| Trump ties coronavirus outbreak to Democratic state leadership, potentially jeopardizing federal aid Posted: 23 Apr 2020 06:26 PM PDT  President Trump suggested that there was a correlation between Democratic leadership of states and the scope of the coronavirus outbreak in those states.
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| China 'sought to block EU report that claimed it was spreading coronavirus disinformation' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:03 PM PDT  China sought to block a European Union report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to four sources and diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. The report was eventually released, albeit just before the start of the weekend Europe time and with some criticism of the Chinese government rearranged or removed, a sign of the balancing act Brussels is trying to pull off as the coronavirus outbreak scrambles international relations. The Chinese Mission to the EU was not immediately available for comment and China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the exchange. An EU spokeswoman said "we never comment on content or alleged content of internal diplomatic contacts and communication with our partners from another countries." Another EU official said the disinformation report had been published as usual and denied any of it had been watered down. Four diplomatic sources told Reuters that the report had initially been slated for release on April 21, but was delayed after Chinese officials picked up on a Politico news report that previewed its findings. A senior Chinese official contacted European officials in Beijing the same day to tell them that, "if the report is as described and it is released today it will be very bad for cooperation", according to EU diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. READ MORE: How China is rewriting the coronavirus narrative to distract from mistakes at home Will the coronavirus crisis tear the European Union apart? Donald Trump warns of consequences if China was knowingly responsible for coronavirus Trump's top diplomat claims China not sharing Covid-19 sample with world scientists The correspondence quoted senior Chinese foreign ministry official Yang Xiaoguang as saying that publishing the report would make Beijing "very angry" and accused European officials of trying to please "someone else" - something the EU diplomats understood to be a reference to Washington. The four sources said the report had been delayed as a result, and a comparison of the internal version of the report obtained by Reuters and the final version published late on Friday showed several differences. For example, on the first page of the internal report shared with EU governments on April 20, the EU's foreign policy arm said: "China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed." The public summary posted on Friday to the bloc's disinformation portal, euvsdisinfo.eu, attributed the disinformation to "state-backed sources from various governments, including Russia and – to a lesser extent – China". The public summary did note "significant evidence of covert Chinese operations on social media", but the reference was left to the final six paragraphs of the document. Disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak is emerging as a flashpoint between the United States and China, and officials on both sides have traded allegations of hiding information about the pandemic.
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| Judge says government is violating protections for migrant kids Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:58 PM PDT  The judge ordered officials to promptly release children with sponsors from immigrant detention facilities, where the coronavirus has spread in recent weeks.
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| Judge: California can't require background checks for ammo Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:07 PM PDT  "California's new ammunition background check law misfires," wrote U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez.
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| Thousands gather at Wisconsin state Capitol to protest coronavirus restrictions Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:40 PM PDT  The crowd stood shoulder to shoulder in defiance of the Wisconsin governor's order to keep businesses and schools closed.
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| Modelo's New Sweet-Spicy Beer Combines Mango Flavor and Chili Peppers Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:35 AM PDT |
| An alarming number of Americans believe a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT  Nearly a third of Americans believe that it is either "probably" or "definitely" true that a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld, according to a new study by the Democracy Fund and the UCLA Nationscape Project, in partnership with USA Today. "To see about a third of people give that some level of, 'Yeah, that might be true,' that was pretty shocking to me," said Robert Griffin, the research director at the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group. "That's a pretty dark type of thought to be floating around the public."While there are as many as 150 different vaccines in various stages of development at this point, a COVID-19 vaccination will only be ready in 12 to 18 months "if we're really lucky," Seth Berkley, the head of the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, a global immunization partnership, told AFP on Friday. He added that "one of the challenges" of this particular pandemic is that "we don't know if we can make a vaccine … we have no proof of concept yet."Still, the Democracy Fund/UCLA Nationscape Project study found that many such unfounded beliefs have become widespread among the American electorate, including that some 44 percent of voters think it is probable that the virus was created in a lab, while another 48 percent think the U.S is "concealing" the true number of COVID-19 deaths, a belief that is held by more than half of Democrats."Not all of this is necessarily conspiracy-thinking," argued Griffin. "Some of it might just might purely be misunderstanding or things that people don't know yet, a lack of education."The survey was conducted as part of a large-scale survey of the American electorate, which will be ongoing through the 2020 election cycle. The latest results came from a sampling of 6,300 Americans between April 2 and 8, and has a margin of error of 2.2 percent. You can read more of the results here.More stories from theweek.com Cuomo says New York's coronavirus situation is back to where it was 21 days ago The president is unwell Trump wants praise for his coronavirus response. Here it is.
