| Wisconsin Supreme Court overrules governor's attempt to postpone election, despite coronavirus concerns Posted: 06 Apr 2020 01:05 PM PDT  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday issued an executive order to postpone state elections scheduled for Tuesday until June 9, a dramatic last-minute move that capped weeks of indecision by state leaders.
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| Is Trump leading a 'war' against the coronavirus? Posted: 06 Apr 2020 06:48 AM PDT  While the term "warfare" is a useful metaphor for the kind of mobilization necessary to save lives in this crisis, it's not a useful way to think about the primary responsibility of ordinary citizens right now, which is to stay at home.
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| 'Who gets the kids?' I took an oath to serve my patients. My family didn't, but we're all in this together. Posted: 06 Apr 2020 05:52 AM PDT  A doctor treating COVID-19 patients sits down with her husband to make a will.
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| Mideastern burial traditions clash with fears of contagion Posted: 06 Apr 2020 11:05 PM PDT  Mohammed al-Dulfi's 67-year-old father died on March 21 after a brief struggle against the new coronavirus, but it would take nine days for his body to find a final resting place in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq. On two occasions, the family rejected remote burial plots proposed by the government outside Baghdad for him and seven other coronavirus victims, al-Dulfi said. A fight broke out between the families and the Health Ministry's team.
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| Iran supreme leader approves withdrawal of 1 billion euros from sovereign wealth fund to fight coronavirus Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:28 AM PDT  Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved the withdrawal of 1 billion euros from the country's sovereign wealth fund to help fight the coronavirus epidemic, President Hassan Rouhani's official website said on Monday.
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| Coronavirus live updates: Boris Johnson in intensive care, U.S. death toll tops 10,000 Posted: 06 Apr 2020 09:04 PM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| Scammers try selling world's tallest statue as pandemic boosts India's cyber crime Posted: 06 Apr 2020 10:46 PM PDT  Police in India lodged a case this week against an unknown online fraudster who tried selling the world's largest statue for $4 billion, claiming the proceeds would be used to help the Gujarat state government fund its fight against the coronavirus. With scams ranging from free mobile recharges, to offers of free Netflix subscriptions, federal home ministry officials say there has been 86% percent rise in cyber crime in the past four weeks. Police and internal security officials said scammers have created fake versions of the flagship 'PM CARES Fund' payments interface that look deceptively similar to the original and many Indians and Non-Residents Indians (NRIs) have fallen prey.
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| As New York Posts Highest One-Day Death Toll, Cuomo Says No Victim Died ‘Because We Couldn’t Provide Care’ Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:30 AM PDT  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that no victim of the coronavirus has died because the state could not provide health care for them, even as New York posted its highest number of deaths in one day."You can't save everyone. This virus is very good at what it does, and it kills vulnerable people," Cuomo said at his daily briefing providing updates on the outbreak. "The question is, are you saving everyone you can save? And there the answer is yes, and I take some solace in that fact.""Our health care system is operating. I don't believe we've lost a single person because we couldn't provide care," the Democratic governor continued. "People we lost we couldn't save despite our best efforts."A record 731 New Yorkers died between Monday and Tuesday, Cuomo reported. He cautioned that the death rate is a "lagging indicator," meaning that those who died are often sick for weeks before they pass. More than 138,000 people in the state have been infected with the respiratory illness, with 8,157 new positive cases on Tuesday, the lowest rate in a week. The number of patients being hospitalized and moved to intensive care has dropped as well.The governor warned Thursday that New York state only had enough ventilators for six days and was considering how to increase the supply. The state released 400 ventilators to New York City a day earlier. Cuomo has worked to get as many ventilators as possible to the city, which has emerged as the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak with nearly half the total deaths in the country. On Friday, the governor issued an executive order allowing the state to take ventilators and personal protective equipment from hospitals and transfer them to places that need them.New York has also received medical equipment from other states and countries, including Oregon and China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated.
