| Leaked intelligence report saying China 'intentionally concealed' coronavirus to stockpile medical supplies draws scrutiny Posted: 04 May 2020 10:24 AM PDT  The Trump administration has issued an intelligence analysis claiming China purposely delayed notifying the World Health Organization about the spread of the coronavirus.
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| As states push ahead with reopening, CDC warns coronavirus cases and deaths are set to soar Posted: 04 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is quietly projecting a stark rise in the number of new cases of the virus and deaths from it over the next month.
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| Venezuela: Two US citizens arrested after beach invasion aimed at capturing Nicolas Maduro, says regime Posted: 04 May 2020 06:56 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that authorities have captured 13 "terrorists", including two US citizens he described as mercenaries, over allegations that they were involved in a failed plot to invade the country and oust him. In a state television address, Maduro showed what he said were the passports and other identification cards of Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who he described as employees of Silvercorp, a Florida-based company whose owner has claimed responsibility for the invasion attempt. Venezuelan authorities said on Monday that they arrested another eight accused "mercenaries" in a coastal town and showed images on state TV of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. The Venezuelan government said that more than 25,000 troops have been mobilised to hunt for other rebels operating in the country. Diosdado Cabello, the vice-president of the ruling party, posted on his Twitter account a video of a Venezuelan identified as Josnars Adolfo Baduel, who was also detained, and claimed that two US citizens were among those arrested. Mr Baduel is shown responding to a security official who asks him about the Americans captured. Venezuelan state television broadcast the video but did not identify the Americans. But Jordan Goudreau, a Florida-based former Green Beret, said he was working with the two men in a mission launched early Sunday to "liberate" Venezuela.
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| Body of 18-year-old missing since leaving Target in January is found Posted: 05 May 2020 06:48 AM PDT  Abdullahi "Abdi" Sharif was last seen on security video on Jan. 17 leaving the Target store at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines where he and his sister, Ifrah, had worked for about two years.
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| Former FDA commissioner says U.S. may be unable to decrease coronavirus transmission much more Posted: 05 May 2020 07:16 AM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes the United States may not be able to reduce coronavirus transmission much more, saying we should prepare for a "new normal."Gottlieb spoke with Today on Tuesday as many states allow some nonessential businesses to begin reopening and after a key model that's been cited by the White House significantly raised its projected death toll from COVID-19 to almost 135,000 by early August."We still have a high level of infection in this country," Gottlieb said. "We've reached a plateau, but we haven't seen the kind of declines that we were expecting to see at this point. And as we start to reopen the country, cases are likely to go up, not down."Gottlieb went on to suggest that as cases continue to rise in many states, the country may not be able to lower the rate of infection much further."I think that we need to understand, this may be the new normal," he said. "We may not be able to get transmission down much more. I hope we can."Gottlieb expanded on this in a Twitter thread, in which he wrote that "we need to prepare to deal with covid as a persistent threat," including by protecting those who are most vulnerable and being "prepared with case-based interventions, and widespread screening, to slow the transmission."On Monday, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is privately forecasting that the U.S. daily coronavirus death toll will reach 3,000 by June 1, up from about 1,750, as well as 200,000 new cases a day by the end of the month, up from about 25,000. > "We need to understand this may be the new normal. We may not be able to get transmission down much more. I hope we can." -@ScottGottliebMD pic.twitter.com/yF1eijFIDV> > -- TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 5, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| Norway pledges $1 billion to vaccines against COVID-19, other diseases Posted: 04 May 2020 06:41 AM PDT  Norway will give $1 billion to support the distribution worldwide of any vaccine developed against COVID-19 as well as for vaccines against other diseases, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Monday. Oslo made the pledge as part of a donor conference held on Monday by the European Union to raise 7.5 billion euros ($8.23 billion) towards the testing, treatment and prevention of the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Non-EU member Norway is a co-chair of the event as a long-standing donor to global health initiatives.
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| How the coronavirus undid Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Posted: 04 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Long before the coronavirus outbreak turned him into one of the least popular governors in the nation, DeSantis of Florida was something of a conservative golden boy.
