aware she had received her check and intended to rob her.
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| Renters still left out in the cold despite temporary coronavirus protection Posted: 23 Apr 2020 05:10 AM PDT  Emergency relief for renters across America may protect them from the threat of eviction during the coronavirus crisis – but it won't last for long.The economic shutdown necessitated by COVID-19 has undermined the ability of millions of families and individuals to pay their landlords. But current measures to alleviate their hardship will not last through the summer, leaving the country at risk of a surge of evictions and homelessness within months.The current crisis also hits landlords, small ones especially, who may now struggle to meet mortgage payments, property taxes and other essential expenses. Again, the measures offered by Congress provide only limited relief.As scholars of housing policy, we know that for any measure to have real impact, it will need to address problems facing both tenants and landlords. Such a solution may already exist in the Housing Choice Voucher program, a 40-year-old program which enables low-income households to afford rental housing in the private market. Rental crisisThe coronavirus worsens an already severe housing affordability crisis. The most recent data shows that 10.7 million households, one-quarter of all renters, spend more than half of their income on rent, including 56% of all renters earning less than US$30,000 per year. More than 2.3 million renters are evicted annually. On any given night, more than 500,000 people are homeless, and nearly three times as many went homeless during the course of a single year.More than 20 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since the shutdown began, and this number is likely to climb higher in the weeks ahead.The people most at risk of losing their jobs are those who work in low-paying service industries such as restaurants, hotels, personal services and the retail sector. They are also disproportionately likely to rent their homes.Many of these workers will struggle to pay landlords in the coming months. As of 2019, the Federal Reserve reported that about 40% of all households could not cover an unexpected $400 expense without borrowing funds or selling a possession. In an effort to provide relief to families and business hit by the economic meltdown, President Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act on March 27. Stay of evictionThe legislation provides considerable support to homeowners but much less to renters. Homeowners with government-supported mortgages such as those that are guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, accounting for 70% of all outstanding mortgages, can skip mortgage payments for up to 12 months without risk of foreclosure. Missed payments will instead by added to their mortgage balances.Renters are afforded some protection. The legislation forbids private and public owners of rental housing financed with government assistance – about 28% of all rentals – from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent over a period of six months. In addition to the CARES Act, 15 states and 24 cities have temporarily suspended evictions for nearly all renters in their jurisdictions.The CARES Act also provides relief in the shape of expanded unemployment benefits as well as a one-off payment of $1,200 to eligible adults and an extra $500 per child.But rental protection is unlikely to last more than a few months – less if stays on eviction are not enforced, as has been the case in a number of states.Moreover, when renters skip their rent, they still owe it – it will need to be repaid at a later date.These emergency measures do little to help landlords cover their expenses. It does prohibit lenders from foreclosing on landlords with federally backed mortgages, should they fail to make payment. But it does nothing to help them pay employees, utility bills or their property taxes. And when landlords cannot pay property taxes, it becomes even more difficult for hard-pressed cities, towns and school districts to provide essential services. Room for improvement?One alternative would be for the government to pay landlords directly to cover the loss of rental income. Rep. Ilhan Omar, for example, is proposing that all renters have their rents canceled, with landlords applying for compensation from the federal government. A downside of this approach is the potential for providing assistance to landlords and tenants who do not need it. It would also require a new apparatus to administer the program, which could delay implementation.Advocates and policymakers have suggested other ways government could address the looming rental housing crisis.The approach partially adopted by the CARES Act is to compensate displaced workers for their loss of income. This could be expanded through repeated cash payments to households. Alternatively, unemployment benefits could be increased. But there is also no guarantee that recipients will use the funds for housing or that funds would be targeted at low-income households that require assistance.The government could pay employers to keep workers on their payroll and hire back those they have let go. It has already adopted this approach to an extent, but not anywhere close to the scale that would be necessary. Scaling up these efforts would probably take months and may not be politically feasible. Vouchers for successWe believe a more viable option would be expanding the government's Housing Choice Voucher program. Established in 1974, it enables low-income households to rent housing in the private market, paying no more than 30% of their income on rent, with the government paying the rest. It is available to all low-income households and currently serves 2.2 million households – although as many as 10 million were eligible for the program before the COVID crisis.The program already has the administrative apparatus needed to handle an increase in participants: a nationwide network of over 3,300 housing authorities with decades of experience. Many have already demonstrated their capacity to dramatically expand operations to accommodate new households in the event of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods.If expanded to meet the demands of the current crisis, the Housing Choice Voucher program could act as a shock absorber for the rental housing market. For tenants, it would provide some stability where there now is uncertainty and reduce the risk of displacement, eviction and homelessness. For landlords, it would provide a steady stream of income to help pay the mortgage, property taxes and other expenses.[Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.] Este artículo se vuelve a publicar de The Conversation, un medio digital sin fines de lucro dedicado a la diseminación de la experticia académica. Lee mas: The coronavirus pandemic is making the US housing crisis even worse How can the houseless fight the coronavirus? A community organization partners with academics to create a grassroots hand-washing infrastructure Kirk McClure receives funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He is affiliated with HUD through the Multi-Disciplinary Research Team that works with HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research. Alex Schwartz has received research funding from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is a public member of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Alex Schwartz is related to an employee of The Conversation US.
