| Trump adviser warned of millions of virus deaths in January. Trump says he saw the memo only this week. Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:53 PM PDT  President Trump said Tuesday that he did not learn of two memos written in January and February by his own economic adviser warning that a COVID-19 pandemic could kill as many as 2 million Americans until "maybe a day ago."
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| 'It is an existential threat': As coronavirus spreads to Africa, health experts warn of catastrophe Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:31 PM PDT  So far, African countries have been spared the high death tolls seen in Italy, Spain, and the U.S., but officials are bracing for the worst in the coming weeks.
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| Photos show thousands packing into cars, planes, and trains in a rush to get out of Wuhan as China lifts the coronavirus lockdown Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:12 PM PDT  China ended the near-11-week lockdown of the city of Wuhan at midnight on Wednesday, sending floods of people out of the city.
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| Azul Rojas Marín: Peru found responsible for torture of LGBT person Posted: 08 Apr 2020 05:40 AM PDT  Azul Rojas Marín was beaten and raped in custody in Peru, a top human rights court rules.
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| CNN Anchor Says Bernie ‘Didn’t Say Anything Nice’ About Biden—Minutes After Sanders Did Just That Posted: 08 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Minutes after Bernie Sanders announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and congratulated his primary rival Joe Biden, saying he would "work with" the ex-veep going forward, CNN anchor John King claimed Sanders "didn't say anything nice" about Biden or offer to "work with him."In a live-streamed message to supporters on Wednesday, which was carried by CNN, Sanders noted that Biden had an overwhelming delegate lead and therefore is the presumptive Democratic nominee."The fight for justice is what our campaign has been about," he declared. "The fight for justice is what our movement remains about. Today I congratulate Joe Biden, a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward."Sanders also noted that he would keep his name on the ballot in the remaining primary states and continue to gather delegates so that he could "exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions," adding that after the Democratic convention they will "stand united" to defeat President Donald Trump.Just three minutes after Sanders called Biden a "very decent man" who he would "work with to move our progressive ideas forward" on CNN airwaves, King insisted that we did not hear what we all had just heard."What struck me the most there is Senator Sanders, in saying goodbye, did acknowledge that Joe Biden had an insurmountable lead, but he didn't say anything nice about Joe Biden," King declared. "He did not say he'd spoken to him, he did not say he would work with him. He said it was imperative to beat President Trump, but there was no big embrace for Joe Biden. He said nicer things about Joe Biden during the Democratic debates than he did in saying goodbye."CNN correspondent Dana Bash, meanwhile, agreed with King, saying it was "really noteworthy that that was not part of his message at all."Later on Wednesday afternoon, King issued a mea culpa on Twitter, blaming technical issues for not hearing Sanders' comments while also saying he was totally at fault."Harpoons deserved and accepted, and my apologies to Senator Sanders," King wrote. "We had some technical issues and I did not hear the 'I will work with' -- The error was mine and the blame lies with me not anyone else in the conversation."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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| Iran says US oil production must be known before OPEC+ call Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:21 AM PDT  Iran demanded on Wednesday that U.S. oil production levels must be known before an upcoming OPEC meeting with Russia and others seeking to boost global energy prices. The meeting of the so-called OPEC+ is scheduled to be held Thursday after officials delayed it following Saudi Arabia criticizing Russia over its comments about the price collapse. A meeting in March saw OPEC and other nations led by Russia fail to agree to a production cut as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has drastically cut demand for oil.
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| Fauci once dismissed concerns about 'silent carriers' of coronavirus. Not anymore. Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:17 AM PDT  The nation's top infectious disease expert says half of the people spreading coronavirus may never feel sick. That's more than anyone thought.
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| New York state reports more coronavirus cases than any country except the U.S.: Reuters tally Posted: 08 Apr 2020 10:44 AM PDT  The U.S. state has 149,316 reported cases compared with Spain at 146,690. Italy is now in third place with 139,422 cases reported on Wednesday. In total, the United States has recorded over 417,000 cases and 14,100 deaths, according to the Reuters tally.