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| Trump allies fall silent amid SCOTUS financial records case Posted: 05 May 2020 07:08 AM PDT  Allies of President Trump are remaining quiet amid a Supreme Court battle over his financial records.
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| How child abusers and other criminals are exploiting COVID-19 realities Posted: 05 May 2020 04:29 AM PDT  "There is no doubt that with more children online, we need to work harder to protect those children," National Crime Agency boss says.
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| Putin awards commemorative WWII medal to Kim Jong Un Posted: 05 May 2020 01:34 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Kim Jong Un a commemorative war medal marking the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said Tuesday. The medal was awarded to the North Korean leader for his role in preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died on North Korean territory, the statement said. Russia's ambassador in North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, presented the award to the country's Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon on Tuesday.
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| Trump attacks Joe Scarborough, who tells him 'take a rest' and 'let Mike Pence actually run things' Posted: 04 May 2020 08:21 AM PDT  With the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus mounting, President Trump on Monday took aim at MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. The cable news host responded by telling Trump to let Vice President Mike Pence "run things for the next couple of weeks."
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| Iranian airline linked to Revolutionary Guards 'defied coronavirus ban on China flights' Posted: 05 May 2020 03:08 AM PDT  An Iranian airline with links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps may have contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the Middle East after it continued to fly to China despite a ban imposed by the Iranian government, an investigation has claimed. Mahan Air, a privately owned airline, flew between Iran and China 157 times between early February and March, an analysis of flight tracking data by BBC Arabic found. The Iranian government banned flights to and from China on January 31. Mahan said it was suspending flights and ticket sales to and from China on February 2, in accordance with instruction from the World Health Organisation and Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation. It has previously said it carried out several evacuation flights of Iranian citizens after that date, and published a message of thanks from Iranian aviation authorities for doing so on its website on February 7. The flights included an Airbus 310 that repatriated 70 Iranian students from Wuhan to Tehran on February 6, and then flew on to Baghdad the following day. Four more flights were operated between February 3 and February 6, carrying repatriated Chinese and Iranian citizens in either direction. But the BBC found that that airline continued to fly regularly to destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen after that. It also claimed that Mahan had continued to fly to Iraq after the government of that country banned flights from Iran on April 20, and to the United Arab Emirates after it introduced a ban on February 25. Iraq and Lebanon reported their first cases of coronavirus in travellers from Iran in February. The BBC claimed both cases arrived on Mahan Air flights. Iran was one of the worst-affected countries at the beginning of the pandemic and has so far recorded almost 100,000 cases of the coronavirus. Allegations that Mahan was flouting the flight ban were first reported in the Shargh daily, a reformist newspaper in Iran. Mahan said in a statement at the time that since the ban on China routes it had only flown repatriation and aid flights at the request of the country's ministries of health and foreign affairs. It said it had also agreed to fly industrial materials from China for Iranian manufacturers. "Obviously, our company would be in such a situation that regardless of material interests and even accepting losses, it had to assist the esteemed government and the country's industries and carry over hundreds of tons of industrial items to Iran," it said. Mahan has faced US sanctions because of its suspected links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps. Germany, France and Italy banned Mahan flights in 2019, following requests from the United States. Germany cited "security" concerns and the airline's alleged role in flying personnel and material to conflict zones including Syria. The airline's last European Union route, a twice-weekly service between Tehran and Barcelona was cancelled in March after Spain revoked its landing license. Mahan did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
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| Boko Haram jihadists clash with army near key Niger city Posted: 05 May 2020 09:14 AM PDT  Boko Haram fighters clashed with government forces on Sunday in Diffa, the largest city in southwestern Niger, in what the jihadists said was a successful attack on a military camp. A propaganda video released by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group affiliated to the so-called Islamic State, purports to show heavily-armed insurgents storm an army camp following sustained fighting and heavy weapons fire. The area around Diffa, a city of around 200,000 people located near the Nigerian border, has been repeatedly attacked by the jihadist group, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009.