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| 30 Best Sides for Hamburgers Posted: 23 Apr 2020 02:40 PM PDT |
| Trump disagrees with Redfield, Fauci on return of coronavirus next fall Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:17 PM PDT  The coronavirus would be reduced to easily extinguished "embers" by the time next fall's influenza season strikes, President Trump said at Wednesday's briefing of the White House task force, even as his top health experts continued to offer a decidedly more guarded outlook.
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| Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:46 PM PDT  * The U.S. House of Representatives will pass Congress' latest coronavirus aid bill on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, paving the way for additional $500 billion in economic relief. * An old malaria drug touted by President Trump as a "game changer" provided no benefit and potentially higher risk of death for patients at U.S. veterans hospitals, according to an analysis submitted for expert review.
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| Months after coronavirus diagnosis, some Wuhan patients test positive again Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:51 AM PDT  Some of the first patients to suffer from COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, are still bearing the consequences of the disease.
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| Missouri AG Claims Coronavirus Lawsuit Could Eventually Win ‘Tens of Billions of Dollars’ from Chinese Government Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:12 PM PDT  Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt on Wednesday told National Review that he believes the state's first-of-its-kind lawsuit against China could potentially bring massive compensation to Missourians who have suffered as a result of Beijing's mishandling of the coronavirus.The lawsuit "seeks recovery for the enormous loss of life, human suffering, and economic turmoil experienced by all Missourians" caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Several defendants are identified, including the CCP, China's health ministry, the governments of Hubei province and the city of Wuhan, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.The suit claims that these entities were negligent in attempting to contain the initial outbreak in Wuhan, and that they deceived the international community as to the prevalence of the outbreak. While the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 generally prevents Americans from suing foreign governments in U.S. courts, there are certain exemptions embodied in the legislation which are targeted in the lawsuit."Our claim, which I think people are starting to understand is a little bit different than what people might have thought it was, is that we believe those allegations fit squarely in an exception to the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act that would typically give immunity to other nations," Schmitt said in an interview with National Review."[This] is the commercial activities exception," Schmitt explained. "So, if you're operating a [negligent] virology lab, if you're hoarding PPE…you no longer have those protections. So we believe that those common law claims that we have fit squarely within that exception, which is why we think we'll ultimately be successful…to the tune of tens of billions of dollars." Those damages could be sought from Chinese entities within the U.S.There is precedent for using commercial activities exemption of the FSIA, such as in the 1992 Supreme Court case Republic of Argentina v. Weltover. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his opinion that "Argentina's issuance of the Bonods [bonds] was a 'commercial activity' under the FSIA," and the bond payment in question was to be made in New York City. Because of this, the court ruled unanimously that Argentina could be sued in the U.S. for breach of contract on a bond payment.Senators Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Martha McSally (R., Ariz.) have also introduced legislation that would establish an immunity exemption "for a foreign state that discharges a biological weapon, and for other purposes," to enable Americans affected by the coronavirus to directly sue China. National Review contributor Andy McCarthy criticized that legislation, writing that paving the way for such lawsuits could backfire if China decided to retaliate against American investments abroad and to argue for stripping immunity from the U.S.Schmitt, however, sought to ease concerns that the Missouri lawsuit could have unintended consequences, saying it was his "obligation to seek the truth" on behalf of Missouri residents.The coronavirus pandemic "is something that we've not seen the likes of before, and if you look at how this all played out, in the suppression of information at a really critical time, there's just no other conclusion you can draw: the Chinese government is responsible for this," Schmitt said. "My duty, as the lawyer for six million Missourians, is to prosecute that case."The attorney general added, "I think as people take a look at the complaint, I wouldn't be surprised at all if other states follow suit."As of Wednesday the coronavirus had infected over 6,000 and killed 200 in Missouri, and the state has implemented economically-harmful social-distancing measures and business closures similar to those in effect in most of the U.S. Freshman Missouri senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, has taken a hard line on China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling in March for an international investigation into the Chinese government's coverup of the outbreak.