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| Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown blasts Trump but praises Republican governor's response to coronavirus Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in 2006, but now praises his old political foe's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Kushner Considering Using Personal Patient Data to Create National Coronavirus Surveillance System Posted: 08 Apr 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is leading an effort to develop a national coronavirus surveillance system in order to track patient data almost in real time, Politico reported on Tuesday based on conversations with four people involved in the ongoing effort.The system would allow the federal government to monitor where and for what patients are seeking treatment. Ideally, this would provide government officials with the data needed to determine which areas of the country should implement coronavirus mitigation measures and which can safely lift those measures to open up businesses."It allows you to be much more targeted and precise in how you engage," a person familiar with the development process told Politico. "They need data to make the policy decisions, and so that's what we and others now have been asked to do."Three people working on the project said the data would be handled in such a way as to protect patient privacy. However, the project has sparked civil liberties concerns, especially following criticism of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act."We dealt with similar issues in 9/11," said Jessica Rich, former director of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection bureau. "One reason that the government doesn't have all of this data is there's a lot of concern about big brother maintaining large databases on every consumer on sensitive issues like health, and for good reason."White House spokesman Avi Berkowitz denied that a coronavirus surveillance system was under discussion."This story makes no sense and is completely false," Berkowitz said. "The White House gets many unsolicited random proposals on a variety of topics, but Jared has no knowledge of this proposal or the people mentioned in this article who may have submitted it."The coronavirus pandemic has seen over 1,400,000 infected patients worldwide, with over 80,000 deaths. Medical officials in the U.S. have at times struggled to track the scope of the outbreak, in part due to a lack of testing in the outbreak's early stages.The U.S. has also criticized China's apparent unwillingness to provide a more complete picture of that country's coronavirus outbreak, which Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force said contributed to the U.S.'s slow initial response.
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| Photos show how China's novel coronavirus outbreak unfolded as Wuhan's 76-day lockdown ends Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:21 PM PDT  Wuhan's 76-day lockdown has ended. Photos show how China's novel coronavirus outbreak unfolded from the start.
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| Bernie drops out, as Democrats pick pragmatism over consistency Posted: 08 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT  In many ways, Bernie Sanders is the anti-Trump. And, in important ways, he ran his campaign as the anti-Biden.Sanders bowed out of the Democratic nomination race on April 8, repeating his runner-up status from four years earlier. His two runs at the White House have cemented his legacy as a consistent standard-bearer for progressive policies. The veteran democratic socialist possessed a rare quality for a political candidate in this age of Trumpian fickleness. He is a politician whose actions and beliefs have remained steadfast over time and across campaigns. But in the current political moment, it appears the Democratic electorate longs less for a politician who is consistent from day to day than one who can provide pragmatic leadership to unseat the vacillating Trump. Same ol' SandersSanders ran his campaign as the antithesis of a political showman, who says one thing today and another tomorrow with little regard for facts and consistency. He has exhibited throughout his career what anthropologist Alessandro Duranti calls "existential coherence" – he is a political figure "whose past, present, and future actions, beliefs, and evaluations follow some clear basic principles, none of which contradicts another." As a linguistic anthropologist who studies language and politics, I know that traditionally, candidates have worried about how to project a consistent political persona, and they have often gone to great pains to do so. But Trump shattered that expectation, excelling in self-contradictions and inconsistencies – often within a single sitting.Sanders, instead, has put forth a consistent vision that has remained more or less the same since his early days in politics as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Rather than moving toward the electorate and shifting positions based on perceptions of what the electorate desired, the electorate has moved toward Sanders to join his vision for universal health care and other progressive causes. A CNBC survey in 2019 found that a majority of Americans supported progressive policies, including a higher minimum wage and Medicare for All – key issues that Sanders has been advocating throughout his decades-long political career. In an episode