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| Wisconsin Voters Defy Stay-at-Home Orders With Polls Open Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:22 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Wisconsin voters defied stay-at-home orders and waited for hours to cast ballots in the first state to hold an in-person election since the coronavirus pandemic shut down most public spaces.Although at least a dozen states have delayed primaries or switched to vote-by-mail since the outbreak, similar attempts by Wisconsin's Democratic governor, Tony Evers, were stymied by Republican opposition and rulings from the conservative majorities on the state and U.S. Supreme Courts.Democratic front-runner Joe Biden and rival Bernie Sanders were at the top of the ticket with 87 delegates at stake in the presidential primary fight. Biden, who has a near-insurmountable lead over Sanders, is expected to win the state handily.But there were state and local offices on the ballot, which may have triggered the unusual insistence by the state GOP leaders to proceed with the voting on Tuesday.Democrats have accused the state's Republicans of political motives in refusing to delay the vote, saying that lower turnout caused by the pandemic would help ensure that a Republican incumbent candidate for the state Supreme Court, Daniel Kelly, would be re-elected to a 10-year term, cementing his party's 5-2 majority.But Republicans countered that voting rules shouldn't be changed so soon before an election and called attempts to loosen them by the governor and a federal judge a constitutional overreach.Candidates Weigh InThe state court race bled over into the presidential race, with Biden endorsing Kelly's challenger, Jill Karofsky. President Donald Trump urged voters to "get out and vote" for Kelly, whom he said would defend gun rights."Wisconsin, get out and vote NOW for Justice Daniel Kelly. Protect your 2nd Amendment!" he tweeted.Trump said Tuesday that Democrats' push to delay the Wisconsin election was politically motivated and came only after he endorsed Kelly."As soon as I endorsed him, the Wisconsin Democrats say 'oh, let's move the election to two months later,'" he told reporters at a White House briefing. "It was 15 minutes after I put out an endorsement that they said we have to move the election. They didn't want to move the election before that."The election led to renewed calls among congressional Democrats for national legislation to address the pandemic's effects on voting. It's likely that there will be court challenges to the results, which in a twist, won't be announced until Monday."An election that forces voters to choose between protecting their health and casting their ballot is not a free and fair election," said Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, who chairs the Committee on House Administration.Sanders called for delaying the vote last week, saying "people should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote."Biden, however, has argued that voting in the primary would be safe, even though he has said that the Democratic National Convention slated for this summer in Milwaukee might have to be held virtually."A convention having tens of thousands of people in one arena is very different than having people walk into a polling booth with accurate spacing with six to 10 feet apart, one at a time going in, and having the machines scrubbed down," he said.Court ChallengesThe battle over how to hold the primary continued right up to Monday, when the state Supreme Court blocked Evers from postponing the election by executive order and the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lower court's ruling that would have extended absentee voting by a week.The nation's highest court divided along ideological lines, with the five Republican appointees in the majority. In an unsigned opinion, they said the district judge's order would "fundamentally alter the nature of the election by allowing voting for six additional days after the election." The court's four Democratic appointees dissented, saying the rights of tens of thousands of people would be affected.Voting rights experts agreed, saying the changes effectively disenfranchised thousands of voters who didn't want to risk contagion at polling places and sought absentee ballots after Evers ordered Wisconsinites to stay at home in a state that had 2,440 cases and 84 deaths as of Monday."It's a colossal failure," said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School.No 'I Voted' StickersWith many poll workers choosing to stay home, some towns and cities in Wisconsin drastically cut the number of polling places, while Evers called out the National Guard to help balloting. Each voter received his or her own pen to mark ballots and "I voted" stickers were eliminated.Milwaukee had five polling places open instead of more than 180 that are normally open.Patrick S. Tomlinson, a science fiction author who lives in Milwaukee, spotted a long line at the Riverside University High School polling station in Milwaukee Tuesday morning. He said it took 10 minutes to walk from the front to the end of the line, in part because voters were keeping the recommended six feet apart from one another."It was massive," he said. "I've been voting in every election since moving to Milwaukee eight and a half years ago, and I've never seen anything like it."Erik Forkin, 23, a software developer in Madison, said that about half of the poll workers at his voting place in a senior center weren't wearing masks or protective gear."That seems problematic when they're dealing with hundreds of people," he said.Andrew Hitt, head of the Wisconsin Republican Party, blamed municipalities for the lines at some polling places."Cities that have long waiting times to vote could have opened a sufficient number of locations to prevent long lines," he said. "Local elected officials and election planners need to answer to their constituents as to why they've chosen not to use resources at their disposal when the vast majority of polling locations across the state are running smoothly."Milwaukee county clerk George Christenson said he was still upset that the election was being held at all, saying it was putting voters' lives at risk."This election is being conducted as safely as possible, but there is no 100% guarantee that people will not be affected or harmed health-wise," he said.(Adds Trump comments in ninth, 10th paragraphs)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump berates reporters during coronavirus briefing: 'You will never make it' Posted: 06 Apr 2020 06:20 PM PDT  Trump used Monday's briefing of the coronavirus task force to lash out at several members of the press, despite having recently praised media coverage of his response to the crisis as "very fair."