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| The CEO of Ryanair, one of the world's biggest airlines, says it won't fly if middle seats have to stay empty for 'idiotic' social-distancing rules Posted: 23 Apr 2020 03:14 AM PDT  Not having passengers in the middle seat is not profitable, and passengers would still be too close anyway, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said.
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| People are accidentally destroying their masks by trying to sterilize them in a microwave. Here's how to actually clean a face mask. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's Office had to remind the general public that face masks cannot be sterilized in a microwave.
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| India Opens Bridge in Himalayas Setting Stage for China Face-Off Posted: 23 Apr 2020 02:40 AM PDT |
| Trump says he 'disagrees strongly' with Georgia governor's decision to reopen state Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:01 PM PDT  President Trump said Wednesday that he opposes Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's controversial decision to allow some non-essential businesses to reopen despite a high number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state.
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| Blood pressure drugs are in the crosshairs of coronavirus research Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT  A disproportionate number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have high blood pressure. Theories about why the condition makes them more vulnerable — and what patients should do about it — have sparked a fierce debate among scientists over the impact of widely prescribed blood-pressure drugs.
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| Video Captures Gliding Jellyfish Visible in Venice’s Canals as Italy Remains on Lockdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Nature is making the most of the absence of humans during coronavirus lockdowns
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| A journalist who disappeared while investigating a coronavirus cover-up in Wuhan reappeared 2 months later, praising the police who detained him Posted: 23 Apr 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Li Zehua reported on allegations of a coronavirus cover-up in Wuhan in February. On Wednesday, he remerged on YouTube after a 56-day silence.
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| Guatemalan wrongly deported amid coronavirus crisis is reunited with family in U.S. Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:50 AM PDT  "I am very happy," Gilmer Barrios said. "It had been almost a month since I saw my wife, and I am going to see my children in a little while."
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| Andrew Cuomo tells Trevor Noah 'an entire generation' of Americans will suffer PTSD from this pandemic Posted: 23 Apr 2020 09:45 AM PDT  In a clip for The Daily Show, Andrew Cuomo said it "weighs heavily on me" that 15,000 people have died, and survivors will suffer long-term trauma.
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| A New Wave of Anti-Muslim Anger Threatens India’s Virus Fight Posted: 23 Apr 2020 02:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The newspaper advertisement placed last week by a cancer hospital in India's most populous state didn't mince words: any Muslim patients seeking treatment must prove they didn't have Covid-19.The privately owned Valentis Cancer Hospital in Uttar Pradesh state apologized a day later "for hurting religious sentiments." But the message written in black and white crystallized for many the increased hostility against India's Muslim minority as coronavirus infections surge across the country.Attacks on Muslims, including farmers driven out of villages and others beaten by angry mobs, have been reported across the country -- from rural hamlets to the cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, prompted by a lethal mix of WhatsApp messages accusing them of deliberately spreading the virus. Hashtags like "corona jihad" and "corona terror" have been trending on social media, prompting a backlash from Gulf states where millions of Indians work.The rising discrimination threatens to hurt India's status in Muslim-majority countries and inflame longstanding religious tensions in the Hindu-dominated nation of 1.3 billion people. Divisions already began to harden last year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government passed a citizenship bill discriminating against Muslims, sparking nationwide protests in recent months that have left scores dead.What's worse, the upswing in discrimination against Muslims now threatens to complicate India's fight against Covid-19. On Thursday, the country reported 21,797 infections and 681 deaths.Frightened MuslimsIn India's business capital Mumbai, where the sprawling Dharavi slum has become the country's worst-hit virus hotspot, authorities say Muslims are afraid to self-report."There is a lot fear in the Muslim community and they are not telling us facts," said Kiran Dighavkar, an assistant commissioner at the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the main civic authority for the city. "The hate towards the community seems to have increased because other people feel they are spreading the virus. Because of this it has become unsafe for our staff to visit some areas and we have to take police with us."At another hotspot in Noida, a suburb on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, authorities were taking to social media to flag fake news and rumors."It takes a lot of time," said Ankur Agarwal, a police officer in Noida. "We have to monitor the social media, we need to build our intelligence as compared to totally focusing on Covid operations and ensuring the lockdown."Modi so far hasn't commented directly on the simmering sectarian tensions, but said in a tweet earlier this month that "Covid-19 does not see race, religion, color, caste, language or borders before striking."One of his cabinet members, Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said Tuesday that authorities were working to protect the safety and well-being all citizens. "India is heaven for minorities and Muslims," Naqvi said at a briefing. "Their social, religious and economic rights are secured in India more than any other country."'Deep Concern'Yet the world is expressing alarm. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has in the past criticized India's treatment of its minorities, on April 14 raised concerns about the "continued scapegoating and attacks on Muslims in India due to false rumors over the spread of coronavirus, often accompanied by dangerous rhetoric by politicians."The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which calls itself "the collective voice of the Muslim world," expressed "deep concern" on Sunday over "rising anti-Muslim sentiments" in India.In the United Arab Emirates some of the more viciously worded posts by Indian migrants prompted some to get fired from their jobs, and also drew the attention of a member of the ruling family. Last week Princess Hend Al Qassimi responded to a now-deleted tweet, saying "your ridicule will not go unnoticed." India's ambassador to the UAE condemned the hate speech.Although Gulf states are condemning the anti-Muslim sentiment in India, falling oil prices and a downturn in the global economy will limit any deeper rift, according to Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at Kings College, London."India retains leverage vis-a-vis these countries as it is one of the largest importers of oil," he said. "Gulf countries are impacted not only by the coronavirus but also by the decline in oil demand."Religious GatheringThe new wave of rumors and anger directed against India's 200 million Muslims started in the last week of March when details began to emerge of thousands, including visitors from Indonesia and Malaysia, gathering at the headquarters of the Tabligh-e-Jamaat -- a conservative Muslim sect -- in the crowded lanes of Delhi's Nizamuddin area.Hundreds of members tested positive for the virus after authorities evacuated the building. Cases sprouted across the nation as many left Delhi and traveled back to their homes. Some 25,000 members and their contacts were traced and quarantined across more than a dozen Indian states.For more than a week, the federal government listed the infections connected to the Muslim gathering separately at their daily media briefings, which fanned the flames further. On April 8, the health ministry issued a statement asking that no community be targeted, but it did little to rein in the anger.Mohammed Shamim and his family were among those targeted. The vitriol built steadily after he began driving minivans full of fresh fruit and vegetables far into the villages of Uttar Pradesh when India announced a strict nationwide lockdown on March 25. Hindu villagers began to heckle them and asked others not to do business with them."Then more people began harassing us saying, 'you Muslims are spreading this illness, we don't want you people coming to this village." he said. 'People who had bought vegetables from us were told to return them."While India has seen a continued marginalization of its Muslim minority since Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, over the past year it's accelerated and become more violent. In the last week of February, before the country began to see a steady uptick in Covid-19 cases, three days of anti-Muslim violence in a part of the Indian capital left more than 50 people dead.Now Shamim and his family are too frightened to go back into the villages."Things are bad enough with this virus," he said over the telephone. "We don't want anything bad to happen to us."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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| Reopening after coronavirus is a 'much bigger' job than most Americans realize, Harvard study finds Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:22 PM PDT  Despite President Trump's assurances that the U.S. is "winning" its war against the coronavirus, and moves by some governors to end stay-at-home measures, a new Harvard University study paints a stark picture of what will be required for the country to emerge from the pandemic.
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| Chinese Agents Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic in U.S., Officials Say Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:22 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country."They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters," warned one of the messages, which cited a source in the Department of Homeland Security. "He said he got the call last night and was told to pack and be prepared for the call today with his dispatch orders."The messages became so widespread over 48 hours that the White House's National Security Council issued an announcement via Twitter that they were "FAKE."Since that wave of panic, U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages across platforms, according to six U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters. The amplification techniques are alarming to officials because the disinformation showed up as texts on many Americans' cellphones, a tactic that several of the officials said they had not seen before.That has spurred agencies to look at new ways in which China, Russia and other nations are using a range of platforms to spread disinformation during the pandemic, they said.The origin of the messages remains murky. U.S. officials declined to reveal details of the intelligence linking Chinese agents to the dissemination of the disinformation, citing the need to protect their sources and methods for monitoring Beijing's activities.The officials interviewed for this article work in six different agencies. They included both career civil servants and political appointees, and some have spent many years analyzing China. Their broader warnings about China's spread of disinformation are supported by recent findings from outside bipartisan research groups, including the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Center for a New American Security, which is expected to release a report on the topic next month.Two U.S. officials stressed they did not believe Chinese operatives created the lockdown messages but rather amplified existing ones. Those efforts enabled the messages to catch the attention of enough people that they then spread on their own, with little need for further work by foreign agents. The messages appeared to gain significant traction on Facebook as they were also proliferating through texts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.U.S. officials said the operatives had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls, such as creating fake social media accounts to push messages to sympathetic Americans, who in turn unwittingly help spread