of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last year, host Trevor Noah unearthed footage from 1987 of Sanders discussing politics on a local public access channel in his hometown of Burlington. The Bernie Sanders of 1987 talked of the unfair tax system that placed a large burden on working people and the need for universal health care. "We are one of two nations in the industrialized world that does not have a national health care system," declared Sanders in 1987. Three decades later, in both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, Sanders continued with that theme. In 2016, he released his Medicare for All plan by declaring, "It is time for our country to join every other major industrialized nation on Earth and guarantee health care to all citizens as a right, not a privilege." His 2020 campaign website further echoed this sentiment, stating that "the United States will join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people as a right." A consistent candidate often comes across as a more authentic candidate – someone who is staying true to his core self rather than pandering to the latest polling data or saying whatever will attract the most dramatic news coverage. Sanders' authenticity as a candidate who has fought for working people and progressive ideals his entire life made him appealing to many liberals. He attracted an unshakable following of core supporters because of it. 'Results, not revolution'Biden's pragmatic approach, however, trumped Sanders' often dogmatic consistency. In their debates, Sanders hammered Biden over what he saw as shifting stances on Social Security, Medicare and veterans' programs. And then there was Biden's 2003 vote for the Iraq war before he turned against it.But this is not the 2004 presidential election, where accusations of flip-flopping can sink a candidate, like it did John Kerry in his race against George W. Bush. Perhaps Donald Trump's fickleness has changed what voters look for in a candidate. Maybe it's simply that nobody cares about Biden's apparent lack of judgment in 2003, which occurred well before he spent eight years as vice president in arguably one of the most popular Democratic administrations in U.S. history.Biden easily parried Sanders' accusations of inconsistency by pointing to an underlying consistency of principles that have guided his varying positions over time. Voters ultimately decided to support someone who exhibits a practical sense of how to govern in a way that gets things done. As Biden said in his last debate with Sanders, "People are looking for results, not revolution."On health care, one might have expected Sanders to have an advantage with his Medicare for All proposal, a consistent theme across his time as mayor, congressman, senator and presidential candidate. Polling done by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that for the first time a majority of Americans began to support a single government plan for health care in 2016, corresponding to the Sanders campaign push for Medicare for All.But in the same Kaiser poll, more Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they would prefer a candidate who would build on the Affordable Care Act rather than replace it. Biden's campaign argued precisely for this more pragmatic approach, and he positioned himself as the right person to get the job done in a contentious political environment. An overtureAfter sweeping the primaries in Florida, Illinois and Arizona in March – putting the wheels in motion for the eventual withdrawal of Sanders from the race – Biden then struck the right chord in his speech after the Florida primary by making an appeal to Sanders voters. "I hear you," he said. "I know what's at stake. I know what we have to do. Our goal as a campaign and my goal as a candidate for president is to unify this party and then to unify the nation." Biden's appeal to Sanders voters suggests he may be willing to absorb some of the best ideas from Sanders – and other candidates. It's a pragmatic approach, rather than a dogmatic consistency, that may bring along their supporters, too. That may be exactly what he will need to do to beat Trump in November.[You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to The Conversation's newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Biden's big night with moderates, African Americans and baby boomers * Biden's resurrection was unprecedented – and well-timedAdam Hodges does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| As coronavirus spreads, mentally ill Americans are left scrambling for options Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  The rapid spread of the coronavirus has dramatically affected the one in five Americans who deal with mental health in any given year, as well as those who work tirelessly to keep those individuals well.
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| India's financial hub Mumbai set to extend coronavirus lockdown: sources Posted: 08 Apr 2020 02:10 AM PDT  India's financial hub Mumbai is set to extend lockdown measures until at least April 30 as authorities race to expand testing to stem the spread of coronavirus cases in the city, three senior officials said. A 21-day nationwide lockdown that Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared in late March to fight the epidemic is officially set to end on April 14. The Mumbai municipal authority and the state government in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, both declined to comment.