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| Police Photos Show Crystal Meth in Hotel Room Where Andrew Gillum Was Found Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:54 AM PDT  New photos from the Miami Beach Police Department confirm the presence of crystal meth in the hotel room where former Democratic candidate for Florida governor Andrew Gillum was found after a suspected overdose incident in March.Early in the morning on March 13, Miami Beach Fire Rescue were called to the hotel room by an associate of Gillum's who found the former Tallahassee mayor and another man in the room in an intoxicated condition. The man told police that he suspected Gillum and the other man to be under the influence of an unknown substance."Gillum was unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state," the police report stated, but was found to be in stable condition when authorities returned for a checkup later. Fire rescue crews treated the second man, Travis Dyson, for a suspected overdose, and he was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Gillum was not arrested and was allowed to return home.According to local reports, Dyson said he was a "pornstar performer" and solicited business as a gay male escort.Police confirmed they found three small clear plastic bags of crystal meth lying in plain sight on the bed and floor. Other prescription drugs are also visible in the police photos, including Citalopram, Gabapentin, Xanax, and a vial containing a mixture of papaverine, phentolamine, and alprostadil, a combination used to treat erectile dysfunction.The former Tallahassee mayor, who in 2018 narrowly lost Florida's gubernatorial race, apologized in a statement, saying he was in town for a wedding and had too much to drink but denied he has ever used crystal meth. Asked about Gillum's explanation, Dyson said Gillum did not mention a wedding to him. Friends of Gillum said he was expected to officiate at a wedding but did not show up.Later, Gillum, who is married with three children, announced he would seek rehab treatment for alcohol abuse. He has also taken a leave of absence from CNN, where he serves as an on-air political commentator."After conversation with my family and deep reflection, I have made the decision to seek help, guidance, and enter a rehabilitation facility at this time," he said. "This has been a wake-up call for me."
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| Top Pentagon leaders split on next steps for fired captain who warned of coronavirus Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:18 PM PDT  The unprecedented decision to reinstate Crozier would be a rebuke to former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly.
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| Trump’s Idea to Disinfect Lungs Leaves Medical Experts Aghast Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:54 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump returned to the lectern Thursday after a government scientist's presentation about studies showing that sunlight, humidity and disinfectants kill the coronavirus on surfaces -- in some cases within seconds.What Trump suggested next later sparked warnings from doctors and manufacturers of household cleaners.Bill Bryan, an undersecretary at the Homeland Security Department, told reporters during the White House's daily task force briefing that research had shown bleach could kill the virus in saliva or respiratory fluids in five minutes and isopropyl alcohol could kill it even more quickly."The disinfectant knocks it out in a minute. One minute," Trump said in response to the presentation. "Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside?" He said it would be "almost a cleaning. It gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on the lungs."The White House said that Trump's comments were taken out of context. "President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday's briefing," said White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany.Doctors say that people should absolutely not use disinfectant in their lungs, or inhale or ingest it in any way. Bleach is a toxic chemical, and inhaling it could be damaging and dangerous."Inhaling chlorine bleach would be absolutely the worst thing for the lungs," said John Balmes, a pulmonologist a Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco. "The airway and lungs are not made to be exposed to even an aerosol of disinfectant.""Not even a low dilution of bleach or isopropyl alcohol is safe," Balmes said in a telephone interview. "It's a totally ridiculous concept."On Friday morning, the maker of Lysol and Dettol, Reckitt Benckiser Plc, issued a statement that "under no circumstance" should its disinfectant products be administered into the human body, through injection, ingestion or any other route. The company said it was issuing the guidance after it was asked whether internal administration of disinfectants "may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus," amid recent speculation and social media activity.Thursday's coronavirus briefing from the White House began innocuously enough. More than 870,000 people in the U.S. have been confirmed infected with Covid-19 and more than 49,000 have died. About 20,000 new cases were added on Thursday.Bryan said that new U.S. research showed the coronavirus doesn't last as long on door handles and other nonporous surfaces when it's exposed to sunlight, higher temperatures and humidity.He suggested that offered practical tips for many Americans, including "increasing the temperature and humidity for potentially contaminated indoor spaces" in order to kill the virus on surfaces. At a temperature of 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit and 80% humidity in the summer sun, for example, the research showed the virus would last just two minutes on a nonporous surface. Dry environments Bryan said, may require "extra care."Trump has previously expressed interest in whether summer weather would end the outbreak of the virus, suggesting in February that warmer spring temperatures could eliminate cases by this month.He has also touted anti-malaria drugs as a potential cure or preventative treatment for the virus. Evidence supporting their use is lacking, and on Friday the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that they could cause heart problems in some patients. 