them.The officials say the Chinese agents also appear to be using texts and encrypted messaging apps, including WhatsApp, as part of their campaigns. It is much harder for researchers and law enforcement officers to track disinformation spread through text messages and encrypted apps than on social media platforms.U.S. intelligence officers are also examining whether spies in China's diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages, a senior U.S. official said. U.S. agencies have recently increased their scrutiny of Chinese diplomats and employees of state-run media organizations. In September, the State Department secretly expelled two employees of the Chinese Embassy in Washington suspected of spying.Other rival powers might have been involved in the dissemination, too. And Americans with prominent online or news media platforms unknowingly helped amplify the messages. Misinformation has proliferated during the pandemic -- in recent weeks, some pro-Trump news outlets have promoted anti-American conspiracy theories, including one that suggests the virus was created in a laboratory in the United States.U.S. officials said China, borrowing from Russia's strategies, has been trying to widen political divisions in the United States. As public dissent simmers over lockdown policies in several states, officials worry it will be easy for China and Russia to amplify the partisan disagreements."It is part of the playbook of spreading division," said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, adding that private individuals have identified some social media bots that helped promote the recent lockdown protests that some fringe conservative groups have nurtured.The propaganda efforts go beyond text messages and social media posts directed at Americans. In China, top officials have issued directives to agencies to engage in a global disinformation campaign around the virus, the U.S. officials said.Some U.S. intelligence officers are especially concerned about disinformation aimed at Europeans that pro-China actors appear to have helped spread. The messages stress the idea of disunity among European nations during the crisis and praise China's "donation diplomacy," U.S. officials said. Left unmentioned are reports of Chinese companies delivering shoddy equipment and European leaders expressing skepticism over China's handling of its outbreak.President Donald Trump himself has shown little concern about China's actions. He has consistently praised the handling of the pandemic by Chinese leaders -- "Much respect!" he wrote on Twitter on March 27. Three days later, he dismissed worries over China's use of disinformation when asked about it on Fox News."They do it and we do it and we call them different things," he said. "Every country does it."Asked about the new accusations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement Tuesday that said, "The relevant statements are complete nonsense and not worth refuting."Zhao Lijian, a ministry spokesman, has separately rebutted persistent accusations by U.S. officials that China has supplied bad information and exhibited a broader lack of transparency during the pandemic."We urge the U.S. to stop political manipulation, get its own house in order and focus more on fighting the epidemic and boosting the economy," Zhao said at a news conference Friday.An Information WarThe United States and China are engaged in a titanic information war over the pandemic, one that has added a new dimension to their global rivalry.Trump and his aides are trying to put the spotlight on China as they face intense criticism over the federal government's widespread failures in responding to the pandemic, which has killed more than 40,000 Americans. President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party are trying to shore up domestic and international support after earlier cover-ups that allowed the virus to spread.As diplomatic tensions rose and Beijing scrambled to control the narrative, the Chinese government last month expelled American journalists for three U.S. news organizations, including The New York Times.The extent to which the United States might be engaging in its own covert information warfare in China is not clear. While the CIA in recent decades has tried to support pro-democracy opposition figures in some countries, Chinese counterintelligence officers eviscerated the agency's network of informants in China about a decade ago, hurting its ability to conduct operations there.Chinese officials accuse Trump and his allies of overtly peddling malicious or bad information, pointing to the president's repeatedly calling the coronavirus a "Chinese virus" or the suggestion by some Republicans that the virus may have originated as a Chinese bioweapon, a theory that U.S. intelligence agencies have since ruled out. (Many Americans have criticized Trump's language as racist.)Republican strategists have decided that bashing China over the virus will shore up support for Trump and other conservative politicians before the November elections.Given the toxic information environment, foreign policy analysts are worried that the Trump administration may politicize intelligence work or make selective leaks to promote an anti-China narrative. Those concerns hover around the speculation over the origin of the virus. U.S. officials in the past have selectively passed intelligence to reporters to shape the domestic political landscape; the most notable instance was under President George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq War.But it has been clear for more than a month that the Chinese government is pushing disinformation and anti-American conspiracy theories related to the pandemic. Zhao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, wrote on Twitter in March that the U.S. Army might have taken the virus to the Chinese city of Wuhan. That message was then amplified by the official Twitter accounts of Chinese embassies and consulates.The state-run China Global Television Network produced a video targeting viewers in the Middle East in which a presenter speaking Arabic asserted that "some new facts" indicated that the pandemic might have originated from American participants in a military sports competition in October in Wuhan. The network has an audience of millions, and the video has had more than 365,000 views on YouTube."What we've seen is the CCP mobilizing its global messaging apparatus, which includes state media as well as Chinese diplomats, to push out selected and localized versions