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| Texas teen accused of threatening to spread coronavirus is charged Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Maradiaga claimed in a series of Snapchat videos to have tested positive and threatened to willfully spread COVID-19, according to police.
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| Trump’s Fox News Cabinet Tells Him the Coronavirus Crisis Is Over Posted: 08 Apr 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump's decisions and stances have seemingly been influenced by the unofficial advisers he treasures most: Fox News primetime hosts.After downplaying for weeks the threat of the virus, just as many on Fox News did the same, the president began taking it seriously last month after Tucker Carlson personally confronted him before delivering an on-air monologue calling for action. Elsewhere, Fox stars have been the primary driving force behind Trump's incessant promotion of an unproven anti-malarial drug as the miracle COVID-19 cure.And in recent days, it seems, the president has been receiving his newest coronavirus intel briefing from Fox News. This time, they say, the pandemic is over and it's time to move on.Throughout Tuesday night's primetime stretch, Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham were in lockstep in telegraphing to Trump a message that the pandemic's threat has been overstated, death counts have been inflated, and the U.S. is already on the downside of the curve.Carlson, who received mainstream plaudits for his "admirable" early coronavirus coverage, kicked off his show by declaring that the crisis "may have passed," noting that health-care systems across the country haven't come close to collapsing—"except in a handful of places.""Patients are not dying alone in the hallways of emergency rooms with physicians too overwhelmed to treat them," he asserted. "That was the concern. It happens in other countries, it's not happening here. Thank God for that."There have been numerous reports and testimonials from health-care workers expressing horror over the conditions of overcrowded hospitals and the stress it has placed on both medical staffers and patients. Much reporting has also been done on how many patients are dying alone and away from family members and friends from the disease.But despite nearly 13,000 U.S. deaths and at least 400,000 confirmed cases, with portions of the country having yet to suffer the worst effects of the outbreak, Carlson called for a quick reversal of social-distancing restrictions in order to jumpstart the economy, citing downward revisions of coronavirus models as the key reason."Before we go ahead and alter our lives and our country forever, it is fair to ask about the numbers, their numbers, the ones we acted on the first time, that turned out to be completely wrong," the Fox star fumed. "How did they screw that up so thoroughly? That is a fair question."Adjustments of expected death tolls in some models—which, weeks ago, showed as many as 240,000 American deaths—have largely occurred due to the widespread adoption of social-distancing guidelines and the assumption that school and business closures will stay in place through the summer. Even factoring all that in, the models still project roughly 80,000 deaths.Nevertheless, over the past few days, Carlson has been pushing the president to ignore medical expertise and quickly move forward with economic activity. "Is there a single person who sincerely expects the coronavirus itself will hurt more people in the end than the damage we're causing in our response to it? Probably not," he said on Monday night. "Mass unemployment is almost certain to cause far more harm, including physical harm, to the average family than this disease."Carlson has also railed against top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has urged Americans to embrace social distancing in order to flatten the curve. Calling it "bewildering" that the U.S. is allowing medical "experts" to make policy decisions, Carlson claimed last week that Fauci is proposing "national suicide" by pushing aggressive social distancing. "We should never let someone like that run this country," he said.Fox News senior analyst Brit Hume, who has recently been at the forefront of right-wing media's questioning of coronavirus deaths, has also joined the chorus of Fox stars agitating against medical expertise. The official COVID-19 death count has been inflated, he declared Carlson on Tuesday evening."Dr. Birx said tonight during the briefing at the White House that all deaths from anyone who died with coronavirus is counted as if the person died from coronavirus," Hume said. "Now, we all know that isn't true.""And if everybody is being automatically classified, if they're found to have COVID-19, as a COVID-19 death, we're going to get a very large number of deaths that way and we're probably not going to have an accurate count of what the real death total is," he added.Besides the fact that flu deaths—which Trump and Fox figures have constantly used as a comparison point to downplay the pandemic—are tracked the exact same way, and coronavirus disproportionately impacts people with pre-conditions, it is actually far more likely that the COVID-19 death count