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| Bangladesh eases some restrictions, extends lockdown to May 16 Posted: 04 May 2020 02:08 AM PDT  Bangladesh authorities said on Monday they will gradually open up more factories, as well as farms and logistics operations, as they try to diminish the economic impact of a coronavirus lockdown which they extended to May 16. The move followed a decision last week to reopen more than 2,000 garment factories that supply global brands, after a month-long shutdown. The official tally of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose by 688 to surpass 10,000, the health ministry said.
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| For nearly two months, Italians rarely left their homes. Now they lead Europe's reopening. Posted: 04 May 2020 07:35 AM PDT  "A new page is beginning, and we will have to write it together with faith and responsibility," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
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| Navy Ships Transit Through Barents Sea Near Russia for 1st Time Since Cold War Posted: 05 May 2020 07:18 AM PDT  The operation was announced weeks after Russian aircraft were spotted flying near Alaska.
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| California governor says data shows some retail stores can reopen, with modifications Posted: 04 May 2020 04:22 PM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday said that as early as Friday, some retail businesses — including bookstores, sporting goods retailers, and florists — will be allowed to reopen and offer curbside pickup."We are entering into the next phase this week," Newsom said. "This is a very positive sign and it's happened only for one reason: The data says it can happen." Counties that want to be able to open more businesses will have to take certain steps, including conducting more coronavirus testing and ensuring there are adequate hospital beds.Newsom said detailed guidelines will be released later this week, and in order for more restrictions to relax, the state has to do more testing and trace infections, so people exposed to COVID-19 can be quarantined. The state is working with two University of California campuses to recruit and train new tracers, with Newsom aiming to hire 20,000 people within the next few weeks.While some isolated protests against Newsom's stay-at-home order have been held, recent polls show that 70 percent of Californians approve of how Newsom is handling the crisis and 70 percent are more concerned about reopening the state too early rather than too late, the Los Angeles Times reports.More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| W.Va. woman charged with mishandling classified information Posted: 04 May 2020 12:08 PM PDT  A West Virginia woman who had already been accused of kidnapping her daughter faces a new charge of retaining top-secret information from the National Security Agency in a storage unit she leased, court papers show. Elizabeth Jo Shirley was charged with willful retention of national defense information in a two-count criminal information document filed in federal court in West Virginia last week. The document contains only sparse information about the allegations, but says that between 1999 and August 2019, Shirley had unauthorized possession of documents "relating to the national defense" and "failed to deliver them to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive them."
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| Trump says he might give federal coronavirus aid to states if they comply with his political demands Posted: 05 May 2020 01:10 PM PDT  Trump has been sharply criticized for suggesting a quid pro quo between states and the federal government during a public-health crisis.
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| Why shut down his own coronavirus task force? Trump wants someone to blame if things get worse Posted: 05 May 2020 03:34 PM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence says the cornavirus task force could end in early June. Why?
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| Drone discovers mass grave of Islamic State victims at bottom of gorge in Syria Posted: 05 May 2020 02:29 AM PDT  Islamic State fighters used a stunning gorge in north-eastern Syria as a mass grave for their victims, a human rights group has revealed, after it deployed a drone to confirm the suspicions. In a new report, Human Rights Watch said the terror group dumped the bodies of people it had abducted, tortured and executed in al-Hota gorge, near Raqqa. It is one of around 20 mass graves containing thousands of bodies in areas that were formerly held by the so-called Islamic State (IS). Local villagers told researchers from Human Rights Watch that people had been threatened by IS fighters with being thrown into the gorge, while videos posted on Facebook in 2014 show two victims being cast in. The clothes on the men's bodies in that video match the clothing of two men being killed on camera in a separate propaganda video, Human Rights Watch said. Activists used a drone to fly into the gorge, where they discovered six bodies floating in the water in a state of decomposition. "Al-Hota gorge, once a beautiful natural site, has become a place of horror and reckoning," said Sara Kayyali, Human Rights Watch's Syria researcher. "Exposing what happened there, and at the other mass graves in Syria, is crucial to determining what happened to the thousands of people ISIS executed and holding their killers to account." It is likely that there are more bodies at the very bottom of the gorge, which the drone was unable to reach as it was underwater. Human Rights Watch has now called on Turkish forces, which control the area, to retrieve and identify the bodies so as to begin building a criminal case against IS for the atrocities committed in 2014 and beyond. "Whichever authority controls the al-Hota area is obliged to protect and preserve the site," added Ms Kayyali. "They should facilitate the collection of evidence to hold ISIS members accountable for their horrendous crimes, as well as those who dumped bodies in al-Hota before or after the ISIS rule." She also called on the Turkish military to clear the al-Hota area of boobytraps and other hazards that prevent thorough investigation of the site.