of the same overarching false narratives," Lea Gabrielle, coordinator of the Global Engagement Center in the State Department, said in late March, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.Some analysts say it is core to China's new, aggressive "'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy," a term that refers to a patriotic Chinese military action film series.But Chinese diplomats and operators of official media accounts recently began moving away from overt disinformation, Gabrielle said. That dovetailed with a tentative truce Trump and Xi reached over publicly sniping about the virus.U.S. officials said Chinese agencies are most likely embracing covert propagation of disinformation in its place. Current and former U.S. officials have said they are seeing Chinese operatives adopt online strategies long used by Russian agents -- a phenomenon that also occurred during the Hong Kong protests last year. Some Chinese operatives have promoted disinformation that originated on Russia-aligned websites, they said.And the apparent aim of spreading the fake lockdown messages last month is consistent with a type of disinformation favored by Russian actors -- namely sowing chaos and undermining confidence among Americans in the U.S. government, the officials said."As Beijing and Moscow move to shape the global information environment both independently and jointly through a wide range of digital tools, they have established several diplomatic channels and forums through which they can exchange best practices," said Kristine Lee, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security who researches disinformation from China and Russia."I'd anticipate, as we have seen in recent months, that their mutual learning around these tools will migrate to increasingly cutting-edge capabilities that are difficult to detect but yield maximal payoff in eroding American influence and democratic institutions globally," she added.'There Is No National Lockdown'The amplification of the fake lockdown messages was a notable instance of China's use of covert disinformation messaging, U.S. officials said.A couple of versions of the message circulated widely, according to The Times analysis. The first instance tracked by The Times appeared March 13, as many state officials were enacting social distancing policies. This version said Trump was about to invoke the Stafford Act to shut down the country.The messages generally attributed their contents to a friend in a federal agency -- the Pentagon, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and so on. Over days, hundreds of identical posts appeared on Facebook and the online message board 4chan, among other places, and spread through texts.Another version appeared March 15, The Times found. This one said Trump was about to deploy the National Guard, military units and emergency responders across the United States while imposing a one-week nationwide quarantine.That same day, the National Security Council announced on Twitter that the messages were fake."There is no national lockdown," it said, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "has and will continue to post the latest guidance."Samantha Vinograd, who was a staff employee at the National Security Council during the Obama administration, replied to the council's tweet, recounting her experience with the disinformation."I received several texts from loved ones about content they received containing various rumors -- they were explicitly asked to share it with their networks," she wrote. "I advised them to do the opposite. Misinfo is not what we need right now -- from any source foreign or domestic."Since January, Americans have shared many other messages that included disinformation: that the virus originated in an Army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland, that it can be killed with garlic water, vitamin C or colloidal silver, that it thrives on ibuprofen. Often the posts are attributed to an unnamed source in the U.S. government or an institution such as Johns Hopkins University or Stanford University.As the messages have sown confusion, it has been difficult to trace their true origins or pin down all the ways in which they have been amplified.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Few ventilators, little cash: Sudan braces for coronavirus test Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:05 AM PDT  With just a few hundred ventilators and international aid slow to materialise, Sudan's fledgling government knows it has an uphill battle against a coronavirus pandemic that has brought far richer countries to a standstill. The number of cases of the novel coronavirus is still small and doctors say they are able to cope so far, but they are concerned that a healthcare system that has been underfunded for decades will not be able to cope if numbers spike.
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| AP Explains: What Virgin Australia's bankruptcy move means Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:09 PM PDT  Virgin Australia has become the world's largest airline to seek bankruptcy protection in the weeks since the coronavirus shutdown created a debt crisis. Virgin Australia owed 5 billion Australian dollars ($3.2 billion) and hadn't posted a profit in seven years when the pandemic virtually grounded the aviation industry. Singapore Institute of Technology economist Volodymyr Bilotkach, author of "Economics of Airlines," says small-to-medium European airlines with small cash reserves are similarly vulnerable.
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| Human rights groups are pleading with Mexico's top health official to pressure the release of detained migrants at risk of contracting COVID-19 Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:13 PM PDT  The majority of Mexico's detained migrant population cannot be repatriated due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in Honduras and El Salvador.
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| Home of 'person of interest' searched in Kristin Smart's 1996 disappearance Posted: 23 Apr 2020 06:42 AM PDT  Smart, 19, vanished in May 1996 while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
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| Marines' Top General Opens Up About Decision to Ban Confederate Flag Displays Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Commandant Gen. David Berger issued a letter to explain his reasons for banning public displays of Confederate paraphernalia.