has been understated so far.Hannity, meanwhile, kicked off his Tuesday evening broadcast by claiming there is a "ton of good news" surrounding the pandemic, touting revised downward estimates of the death count to suggest that regular economic activity should restart very soon.In a phone interview with the president, Hannity—who has served as an unofficial Trump adviser and confidant—noted that the "cure can't be worse than the problem" and nudged the president to reveal when he'd roll back social-distancing policies."I'd love to open with a big bang, one beautiful country and just open," Trump declared, adding, "We're looking at two concepts. We're looking at the concept where you open up sections and we're also looking at the concept where you open up everything."In a Wednesday morning tweet, Trump further hinted that he is looking to end restrictions "sooner rather than later," adding that the "horror" of coronavirus "must be quickly forgotten" and predicting that the economy "will BOOM" going forward.Laura Ingraham, however, may have been the most aggressive among her primetime colleagues in openly pushing Trump to view the pandemic threat as completely neutralized.Claiming the experts were "wrong" with their modeling and that it caused undue panic for Americans, Ingraham echoed Carlson by railing against medical officials, claiming this pandemic should "make us less willing to rely on the same experts to help determine when and how we should reopen our economy.""We didn't vote for doctors," exclaimed Ingraham, who recently sat with the president to tout the unproven coronavirus cure hydroxychloroquine. "We voted for political leadership that sees the big picture. That means the whole picture of America."She continued to hammer away at that message Wednesday on her Twitter account.Tucker Carlson Wants to Have It Both Ways on Coronavirus"At some point, the president is going to have to look at Drs. Fauci and Birx and say, we're opening on May 1," she wrote on Wednesday morning. "Give me your best guidance on protocols, but we cannot deny our people their basic freedoms any longer.""America must get back to work," Ingraham blared in another tweet. "'Experts' were wrong on fatalities by a factor of 30 now want to dictate when we reopen."While Trump's Fox News cabinet is declaring the crisis over, the network's brass is still taking the pandemic seriously, implementing strict social-distancing policies for its employees. In a memo sent last week, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott announced the company would distribute thermometers to all essential workers and suggested the use of face masks for anyone who had to come into one of Fox's offices. Additionally, Scott said that Fox was targeting May 4 as a possible return date for employees currently telecommuting.And as Fox News' biggest stars tried to convince the president to ditch social distancing altogether, one of Trump's own health officials rebuked the network's faux-populist manipulation of the expert data and projections."Physical distancing is incredibly important—remember the projections," Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said Wednesday on Fox & Friends. "I have seen people twist that like this was not going to be that bad after all and we didn't need to do it. That's a complete misinterpretation. The estimate of deaths going down is the result of the fact that we have listened to the president and vice president and task force.""I do want to emphasize the point, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but don't keep your foot—don't take your foot off the gas," Giroir continued. "Because we really need to continue these efforts because we could see another peak, a second peak, a third peak if people don't do the physical distancing or they think it's all over."It's not over yet."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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| One chart shows how long the coronavirus lives on surfaces like cardboard, plastic, wood, and steel Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Recent research shows that the coronavirus lives longest on glass, paper money, and the outside of surgical masks.
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| VP talk could intensify with Harris fundraising moves Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:28 AM PDT  California Sen. Kamala Harris made two notable fundraising moves Wednesday that are sure to fuel speculation about her prospects to be Joe Biden's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris, who dropped out of the White House race in December, set up a joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee, an arrangement that is typically reserved for nominees trying to attract large donations from the party's biggest boosters. Hours later, she made a surprise appearance on a virtual fundraiser, introducing Biden to donors.
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| Healthcare workers are taping photos of themselves to their protective gear to help put COVID-19 patients at ease Posted: 08 Apr 2020 08:41 AM PDT  Healthcare workers have found a clever way to help COVID-19 patients feel less isolated, wearing photos of themselves so patients can see their faces.