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| Jim Jordan Demands Top FBI Officials Answer Questions about ‘Perjury Trap’ Set for Michael Flynn Posted: 05 May 2020 06:37 AM PDT  House Judiciary Republicans are demanding that FBI Director Christopher Wray answer for the Bureau's "targeting" of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn by making top officials and documents connected to the probe available to lawmakers.House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Representative Mike Johnson (R., La.) asked Wray to hand over all documents and communications related to the FBI's "Crossfire Razor" investigation of Flynn, as well as to address why the Bureau has not been forthcoming regarding the new information about the case that has been released in court filings."The American people continue to learn troubling details about the politicization and misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI during the Obama-Biden Administration," Jordan and Johnson wrote. "Even more concerning, we continue to learn these new details from litigation and investigations — not from you. It is well past time that you show the leadership necessary to bring the FBI past the abuses of the Obama-Biden era."Records released last week showed that handwritten notes dated January 24, 2017 — the same day of Flynn was interviewed at the White House interview by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka — showed one agent questioning whether the goal of the interview was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."Further documents released in the case also reveal that Strzok intervened to keep the Flynn case open after Crossfire Razor investigators noted on January 4, 2017 that they had found "no derogatory information" regarding Flynn's Russian contacts. That same day, Strzok also told a redacted individual that the FBI's "7th floor" had intervened — apparently referencing the floor in Bureau headquarters that houses senior FBI leadership.In their letter, Jordan and Johnson ask Wray to allow Pientka and Priestap to be made available for an interview to explain their respective roles in the case, and also ask Wray to publicly address allegations that he had opposed the disclosure of exculpatory information in the Flynn case, as reported by the Daily Caller.President Trump reportedly wants to fire Wray in response to the latest revelations, but the president is unlikely to remove him before the November election. Wray has been backed publicly by Attorney General Bill Barr, who said in an October interview that "there's been a world of change" since Wray took over in 2017. "I think that he is restoring the steady professionalism that's been a hallmark of the FBI," Barr told Fox News.
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| This Extremely Detailed Owl Puzzle Has Unique Wooden Pieces That Create a Colorful Masterpiece Posted: 05 May 2020 09:31 AM PDT |
| Taiwan rebuffs WHO, says China has no right to represent it Posted: 04 May 2020 11:29 PM PDT  Only Taiwan's democratically-elected government can represent its people on the world stage, not China, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to "cast off" China's control during the coronavirus pandemic. Taiwan's exclusion from WHO, due to China's objections which considers the island one of its provinces, has infuriated Taipei, which says this has created a dangerous gap in the global fight against the coronavirus. Taiwan has been lobbying to attend, as an observer, this month's meeting of the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), although government and diplomatic sources say China will block the move.
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| Students at 25 universities sue for refunds after campuses close due to coronavirus Posted: 05 May 2020 01:04 PM PDT  "It's just not the same experience I would be getting if I was at the campus," said Grainger Rickenbaker, who filed a lawsuit against Drexel University.