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| Turkey in ‘Losing Battle’ Over Lira After Surprise Rate Cut Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:10 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Turkey lowered interest rates more than forecast by most economists, forcing state banks to defend the lira to keep it from breaching a key threshold against the dollar.Government-owned lenders sold at least $600 million to support the Turkish currency after the rate decision, according to two traders with knowledge of the matter. The Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday reduced its benchmark for an eighth time in less than a year, lowering it to 8.75% from 9.75%. Only two of 28 economists in a Bloomberg poll correctly predicted the move, with the rest seeing a smaller cut or a hold.The central bank has looked past the lira's steep depreciation in 2020, focusing on spurring credit to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. The lira has weakened nearly 15% against the U.S. currency since the beginning of the year and is edging closer to the psychologically important 7-per-dollar mark. It briefly breached that level and slipped as much as 0.3% after the rate announcement, before paring losses. It traded at 6.9779 per dollar as of 8:40 a.m. in Istanbul on Thursday."The Turkish central bank has been fighting like crazy to keep the dollar-lira pair below 7, which often seems like a losing battle," said Brad Bechtel, global head of foreign exchange at Jefferies LLC in New York. "They continue to fight but the market continues to push against them and it feels only a matter of time before they are forced to capitulate."The easing cycle is leaving the lira exposed to a global selloff, with Turkey's inflation-adjusted rates now among the lowest in the world. Undaunted by the currency's slide, Governor Murat Uysal is pushing real borrowing costs further below zero after last month's emergency cut of a full percentage point. Meanwhile, the country's international reserves are running low because of state lenders' interventions to prop up the lira.Turkey's state banks don't comment on interventions in the foreign-exchange market. In January, Uysal said they have been carrying out transactions in line with regulatory limits and may continue to be active in the currency market.The MPC said in its statement that risks to its year-end inflation forecasts are "on the downside" after declines in commodity prices and despite the lira's depreciation.The rate cut reflected the central bank's "aim to support growth as much as possible," Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists Murat Unur and Clemens Grafe said in a report. "We see risks of emergency hikes to fend off further lira depreciation."Turkish inflation in March slowed for the first time since October, reaching an annual 11.9%, as the drop in oil prices offset some of the increases that a depreciating lira would have caused.Declines in commodity prices and domestic demand amid the global pandemic are putting downward pressure on inflation, Uysal said on Sunday. The central bank may update its year-end inflation projection -- currently at 8.2% -- when it issues its next quarterly report on April 30.Economic activity has suffered due to the measures taken to check the contagion. Exports dropped almost 18% in March from a year earlier and a gauge of confidence among Turkish manufacturers fell by the most since the 2008 global financial crisis.The weighted-average cost of central bank funding is already below the benchmark at around 9%.The central bank's net reserves -- which strip out liabilities including local lenders' reserve requirements -- fell to $26.3 billion in the week through April 10. Of that, $25.9 billion was borrowed through short-term swaps, the bulk of which had a maturity of one month or less, according to the latest data through the end of February."Yet another substantial rate cut is a clear indication that the priority is to support the economy that faces the prospect of a recession," said Piotr Matys, a strategist at Rabobank in London. "But it also implies that the lira is even less attractive, which means that the central bank may have to spend even more on FX interventions."(Updates lira's performance in third paragraph, economist comment in eighth)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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| Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine Posted: 22 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Dr. Rick Bright, the federal official formerly leading coronavirus vaccine development, says he was ousted this week for putting science over "politics and cronyism."Bright was removed from his post as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Stat News reported earlier this week. Bright confirmed the news on Wednesday with a scathing statement, specifically saying he was ousted for not backing President Trump's preferred yet unproven treatment for COVID-19: hydroxychloroquine.In his statement, Bright said he was transferred to a "less impactful position at the National Institute of Health," and he "believes" it was because he insisted the federal government funnel congressional funding "into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines, and other technologies that lack scientific merit." Specifically, Bright "limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit" he said in his statement. "Sidelining me ... and putting politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk," Bright continued.> Here is Dr. Rick Bright's full statement, just emailed out by the law firm Katz, Marshall & Banks which will be representing him as he files a whistleblower complaint. > (First reported by @maggieNYT) pic.twitter.com/oQ3j9Z17SK> > — Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) April 22, 2020Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a "game changer" in treating COVID-19, even though it has proved ineffective and even deadly for some patients.More stories from theweek.com Trump adviser suggests reopening economy by putting 'everybody in a space outfit' Cuomo rips McConnell's 'blue state bailout' by noting 'your state is living on the money that we generate' Small music venues ask Congress for special consideration in coronavirus aid
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| Members of congress advocate for coronavirus relief on behalf of those who have contracted the virus Posted: 23 Apr 2020 12:18 PM PDT  During a speech on the House floor, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., dedicated a coronavirus relief bill to her sister, who she said is "dying in a hospital" of COVID-19. Later Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., advocated for the passage of the legislation on behalf of a 5-year-old who died from the coronavirus.