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| The Bureau of Prisons just bought $60,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine, the unproved coronavirus treatment touted by Trump Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:13 AM PDT  The novel coronavirus has been spreading rapidly throughout federal prisons, and the BOP reported Monday that eight inmates have died so far.
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| US sees coronavirus window to push Taiwan's global status Posted: 05 Apr 2020 09:32 PM PDT  The Trump administration is seizing the opportunity of the coronavirus pandemic to push a cause that has long been an irritant in U.S. relations with China: Taiwan. The virus has added yet another dimension to U.S.-China tensions that were already wracked by a trade war and heated discussions over intellectual property, human rights and Chinese policies in Hong Kong and the South China Sea. As the pandemic has grown, U.S. officials and lawmakers have stepped up alternately bashing China for a lack of transparency over the outbreak and praising Taiwan for its response to the outbreak.
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| Supreme Court won't hear Catholic Church challenge to ban on religious advertising Posted: 06 Apr 2020 09:40 AM PDT  The case would have been the latest example of religious freedom appeals to be heard by the conservative-leaning court.
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| Pelosi reportedly tells Democrats next coronavirus relief package will top $1 trillion Posted: 06 Apr 2020 07:55 PM PDT  During a private conference call with Democrats on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at least $1 trillion will be needed for the next coronavirus relief package.Last month, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, and Pelosi said the next bill will build onto that, people on the call told Bloomberg News. Pelosi said there will have to be more direct payments to individuals, extended unemployment insurance, and additional funding for food stamps and the Payroll Protection Plan, which provides small business loans.One lawmaker told Bloomberg News Pelosi also said the bill should help state and local governments, particularly in areas with no more than 500,000 residents. While the House isn't scheduled to be back in session until April 20 at the earliest, Pelosi said she wants the package passed this month. President Trump was asked on Monday evening about a second round of direct payments to Americans, and he said it is "absolutely under consideration."More stories from theweek.com What America needs to do before lockdown can end Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1 billion to coronavirus relief Is Trump's 'campaign of retaliation' about to get worse?
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| Your Home (and Mind) Needs One of These High-Design Mobiles Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:28 PM PDT |
| New Zealand demoted its health minister after he took his family to the beach on the first weekend of the country's coronavirus lockdown Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Dr. David Clark said he was an "idiot" for driving 12 miles to the beach with his family, disregarding the government's stay-at-home advice.
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| Which countries have flattened the curve? Posted: 06 Apr 2020 12:01 AM PDT  The U.S. has been in social-distancing mode for about three weeks — it also has the most coronavirus cases in the world.
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| Wisconsin delays primary election despite Trump calling for it to go ahead Posted: 06 Apr 2020 11:19 AM PDT  The governor of Wisconsin has issued an executive order to postpone the state's embattled elections on Tuesday for at least two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, following mounting criticism over the upcoming in-person vote.Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) delayed the presidential primary until 9 June, saying in a statement about the executive order: "Frankly, there's no good answer to this problem—I wish it were easy. I have been asking everyone to do their part to help keep our families, our neighbors, and our communities safe, and I had hoped that the Legislature would do its part—just as the rest of us are—to help keep people healthy and safe."
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| Her granddaughter was sick, so Dr. Birx stayed home: 'You can’t take that kind of risk' around the president Posted: 06 Apr 2020 05:22 PM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx, one of the two leading medical experts on the White House coronavirus task force, said Monday that out of deference to social-distancing rules she had stayed away from her daughter's house — even though her 10-month-old granddaughter had registered a fever of 105 degrees over the
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| U.S. reports 1,200 coronavirus deaths in one day as China lifts lockdown Posted: 07 Apr 2020 03:48 AM PDT  Nation's top infectious diseases expert said he is "cautiously optimistic" that worst projections may be avoided "if we keep our foot on the accelerator."
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| 3rd Guatemalan tests positive for virus after US deportation Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:05 PM PDT  Guatemala said Tuesday that a third deportee has tested positive for the coronavirus after being flown home by the United States. The report came a day after authorities announced they were suspending deportation flights from the U.S. over concerns about spreading the virus. The Health Ministry said the latest positive case was a 37-year-old man who was deported March 26 from Mesa, Arizona, and had been in quarantine since his return.