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| Korean Air puts 70 percent of staff on leave Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:17 PM PDT  Korean Air is the flagship of the Hanjin group, one of the multifaceted, family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea and played a key part in its rise to become the world's 12th-largest economy. Most of its staff will go on leave from April 16 for six months in response to "deteriorating business circumstances", Korean Air said in a statement. Korean Air's labour union agreed to participate as part of a "burden-sharing" initiative, the company said -- executives have also agreed to take pay cuts.
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| Police find drowned body of Robert Kennedy's granddaughter, whose son is also presumed dead Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:01 AM PDT  Maryland police said Monday night that they have recovered the body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, a 40-year-old granddaughter of former Sen. Robert Kennedy, who disappeared along with son Gideon, 8, last Thursday when their canoe was evidently swept into the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Natural Resources Police said they found McKean's body in 25 feet of water about 2.5 miles south of the waterfront home of her mother, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. They will resume the search for Gideon's body on Tuesday.McKean and her son got into a canoe to retrieve a ball that had landed in the water. The canoe was found Thursday. The family was at Townsend's waterfront home to isolate from the COVID-19 coronavirus. McKean, the executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative, and her husband have two other children, ages 7 and 2. Townsend was just a teenager when her father was shot dead and just 12 when her uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Her cousin John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a plane crash off Martha's Vineyard in 1999.More stories from theweek.com Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different' Democrat Amy McGrath raises more money than Mitch McConnell in 1st quarter What America needs to do before lockdown can end
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| Trump news: Bernie Sanders ends campaign as president slams Democrats and says coronavirus must be 'quickly forgotten' Posted: 08 Apr 2020 11:38 AM PDT  The World Health Organisation (WHO) has hit back at Donald Trump after he threatened to stop US funding to the body as he seeks a scapegoat for the disaster wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, saying the WHO had "missed the call" -- despite himself ignoring a memo from trade adviser Peter Navarro in February warning of the coming storm.Mr Trump doubled down on his attacks of the WHO during the White House press briefing on Wednesday, saying his administering would "study" if it should pull funding from the group. The US is the largest contributor to the WHO's budget.
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| Thousands of scientists in Sweden are criticizing the government for not implementing a lockdown to stop the coronavirus Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:37 AM PDT  Sweden is resisting international trends by not implementing a lockdown or strict social distancing measures to fight the coronavirus.
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| U.S. coronavirus restrictions create split among religious liberty advocates Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:07 AM PDT  When an evangelical Christian pastor was arrested in Florida for flouting a stay-at-home order aimed at curbing the new coronavirus, a conservative religious liberty group was quick to leap to his defense. Other groups, including Alliance Defending Freedom and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty have so far held their fire, saying states have strong interest in protecting public health as long as the government action is limited in time and scope, even as Sunday's Easter holiday approaches. Howard-Browne, who was arrested on March 30 after being accused of presiding over two services attended by hundreds of parishioners, is himself something of an outlier as most houses of worship have closed their doors in the interests of public health.
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| The U.S. needs masks to fight coronavirus. But supplies from China fell as demand rose. Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:06 PM PDT  Just as medical workers need face masks more than ever to fight coronavirus, imports dropped. Why can't America get enough?
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| The Military May Be Sacrificing Too Much in the Name of Global Presence Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  For too long, the DoD has used the strategic objectives of deterrence and influence to justify "presence" missions.
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| John Prine's wife remembers late singer, praises caregivers Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:04 AM PDT  The wife of celebrated singer-songwriter John Prine said she was able to sit with her husband in the last hours of his life. Prine died Tuesday at 73 from complications of COVID-19. Fiona Whelan Prine said in a statement Wednesday that "in spite of the incredible skill and care of his medical team at Vanderbilt he could not overcome the damage this virus inflicted on his body."