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| China suspends consular visits to detained Canadian pair over coronavirus Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday, on the 500th day of China's controversial detention of two Canadians, that consular visits had been blocked due to a coronavirus lockdown of prisons. "We have been working extremely diligently on the issue of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who have been detained for 500 days in China," Trudeau told a daily briefing. Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, speaking during a video event hosted by the Montreal International Relations Council (CORIM), described the detention as "500 days too many."
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| Delaware medical supplier says FEMA seized 400,000 N95 masks; now he's out millions of dollars Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:32 AM PDT  A Delaware importer says the Federal Emergency Management Agency seized a shipment of N95 masks two weeks ago, accusations FEMA denies.
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| New York nurses are suing the state after being asked to work 7 days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, flouting public health recommendations Posted: 22 Apr 2020 07:04 AM PDT  One hospital forced a nurse to come back to work after testing positive for COVID-19. The same day she returned, she landed in the ER with pneumonia.
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| American among tourists found living in Indian cave during lockdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:13 AM PDT  Local police said the six spent nearly four weeks in the cave after running out of money for a hotel.
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| EU warns incoming Israeli gov't against West Bank annexation Posted: 23 Apr 2020 08:33 AM PDT  The European Union on Thursday issued a warning against the incoming Israeli government's intention to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, saying that such a move "would constitute a serious violation of international law." The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the 27-member bloc does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Palestinian territory and that it will "continue to closely monitor the situation and its broader implications, and will act accordingly." Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz signed a coalition agreement that includes a clause to advance plans to annex parts of the West Bank, including Israeli settlements, starting on July 1.
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| Larry Summers Advising Biden Campaign on Economic Recovery Posted: 23 Apr 2020 12:50 PM PDT |
| Trump says he's 'never heard of' official leading U.S. coronavirus vaccine effort until abrupt demotion Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:16 PM PDT  Dr. Rick Bright, the career government infectious disease scientist who until Tuesday led a federal effort to create a COVID-19 vaccine, said Wednesday he was demoted and moved to the National Institutes of Health for favoring "science — not politics or cronyism," to combat the virus. "Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit," he said. President Trump and his allies spent weeks touting hydroxychloroquine but don't anymore.Asked about Bright's demotion at Wednesday evening's coronavirus press briefing, Trump pleaded ignorance: "I've never heard of him. Guy says he was pushed out of a job, maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. You'd have to hear the other side. I don't know who he is."> The president of the United States on the head of the federal agency in charge of getting a vaccine to Americans: "I never heard of him" pic.twitter.com/7CFvsw0ArA> > — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 22, 2020The other side, unidentified current and former Health and Human Services Department (HHS) officials tell Politico and The Washington Post, is that Bright had clashed with his boss, Robert Kadlec, the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, and that Bright's ouster had been under discussion for at least a year.Some HHS officials and outside observers told Politico they believed Bright was moving too slowly and investing in the wrong things, specifically IL-6 inflammation inhibitors. In his statement, Bright alluded to "clashes with HHS political leadership" over his efforts to "invest early in vaccines and supplies critical to saving American lives." Other officials, including Bright's former boss, praised him as a careful scientist and man of integrity.Bright, a vaccine expert, learned of his move to NIH, where he has been assigned to work on diagnostic tests, when his name was removed from the website of the agency he led, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), after having been frozen out of his email, Politico reports.More stories from theweek.com Trump adviser suggests reopening economy by putting 'everybody in a space outfit' Cuomo rips McConnell's 'blue state bailout' by noting 'your state is living on the money that we generate' Small music venues ask Congress for special consideration in coronavirus aid
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| Coronavirus: Why some Nigerians are gloating about Covid-19 Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Many rich Nigerians, including the political classes, used to go abroad for medical treatment - but no longer.
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| Without a single COVID-19 death, Vietnam starts easing its coronavirus lockdown Posted: 23 Apr 2020 07:03 AM PDT  With fewer than 300 infections and no deaths, the communist-ruled nation offers an unusual model for containing the coronavirus.
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| The coronavirus could force smaller liberal arts and state colleges to close forever Posted: 23 Apr 2020 02:23 PM PDT  The CARES Act allocated nearly $14 billion to help colleges and universities. But for schools with small endowments, it might not be enough.
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