'Very Powerful Light'Trump appeared intrigued by the research after Bryan's presentation."Suppose we hit the body with a tremendous ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Trump said, following Bryan's presentation. "I think that hasn't been checked but you're going to test it."Researchers could also bring "the light inside the body" Trump said, "either through the skin or in some other way."The World Health Organization has warned against using UV lamps to sterilize any part of the body, saying it can cause skin irritation.Disinfecting surfaces is an important practice in infection control. The coronavirus is fragile outside the body, and is essentially a packet of genetic information wrapped in a packet of lipids. Hand washing with soap is particularly effective in cleaning it and stopping transmission.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned Americans to be careful with cleaning products in their rush to use cleaners and disinfectants, which have been snapped up from store shelves and are still hard to find at many retailers. Poisonings related to cleaners and disinfectants rose significantly in March, according to the CDC. In one case, a woman was sent to the hospital after filling her sink with bleach solution, vinegar and hot water to soak her vegetables.Weather MattersAs some U.S. states begin planning to roll back social-distancing restrictions, an important question has become whether summer heat might impact the virus — and whether the fall might bring a new outbreak, as some experts inside and outside the government have suggested.Weather and UV rays are often an important factor in the transmission of infectious diseases. Transmission of the flu, for example, is often correlated with cold temperatures and dry air. One study found that in northern Europe, low temperature and low UV indexes coincided with peaks of the flu virus in the period between 2010 and 2018."We know that respiratory viruses are quite seasonal. Coronaviruses are also respiratory viruses, and we had hope and anticipation it would be, too," said William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. But, he said, not all coronaviruses show strong seasonal variation, and it's not clear that this one will.Scientists continue to research the new coronavirus, and the pathogen has circulated in parts of the world with high, humid temperatures. Singapore is experiencing a surge of cases despite hot, humid weather. And in the developed world, many people spend much of their time indoors in controlled, cooler, drier environments without direct sunlight.Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health scientist on the White House task force, said in an April 9 television interview that, "one should not assume that we are going to be rescued by a change in the weather. You must assume that the virus will continue to do its thing."Studies of other coronaviruses have suggested that certain types of UV light may act as a sort of disinfectant. Sunlight contains three types of ultraviolet light, and one of them, UVC is often used to sterilize medical equipment. In China and Italy, robots that disinfect using UVC light have reportedly been deployed in hospitals.Some studies, however, have suggested the opposite. One recent study of cities in Southern China, for example, found that heat and UV rays seemed to have no impact on the virus.(Updates with Trump comments on potential treatment in the 14th paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected a description of surface type in the 12th 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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| Saudi Arabia bans flogging as a punishment after human rights activist dies in detention Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:32 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the state human rights commission said on Saturday hailing a "major step forward" in the reform programme launched by the king and his powerful son, days after a human rights activist died in custody. Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia - sometimes extending to hundreds of lashes - have long drawn condemnation from human rights groups. But they say the headline legal reforms overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have brought no let-up in the conservative Islamic kingdom's crushing of dissent, including through the use of the death penalty. The state human rights commission said that the latest reform, which was reported by Saudi media including the pro-government Okaz newspaper, would ensure that no more convicts were sentenced to flogging. "This decision guarantees that convicts who would previously have been sentenced to the lash will from now on receive fines or prison terms instead," its chairman, Awad al-Awad, said.
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| Two transgender women found burned to death in Puerto Rico Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:02 AM PDT  Their killings would be the third and fourth against transgender people in the last two months.