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| Will we ever take cruise holidays again? Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:10 PM PDT  The cruise line industry faces a long journey back from the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Ethiopia declares state of emergency to fight coronavirus Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:13 AM PDT  Ethiopia on Wednesday declared a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected 55 people and resulted in two deaths there. It is the first state of emergency announced under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 and won last year's Nobel Peace Prize in part for expanding political freedoms in the authoritarian nation. "Because the coronavirus pandemic is getting worse, the Ethiopian government has decided to declare a state of emergency under Article 93 of the constitution," Abiy said in a statement.
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| China investigates party member critical of government's handling of coronavirus outbreak Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:09 AM PDT  China is investigating a prominent Communist Party member who criticized leader Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
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| U.S. sees deadliest day in COVID-19 outbreak Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:48 AM PDT  After 11 weeks of lockdown, residents of China's Wuhan were allowed out, and tens of thousands prepared to leave the city.
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| At least 100 American Airlines flight attendants have contracted the coronavirus. Some are sounding the alarm over shortages of personal protective equipment. Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:47 PM PDT  Some American Airlines flight attendants who spoke with Business Insider said gloves and disinfectant are not always available.
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| Obesity is major COVID-19 risk factor, says French chief epidemiologist Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:15 AM PDT  Being overweight is a major risk for people infected with the new coronavirus and the United States is particularly vulnerable because of high obesity levels there, France's chief epidemiologist said on Wednesday. Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the epidemic, said as many as 17 million of France's 67 million citizens were seriously at risk from the coronavirus because of age, pre-existing illness or obesity. "That is why we're worried about our friends in America, where the problem of obesity is well known and where they will probably have the most problems because of obesity."
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| Japan to Fund Firms to Shift Production Out of China Posted: 08 Apr 2020 05:07 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Japan has earmarked $2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China as the coronavirus disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners.The extra budget, compiled to try to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic, includes 220 billion yen ($2 billion) for companies shifting production back to Japan and 23.5 billion yen for those seeking to move production to other countries, according to details of the plan posted online.The move coincides with what should have been a celebration of friendlier ties between the two countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to be on a state visit to Japan early this month. But what would have been the first visit of its sort in a decade was postponed a month ago amid the spread of the virus and no new date has been set.China is Japan's biggest trading partner under normal circumstances, but imports from China slumped by almost half in February as the disease shuttered factories, in turn starving Japanese manufacturers of necessary components.That has renewed talk of Japanese firms reducing their reliance on China as a manufacturing base. The government's panel on future investment last month discussed the need for manufacturing of high-added value products to be shifted back to Japan, and for production of other goods to be diversified across Southeast Asia."There will be something of a shift," said Shinichi Seki, an economist at the Japan Research Institute, adding that some Japanese companies manufacturing goods in China for export were already considering moving out. "Having this in the budget will definitely provide an impetus." Companies, such as car makers, that are manufacturing for the Chinese domestic market, will likely stay put, he said.Testing TimesJapan exports a far larger share of parts and partially finished goods to China than other major industrial nations, according to data compiled for the panel. A February survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. found 37% of the more than 2,600 companies that responded were diversifying procurement to places other than China amid the coronavirus crisis.It remains to be seen how the policy will affect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's years-long effort to restore relations with China."We are doing our best to resume economic development," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a briefing Wednesday in Beijing, when asked about the move. "In this process, we hope other countries will act like China and take proper measures to ensure the world economy will be impacted as little as possible and to ensure that supply chains are impacted as little as possible."The initial stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in China appeared to warm the often chilly ties between the two countries. Japan provided aid in the form of masks and protective gear -- and in one case a shipment was accompanied by a fragment of ancient Chinese poetry. In return, it received praise from Beijing.In another step welcomed in Japan, China declared Avigan, an anti-viral produced by Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp. to be an effective treatment for the coronavirus, even though it has yet to be approved for that use by the Japanese.Yet many in Japan are inclined to blame China for mishandling the early stages of the outbreak and Abe for not blocking visitors from China sooner.Meanwhile, other issues that have deeply divided the neighbors -- including a territorial dispute over East China Sea islands that brought them close to a military clash in 2012-13 -- are no nearer resolution.Chinese government ships have continued their patrols around the Japanese-administered islands throughout the crisis, with Japan saying four Chinese ships on Wednesday entered what it sees as its territorial waters.