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| California eases Covid-19 restrictions, allowing some businesses to reopen Posted: 04 May 2020 04:48 PM PDT  Shops selling anything that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able operate again, with modifications * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageSome California retailers will be allowed to reopen their businesses starting on Friday, the state's governor said on Monday.More than six weeks after Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order, shops selling books, clothing, sporting goods, flowers or anything else that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able to open again, if they implement certain modifications."We are entering into the next phase this week," Newsom said. "End of the week, with modifications, we will allow retail to start operating across the spectrum.""This is a very positive sign and it has only happened for one reason: the data says it can happen," he added.The easing in restrictions came after groups of protesters had gathered across the state in defiance of the lockdown last week. Demonstrations took place from the capital, Sacramento, to San Francisco and San Diego. Large crowds turned out in Orange county's Huntington Beach, a recent flashpoint after the governor had ordered beaches there to close over the weekend.Newsom acknowledged that some California regions would still require stricter guidelines than the state guidelines in the weeks to come.The six Bay Area counties that were the first in the country to issue a stay-at-home order, for example, have experienced a much higher rate of infection than more rural areas of the state, with more than 8,100 cases. Los Angeles, meanwhile, has seen more than 26,000 cases.Last week, rural Yuba and Sutter counties, located north of Sacramento, issued a measure that defied the state's order and reopened businesses starting Monday. Modoc county, located on the Nevada border, was the first to begin pushing for a reopening. "Our rural lifestyle and the fact that many of our residents have been abiding by the guidelines has kept us at zero," said Tex Dowdy, the Modoc county sheriff, in a statement. "We are the perfect choice to pilot a reopening in the state."As of Monday, California was reporting 53,616 positive cases and 2,215 deaths. Newsom has been adamant that any modification to the stay-at-home order be based on science and the state meeting certain criteria such as having capacity to meet a surge in healthcare needs, having enough personal protective equipment and having testing and trace-contacting capacity.Nearly 3,000 protested at Huntington Beach in southern California after Newsom closed the beaches in Orange county following a weekend heatwave that packed the coastline.Thousands more still flocked to the beaches this past weekend, some in protest and some for fun. In Carlsbad in San Diego county, where a red tide algae bloom is creating its annual blue bioluminescence at night, more than 1,000 people crowded along the coastline – even though the beaches were closed, said Bryan Hargett, a Carlsbad police lieutenant. Police stopped and reminded the nighttime beachgoers of the rules, and issued parking citations for those who didn't listen – around 20 to 30 total, Hargett said."We get it, we understand people probably want to get outside and enjoy the beaches and see this, but we're all trying to follow the rules and do the right thing to get us back to normal," he said.In Newport Beach, where seven miles of beaches are closed by state order, about 8,500 people still took to the shore on Saturday, and 4,500 on Sunday, said John Pope, a city spokesman. "It sounds like a big number, but it's a small fraction of what we would typically see on weekends when the beaches were still open," he said.The beachgoers came even as officials worked to abide by the governor's order, conducting sweeps during the busiest parts of the days and clearing people off the beaches, using announcements from a police helicopter and bullhorns as well as talking directly to individuals."Some of them said they hadn't heard [about the beach closures] and in some cases, they were being deliberately defiant," Pope said. "Some said they were coming down to the beach to stage a protest."Pope said the city was "cautiously optimistic" that Newsom's announcement on businesses meant there may soon be movement on beaches. The city has filed a plan with the state on how to reopen the beaches safely, Pope said, and "we're confident we can manage the beaches effectively, maintain social distancing and minimize the public health risks".Newsom acknowledged the Orange county beach plan in his briefing on Monday, which he called an "outstanding plan" that he "enthusiastically embraced". "Those beaches will be reopened," he said."That's the spirit of the moment, the spirit of the time," Newsom said. "A sense of cooperation, recognizing the frustration that we all have and recognizing that we are all in this together and go a lot further together in that collaborative spirit."