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| Thousands demonstrate against Israeli coalition deal Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:35 AM PDT  Several thousand Israelis rallied Saturday to demonstrate against a unity government deal reached last week that leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges. The protesters oppose having Netanyahu as prime minister as long as he is a criminal suspect. The protesters say the unity government agreement, which gives Netanyahu influence over the appointment of judges and legal officials, "crushes democracy" and is meant to rescue Netanyahu from his legal troubles.
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| Gov. Cuomo says novel coronavirus can live on bus and subway surfaces for 72 hours, posing an ongoing concern for transit employees and riders Posted: 25 Apr 2020 10:59 AM PDT  "Think about this from a transit point of view or from your car point of view," NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said of the virus' threat in high-traffic areas.
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| Canada's reopening won't depend on immunity: Trudeau Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that Canada's approach to reopening its economy from the coronavirus shutdown would be "cautious" and not depend on the development of widespread immunity in the population. "I don't think there are any of the plans that hinge on certain people or individuals being immune or having immunity to COVID-19," he said at a daily news briefing. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Saturday that there was no proof that people who survive infection by COVID-19 gain immunity to the disease.
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| China sent team and medical experts to advise on North Korea’s Kim Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:49 AM PDT  China has sent a team to North Korea, including medical experts, to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation.
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| How Does a Harvard Professor Think It’s ‘Authoritarian’ to Allow Parents to Teach Their Kids? Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  A Harvard University law professor has called for a "presumptive ban" on homeschooling -- claiming that the freedom to do so under our current laws is "authoritarian.""The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18? I think that's dangerous," Elizabeth Bartholet said in an interview with Harvard Magazine."I think it's always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless, and to give the powerful ones total authority."Bartholet stated that there is "an essentially unregulated regime in the area of homeschooling," with "very few requirements that parents do anything.""[P]eople can homeschool who've never gone to school themselves, who don't read or write themselves," she said.Bartholet also stated that homeschooling can make it easier for parents to get away with abusing their children and/or indoctrinating them with white supremacy and misogyny:> [I]t's also important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people's viewpoints.I do not, of course, want to minimize the absolute horror of child abuse. It's disgusting; it's heartbreaking; and anyone who isn't a sociopath agrees that it's necessary to protect our children.Unfortunately, however, it's also true that abuse is hardly something that can occur only in a child's home. In fact, as Harvard grad and homeschooler Kerry McDonald pointed out in a letter to Harvard Magazine in response to its article, "many parents choose to homeschool their children to remove them from abuse at school, whether it's widespread bullying by peers or, tragically, rampant abuse by teachers and school administrators themselves.""Banning homeschooling, or adding burdensome regulations on homeschooling families, who in many instances are fleeing a system of education that they find harmful to their children, are unnecessary attacks on law-abiding families," McDonald continues.What's more, another of Bartholet's suggestions -- that the freedom to homeschool equals masses of children being painfully undereducated by illiterate parents -- is as offensive as it is inaccurate. In fact, many, many children don't simply receive an adequate education through homeschooling but an exemplary one that sets them up for greater success than any traditional school could have. As McDonald pointed out in her letter, although "there may always be outliers and more research is needed, most peer-reviewed studies on homeschooling outcomes find that homeschoolers generally outperform their schooled peers academically, and have positive life experiences."In any case, and even apart from all of this, Bartholet's characterization of the freedom to homeschool as "authoritarian" is nothing short of absurd. A government allowing its citizens the freedom to educate their own children is not only not authoritarian, it is also the exact opposite of authoritarian. That's a fact, and you don't even need to know the first thing about homeschooling to understand that -- really, you just need to know what the word means.In terms of knowing about homeschooling, though, I can also say that I personally do know more than the average person. I was homeschooled for fourth and fifth grade, and can confidently say that the two years I spent with my father as my teacher were responsible for countless positive outcomes in my life -- ones that I wouldn't have had otherwise. For example: Before I was homeschooled, I was struggling to learn math the way that the public school had been teaching it, and getting the chance to learn some fundamentals in a way that worked for my own particular brain was instrumental in making the subject much easier for me in the future.But that wasn't all. See, unlike math, I loved reading and writing. Those subjects had always come easily to me, and I enjoyed them. Homeschooling provided an advantage for me in this area, too. It allowed me to learn advanced aspects of grammar. I had the liberty to read works of literature that I wouldn't have studied in a traditional school because they would have been "above" the designated level for my classroom. I wrote poetry and short