(Updates with comment from economist in sixth 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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| Bernie Sanders reportedly spoke to Biden and Obama before ending his 2020 run Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:57 PM PDT  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had made a few phone calls to the last administration before making his big dropout decision.Sanders suspended his 2020 run on Wednesday, saying his "path toward victory is virtually impossible" but pledging to stay on primary ballots through the Democratic National Convention to gain influence in the party. And shortly after making that announcement, Sanders reportedly made a call to Joe Biden, who he left as the presumptive Democratic nominee, CBS News reports.> Former Vice President @JoeBiden and Sen. @BernieSanders spoke around midday today about the senator's decision to suspend his campaign, a source familiar with the call tells me. This was one of several calls between the two opponents in recent weeks.> > -- Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 8, 2020Sanders also consulted former President Barack Obama "several times" before making his decision, NBC News reports. Obama reportedly still isn't ready to hop into the 2020 fray just yet, but Sanders' suspension surely makes it easier for him to do so.> Source close to @BarackObama tells me: "When the moment is right and when he feels he can have maximum impact, the country will be hearing more from him." Source notes Obama has spoken to @SenSanders "several times" over the past few weeks.> > -- Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) April 8, 2020Hillary Clinton, 2016's Democratic nominee, meanwhile had no comment on Sanders' exit. > Not too shocking: Hillary Clinton has no comment on Bernie Sanders suspending his presidential campaign, per a Clinton spokesman. > > Remember, Clinton had this to say of Sanders in a Hulu docuseries that aired earlier this year: "Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him."> > -- Monica Alba (@albamonica) April 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different' The coming backlash against the public health experts WHO director-general implores world leaders not to politicize the coronavirus pandemic
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| UK truck driver pleads guilty in deaths of 39 Vietnamese Posted: 08 Apr 2020 07:49 AM PDT  A truck driver accused in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found inside a refrigerated container that had been hauled to England pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday. Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon in Northern Ireland, entered the plea at Central London Criminal Court.
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| Cost of Navy secretary's trip to Guam? $243,000, his job and isolation after coronavirus exposure Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:40 PM PDT  Acting Navy chief Thomas Modly's Guam trip to see sailors on the stricken USS Roosevelt cost $243,000. He's now in coronavirus isolation, out of a job.
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| 'Stunning lack of judgment': An Illinois mayor apologized after his wife was found partying at an illegally open bar and violating the state's stay-at-home order Posted: 07 Apr 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Mayor Brant Walker said his wife would be treated like any other citizen violating the stay-at-home order and faces a complaint of reckless conduct.
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| India drops drug export ban after Trump threatens "retaliation" Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT  As it's tested as a possible treatment for COVID-19, India had barred exports of hydroxychloroquine, until Trump weighed in.
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| In South Africa, a government minister lost her salary for eating lunch in the wrong place Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT  "Unmoved" by her excuses for the outing, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa put the minister on two months' leave, one of which will be unpaid.
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| Special Report: Johnson listened to his scientists about coronavirus - but they were slow to sound the alarm Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:04 AM PDT  It was early spring when British scientists laid out the bald truth to their government. It was "highly likely," they said, that there was now "sustained transmission" of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. If unconstrained and if the virus behaved as in China, up to four-fifths of Britons could be infected and one in a hundred might die, wrote the scientists, members of an official committee set up to model the spread of pandemic flu, on March 2.
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| EU Nations Upgrade Trade Arsenal to Offset U.S. Attack on WTO Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:20 AM PDT |
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