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| Woman killed by alligator in SC was doing homeowner's nails Posted: 05 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT |
| Hannity Pleads With Anti-Lockdown Protesters He Praised: Please, No Rifles Posted: 04 May 2020 08:30 PM PDT  In back-to-back segments on Monday night, Fox News star Sean Hannity—who has repeatedly cheered on anti-shutdown protests against coronavirus stay-at-home orders—pleaded with demonstrators to keep their rifles and tactical gear at home.Hundreds of protesters, many armed with long guns, swarmed Michigan's Capitol building last Thursday to rail against the state's continued shelter-in-place orders amid the pandemic. Images of gun-toting protesters storming and crowding the state house sparked bipartisan criticism, though President Donald Trump called them "very good people."Speaking to frequent guest Dan Bongino on Monday evening, Hannity—who has recently gushed over the protests—groused that the sight of demonstrators packing rifles and dressed in military gear is a "distraction" to the real message of reopening the economy.No one is a "bigger defender" of the Second Amendment than he is, Hannity said, but still he blasted the demonstrators for adopting a "militia look," claiming that it is "dangerous" and "puts the police at risk.""No one should be attempting to intimidate officials," Hannity added. "God forbid something happens—they are going to go after all of us law-abiding Second Amendment people."After Bongino said he didn't fully agree with the Fox host as "people are fed up," Hannity snapped back that "nobody's going to hear them" because they were showing force against law enforcement and government officials. Bongino relented somewhat, saying he felt that the "liberal media" would try to paint the armed protesters as a "crazed bunch of lunatics." At the same time, he insisted they were standing up for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, prompting Hannity again to denounce the optics of it all."This is a distraction, though," the pro-Trump host said. "I'm never going to take anyone's rights. But this is a distraction."Later in the program, he posed the same question to Fox News contributors Tammy Bruce and Mike Huckabee, asking them both if they felt the armed protesters created a "tough environment where nobody can hear you.""I agree," Huckabee responded. "Just because there's some things we can do that doesn't mean we should do.""I wish I said that," Hannity said.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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| 3 family members charged in killing of guard over face mask dispute Posted: 05 May 2020 03:58 AM PDT  Three members of a family have been charged in the fatal shooting of a security guard over a virus mask dispute at a Family Dollar store in Michigan.
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| US family 'murdered shop guard for enforcing mask policy' Posted: 04 May 2020 08:33 PM PDT  A Michigan store guard is shot in the back of the head after confronting a customer who had no mask.
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| The US and Sweden may have approached the coronavirus differently, but they could both end up with high death rates Posted: 05 May 2020 02:47 PM PDT  Sweden avoided a lockdown entirely, while states across the US have relied on stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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| U.S. coronavirus deaths exceed 70,000 as forecasting models predict grim summer Posted: 05 May 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 - more than the combined total of the next largest outbreaks in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. A University of Washington research model https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america often cited by White House officials on Monday nearly doubled its projected U.S. death toll to over 134,000 by Aug. 4. The U.S. coronavirus outbreak is deadlier than any flu season since 1967 when about 100,000 Americans died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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| Israel vows to pursue Syria operations until Iran leaves Posted: 05 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Israel will keep up its operations in Syria until its arch enemy Iran leaves, Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday after strikes on Iranian-backed militias and their allies killed 14 fighters. Israel has launched hundreds of attacks in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Jewish state rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria but says Iran's presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its attacks.
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| Report: Intel shared among U.S. allies contradicts claim coronavirus spread because of lab accident Posted: 04 May 2020 07:55 PM PDT  Intelligence shared between the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand indicates that it's "highly unlikely" the COVID-19 coronavirus originated in a Wuhan, China, laboratory, two officials told CNN on Monday, citing an intelligence assessment.The countries make up the Five Eyes alliance, and two officials said the nations are uniting around the assessment. One Western diplomat told CNN the intelligence points to the coronavirus outbreak coming from a market in Wuhan, and it's "highly likely it was naturally occurring and that the human infection was from natural human and animal interaction."Another official said "clearly the market is where it exploded from," but it's not clear how the virus got there. This official noted that each Five Eyes country does keep some intelligence to themselves, and the U.S. might not be sharing everything it knows about the coronavirus.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed there is "enormous evidence" the coronavirus spread as a result of a lab accident, backing up earlier comments made by President Trump. Officials who have examined classified U.S. intelligence reports told The New York Times that several theories are being investigated, and there is no evidence the virus was man-made or genetically modified.More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| 'Put on a mask and shut up': China's new 'Wolf Warriors' spread hoaxes and attack a world of critics Posted: 04 May 2020 11:29 AM PDT  The aggressive nationalism of China's diplomats matches the swagger of Xi Jinping's China, which is determined to deflect blame for the coronavirus.
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| India coronavirus: Country records highest spike in Covid-19 cases Posted: 05 May 2020 03:42 AM PDT  The rise in infection rates came amid a move to relax lockdown restrictions.