stories about subjects of my own choosing. When I returned to public school in the sixth grade, the English lessons were things that I'd already learned -- but fortunately, having had the opportunity to develop a love of writing and curiosity about books is something that kept me reading and writing what I wanted in my own time. Hell, I'm still doing it now.Finally, it's also patently ignorant how Bartholet aims to use the fact that children must be exposed to varying viewpoints and people while they're growing up as some kind of argument against homeschooling. McDonald states that "research on homeschoolers finds that they are tightly connected with their larger community and may have more community involvement and participation in extracurricular and volunteer activities than schooled children due to their more flexible schedules and interaction with a wide assortment of community members," and I'm not surprised. In fact, this was my experience exactly.I mean, does Bartholet think not attending a traditional school somehow means that I never left the house at all? Because honestly, that couldn't have been less true. I was quite active in my community, even participating in activities such as Girl Scouts with my friends from public school. I didn't miss out on any of that.In fact, I was actually exposed to far more experiences and perspectives specifically because I was homeschooled. I was able to act in community theater plays at multiple venues, interacting with all kinds of interesting people from various walks of life, without having to worry that a late-night dress rehearsal would make me too exhausted to learn in the morning because my schedule revolved around me. For the same reason, my family was able to take a random trip to New York City to see my father's friend's play -- and within hours of arrival, I decided I was definitely going to move here when I grew up and work either on a stage, in front of a camera, or both. I had the luxury of learning from truly transformative, unique experiences, ones that I certainly wouldn't have had if I'd been forced to spend that time square dancing in a gymnasium.Harvard Magazine points out that "rapidly increasing" numbers of Americans are choosing to homeschool their children. (By "choosing," by the way, I mean that this was true before coronavirus essentially forced this lifestyle on everyone.) Bartholet apparently sees this as some kind of tragedy that will lead to a future generation full of sexist Nazis who don't know how to read, but this simply isn't fair. No, homeschooling isn't perfect for everyone, but it can and has worked uniquely well for many people, myself included. We shouldn't be taking that option away, and certainly not in the name of stopping authoritarianism. It isn't hard to see how completely a**-backwards that "logic" is -- after all, even a former homeschooler like me was able to figure it out.
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| 'When He Gets New Information, He Likes To Talk That Through Out Loud,' Dr. Birx Says of Trump's Comments on Ultraviolet Light, Disinfectants as COVID-19 Treatments Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx defends Trump's comments on ultraviolet light, injecting disinfectants as coronavirus treatments
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| Nova Scotia shooting: 'They had no idea the hell they were going to face' Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:15 AM PDT  Canada's deadliest shooting is pieced together by the people swept up in its path of terror.
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| Poland’s Lockdown Election Is a Farce, Supreme Court Chief Says Posted: 23 Apr 2020 08:00 PM PDT |
| Cuomo says New York's coronavirus situation is back to where it was 21 days ago Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continued to express cautious optimism that his state, the epicent of the outbreak in the United States, is on the right trajectory amid the coronavirus pandemic.During his daily briefing, Cuomo, aided by a graph showing the amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state, said New York is "back to where we were 21 days ago."> NEW: Hospitalizations in New York State continue to decline. "We are back where we were 21 days ago," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "We want to know how fast that decline continues and how low that decline gets." https://t.co/3aqHgmUAFZ pic.twitter.com/hUNnJY6wX8> > — ABC News (@ABC) April 25, 2020The next step, he said, is to see "when we will back to the point where only several hundred people" show up at the hospital every day with COVID-19 infections. So while the current slope of the graph is trending in the right direction, Cuomo believes it's vital to see how low it can get, and at what speed.New York reported 1,184 new coronavirus infections Saturday, while the number of fatalities remained mostly stead at 437, a slight uptick from Friday's 422, which was the lowest number of deaths in the state since April 1.> @NYGovCuomo Sat COVID-19 briefing > Total hospitalizations, intubations continue to ⬇️ > New COVID cases 1,184> > "Only in this crazy reality would 11-hundred new cases be good."> > NYS sees another 437 deaths due to COVID-19 > Previous 4-days: 422, 438, 474, 481 pic.twitter.com/ebgd1uDQvp> > — Jeff Kulikowsky (@JeffNC9) April 25, 2020More stories from theweek.com The president is unwell Trump wants praise for his coronavirus response. Here it is. Some lawmakers, White House officials reportedly concerned by new joint Trump-Putin statement
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| Lebanon bank attacked with explosive amid economic crisis Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Assailants lobbed an explosive device at a bank in Lebanon Saturday, in the latest attack on financial institutions in a country facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The official National News Agency said the night-time assault targeted a branch of Fransabank in the southern port city of Sidon, damaging its glass facade. The attack came a day after Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Lebanese bank deposits had plunged $5.7 billion in the first two months of the year, despite curbs on withdrawals and a ban on transfers abroad.