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| A volunteer on Kushner's coronavirus team filed a complaint to Congress warning the group was 'falling short' on helping health care workers Posted: 05 May 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Kushner, the president's son-in-law, has tapped inexperienced volunteers from consulting and private equity firms to help his COVID-19 response team.
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| Tokyo governor Koike to ask businesses to refrain from operating until end of May - NHK Posted: 04 May 2020 11:29 PM PDT  Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will ask businesses in Japan's biggest city to refrain from operating until the end of this month, following the central government's extension of the state of emergency, a public broadcaster NHK reported. The Tokyo government will pay more financial aid to businesses that remain closed during the period, the report said, adding that she will announce details at a media briefing later on Tuesday. Japan on Monday extended a nationwide state of emergency to May 31, saying the new coronavirus infection rate had yet to drop enough to justify ending measures aimed at slowing the outbreak.
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| Sweden says coronavirus cases likely in country as early as November 2019 Posted: 05 May 2020 02:36 AM PDT  Sweden's state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell says he would not be surprised if Sweden - like France - had isolated cases of coronavirus as far back as November last year. "I think you could find individual cases among travellers to Wuhan who were there back in November and December last year," he told Sweden's TT news agency, when asked about the Paris case. "That doesn't sound strange at all, but more completely to be expected." Yves Cohen, head of intensive care at the Avicenne hospital in Paris, told BFM TV on Sunday that his staff had retested samples taken from patients admitted for pneumonia in December, and that one from December 27 had tested positive for coronavirus - even though the 53-year-old patient had not travelled to China. Previously, Europe's first case of Covid-19 was confirmed on January 24, almost a month later. Tegnell said he did not believe that the virus had been present in Sweden, or the rest of Europe, to a significant extent before cases began to multiply in February and March. "There wasn't a spread [of infection] outside Wuhan before what we saw more recently in Europe," he said, adding that Sweden's health authorities were not interested in retesting samples from last year. "Right now, this isn't the sort of investigation we want to burden our health system with," he said. "There's a lot of other things to do, and this won't lead to any new actions." According to Sweden's defence forces, none of the 100 Swedish soldiers who were in Wuhan in October last year to take part in the 2019 Military World Games had tested positive for coronavirus.
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| Michigan Gov. Whitmer: Protesters 'carried nooses and Confederate flags and swastikas' Posted: 05 May 2020 07:56 AM PDT  Whitmer, a Democrat, was referring to the hundreds of demonstrators who protested Michigan's emergency measures at the state Capitol building last week.
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| Iran news agency: Gunmen kill 3 Revolutionary Guard members Posted: 05 May 2020 09:19 AM PDT |
| Trump says he'll wear a mask 'if' he's visiting a 'mask facility' Posted: 05 May 2020 08:06 AM PDT  When in a mask factory, do as the mask factory... makes?President Trump has yet to be spotted wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending everyone do so. But Trump might don one on Tuesday if he happens to be visiting a mask factory, he said. He wasn't quite sure of where Air Force One was taking him.> Asked if he's going to be wearing a mask at the mask facility he is leaving right now to visit, Trump says, "If it's a mask facility, I will. I don't know if it's a mask facility." ?> > — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 5, 2020Trump is scheduled to visit a mask factory in Arizona, for the record.Vice President Mike Pence notably skipped a mask when visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last week, but ended up putting one on for a different visit. Pence later admitted he should've put on a mask for the first trip, where he met health care workers and even coronavirus patients.More stories from theweek.com Trump is pursuing a herd immunity strategy — whether intentionally or not How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Approval rating for Trump's coronavirus response drops again, poll shows
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| Trump makes false statement, claims Biden offered him an apology Posted: 04 May 2020 03:45 AM PDT  President Trump falsely stated on Sunday that Joe Biden apologized for calling him xenophobic after he issued travel restrictions on China.
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| Mexico's fragile health system running out of room for coronavirus patients Posted: 04 May 2020 08:38 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic is threatening Mexico's fragile public health infrastructure.
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| China is reportedly silencing coronavirus survivors who want answers on what went wrong with the country's early coronavirus response Posted: 04 May 2020 10:01 PM PDT  According to The New York Times, Wuhan residents who survived the virus or lost loved ones have been threatened for questioning China's response.
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