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| Boris Johnson is under pressure from his own party to reset the UK's relationship with China after Beijing 'consistently lied' about the coronavirus pandemic Posted: 25 Apr 2020 01:10 AM PDT  Conservative members of the UK Parliament tell Business Insider that there is growing unease about China within Boris Johnson's party.
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| First lady sends gifts to hospitals dealing with coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Melania Trump is sending blankets, caps and other gifts to hospitals in 10 states, including some hit hardest by the new coronavirus outbreak, for use by medical staff and children who are patients. The care packages were shipped Thursday to hospitals in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Delaware, Nevada and the District of Columbia, the White House said. Mrs. Trump met doctors and nurses at some of the hospitals during past visits to promote her youth program, the White House said.
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| Austria Ski Resort Ishgl, Europe’s Coronavirus Super-Spreader, Reopens Without Party Tourism Posted: 24 Apr 2020 03:10 AM PDT  Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Alpine ski resort of Ischgl, widely known as the "Ibiza of the Alps," knew how to throw a party. The village, which is nestled in the snowy mountains where the borders of Austria, Italy, and Switzerland intersect, billed itself as the winter capital of "party tourism," where après-ski bars were packed every night of the week all season long. Ischgl locked down on March 13, after nearly 800 coronavirus cases, from Iceland to Ireland and beyond, were traced back to the adult playground. That was five days after a bar closed down after one of its staffers tested positive for COVID-19 a week earlier (the bar was disinfected but not shuttered), and nine days after Iceland declared the resort town a hot spot (the bad kind). At the time, local authorities in the Tyrol government, which has jurisdiction over the resort area, shot back that the Icelandic skiers undoubtedly contracted the virus on the flight home, which went through Milan. The ski season brings in revenue of around $120 million a year to Ischgl. Its chalets and hotels are booked years in advance, so authorities feared that raising the alarm would have left many in financial ruin—a fate they suffered anyway.Authorities now say the über-contagion took place over a 14-day period that was left unchecked even as health authorities warned that it was fast-becoming the epicenter of European spread after infected skiers passed it from one to another on the slopes, in the spas and at the bars. The German magazine Der Spiegel traced how the contagion was left unchecked, and how authorities ignored the warning signs that could have helped mitigate the spread to other countries. The investigation focuses on a single traveler from Ireland who brought it back from his ski holiday, and on 14 cases in Iceland involving people who did not all travel together, and who stayed in five different hotels in the resort town. On Thursday—post-quarantine—the village reopened, but not as the party town it once was. "We will question developments of the past years and, where necessary, make corrections," Ischgl Mayor Werner Kurz said in a statement as he unlocked the village, which still has several weeks of good snow left. "That means more quality and less party tourism, prioritizing skiers and fewer day-trippers on buses who only come to party."Reinventing the town that thrived on fast fun is not going to be easy—or cheap. "We are also thinking with all businesses about what an upmarket après-ski culture can look like," Kurz's statement says.But many of the town's businesses lost tens of thousands of euros in the pandemic and just won't have resources to start over to attract more discerning guests. The rebranding also garnered a mea culpa from Tyrol's governor, Guenther Platter, who called the spread "not serious" back in March. Platter has now launched a government review of the handling of the situation in response to a lawsuit brought on by an Austrian consumer-rights group and admitted that "mistakes were made."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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| Serbia sends four planes carrying medical equipment to Italy Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:59 AM PDT  Serbia sent four planes carrying medical equipment including gloves, masks and protective suits to Italy on Saturday as a donation to help the EU member state tackle the spread of coronavirus. Another four equipment-laden planes will be sent in the next two days, also donated by the Serbian government, President Aleksandar Vucic said. "We will win together, be brave Italy, Serbia is with you," Vucic wrote on one of the boxes of equipment before it was loaded on to a plane.
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| Grocery stores are portioning flour from industrial bags to deal with demand Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:55 PM PDT  Baking has become a favorite hobby of homebound, stir-crazy Americans.
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| Poll of Latinos finds only about half would vote for Biden Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  A new poll of Latinos nationwide indicates Trump's ability to dominate news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic is playing to his advantage with the largest bloc of minority voters.
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| Pro-China trolls are doing their best to stoke tensions for Taiwan by amplifying racist claims and spreading misinformation about California leaving the US Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:37 PM PDT  Maria Repnikova, a political scientist at Georgia State University, told the Sydney Morning Herald the trolling was "bottom-up cyber nationalism."
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| IMF to Recommend $3.4 Billion Emergency Funding for Nigeria Posted: 24 Apr 2020 05:52 AM PDT |
| B-1 Returns to Pacific in 'Dynamic Force Employment' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:58 PM PDT  The U.S. Air Force this week flew a B-1B Lancer to the Pacific as part of its new unpredictable deployment experiment.
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| Italy's daily coronavirus death toll lowest since March 19, but new cases rise Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 420 on Friday, the smallest daily tally since March 19, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the number of new infections rose to 3,021 from 2,646 on Thursday. Friday's death toll was down from 464 the day before.
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| Iraqi on genocide charges in Germany for IS killing of child Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:03 AM PDT  An Iraqi man went on trial in Frankfurt on Friday for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, on allegations that as an Islamic State member he was part of an effort to exterminate the Yazidi religious minority, and killed a five-year-old girl he purchased as a slave by chaining her in the hot sun to die of thirst. Taha Al-J., 27, whose full last name wasn't given in line with German privacy laws, faces a possible life in prison if convicted of the charges, and others including murder for the death of the Yazidi girl and membership in a terrorist organization. Al-J.'s wife, a German convert to Islam identified only as 28-year-old Jennifer W., has been on trial separately in Munich since last April on charges of murder, war crimes and membership in a terrorist organization.
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| Fauci's absence from recent coronavirus briefings draws notice Posted: 25 Apr 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The national health expert was in attendance for just one of this week's seven briefings.
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| Why 2020 Could Be Another False Equivalence Election Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:06 PM PDT  Welcome to another false equivalence election. Congratulations, you'll hate it here.
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| Chief VA physician: 'I had 5 million masks incoming that disappeared' Posted: 25 Apr 2020 08:33 AM PDT  Veterans Affairs hospitals have not been overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic to the expected extant. Indeed, the national health system has been able to lend a hand to assist veterans being treated for COVID-19 in troubled state facilities. But Richard Stone, the physician in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, confirmed to The Washington Post for the first time that the system is short on masks and other supplies."I had 5 million masks incoming that disappeared," Stone said, admitting he's been forced to move to "austerity levels" at some hospitals.The shortage, which had previously been denied by VA officials, is related to the fact that many supplies were diverted to the national stockpile at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Stone eventually received some shipments that have provided a buffer for medical personnel, but VA hospitals still have discretion to ration equipment, re-use or decontaminate masks, or allow staff to bring in their own.Barbara Galle, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Hospital and president of the local AFGE union chapter, said staff caring for COVID-19 patients could only get N95 surgical masks if they are involved in extra risky procedures, and that other hospital workers have been told to wear their face masks for a week and staple the straps together if they break. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Cuomo says New York's coronavirus situation is back to where it was 21 days ago The president is unwell Trump wants praise for his coronavirus response. Here it is.
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| Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China’s reputation) Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:24 PM PDT  How Jack Ma's growing clout during the coronavirus crisis may put him in the sights of China's jealous leaders.
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| Riots Erupt in Venezuela’s Countryside Over Food, Fuel Scarcity Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:20 AM PDT |
| One of the last cruises at sea now has just 8 passengers left after 4 died of the coronavirus and hundreds abandoned ship. Here's how a 140-day world tour turned to disaster. Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:11 AM PDT  MV Artania started its trip from Germany in December 2019 on what was meant to be a seamless, 140-day world tour.
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| Retailer charged with hoarding, price gouging on sanitizer Posted: 25 Apr 2020 08:51 AM PDT  Federal prosecutors charged a New York retailer on Friday with hoarding tons of disposable masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer in a Long Island warehouse and selling the items at huge price markups.
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