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| Nurse says she was suspended after refusing to treat coronavirus patients without a mask Posted: 07 Apr 2020 08:22 AM PDT  A Kentucky nurse says she was suspended for refusing to treat COVID-19 patients after the hospital would not supply her with a protective respirator.
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| Spain's coronavirus death rate quickens again Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:43 AM PDT  Spain's daily toll of coronavirus deaths rose on Tuesday for the first time in five days, with 743 people succumbing overnight compared with 637 in the previous 24 hours, but there was still hope the national lockdown might be eased soon. As officials worked on a plan to lift some of the social and economic restrictions imposed to halt the virus' spread, the Spanish unit of Germany's Volkswagen said it may partially reopen a plant in the Navarra region on April 20. Health Minister Salvador Illa said 60,000 randomly chosen people would be tested over three weeks to gauge the spread of the virus.
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| China lifts Wuhan travel ban, Britain, NY report record deaths Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  China lifted a travel ban on Tuesday on residents of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began last year, and reported no new deaths, but the situation remained grim elsewhere as Britain and New York State recorded their highest number of fatalities yet. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in intensive care, meanwhile, after being admitted to a London hospital on Monday evening, 10 days after being diagnosed with the virus. The shocking hospitalization of a major world leader underscored the global reach of COVID-19, which has put more than four billion people -- over half of the planet -- on some form of lockdown, upended societies and battered economies worldwide.
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| 86-year-old and three sons die after contracting COVID-19 Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:19 PM PDT  The mother and three sons all died within days of each other, the New Orleans Coroner's Office confirmed.
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| Coronavirus: Africa will not be testing ground for vaccine, says WHO Posted: 06 Apr 2020 03:52 PM PDT  Two doctors sparked outrage after suggesting a vaccine for coronavirus could be tested in Africa.
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| Trump is trying to take control of other planets, Russian space agency says Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Donald Trump is giving himself license to take over other planets, according to the Russian space agency.Roscosmos accused the president of creating a basis to seize other worlds with a new executive order about commercial mining in space.
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| Trump on Biden call: 'We had a really wonderful, warm conversation’ Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT  President Trump on Monday said he and former Vice President Joe Biden had a "really wonderful, warm conversation" on the phone.
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| How the Coronavirus Death Toll Compares to Other Deadly Events From American History Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:43 PM PDT  Some projections estimate that more American lives could be lost to COVID-19 than to World War I
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| McGrath outpaces McConnell in fundraising for Kentucky race Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:27 AM PDT  Democrat Amy McGrath raised substantially more campaign cash than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the first three months of 2020, showing her staying power against the Republican lawmaker in setting a blistering fundraising pace in Kentucky. Hours after McConnell's campaign reported raising nearly $7.5 million in the quarter, McGrath upped the ante.
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| Saudi Arabia says it could reach 200,000 coronavirus infections Posted: 07 Apr 2020 08:07 AM PDT  The new coronavirus could eventually infect between 10,000 and 200,000 people in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's health minister said on Tuesday, urging the public to adhere more closely to state directives against mixing and movement. The country of some 30 million has so far reported 2,795 cases and 41 deaths, the highest in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), despite halting all passenger flights, suspending most commercial activities and imposing a 24-hour curfew in major cities including the capital Riyadh. "We stand today at a decisive moment as a society in raising our sense of responsibility and contributing together with determination to stop the spread of this pandemic," Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said in a rare televised address.
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| Qatar Cites Covid-19 in Bid to Regain Access to Neighbors’ Skies Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:45 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Qatar is renewing its push to regain access to the airspace of Gulf neighbors by invoking the coronavirus.Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwah Al Khater said the government refiled on March 29 a complaint with the United Nations civil aviation agency over a ban on Qatar-registered aircraft in airspace controlled by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.Reopening the airspace would "avoid further derailing of these humanitarian efforts and medical assistance," Al Khater said in a statement. She said Qatar had flown aid shipments to China, Iran, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, as well as flights shuttling Europeans and Americans back home.Airspace access has become a key issue in the ongoing squabble between Qatar and the four nations that cut diplomatic ties and shuttered their borders to the natural-gas rich nation in June 2017. The U.S. has pushed the countries to resolve their differences amid rising tensions with Iran.Qatar is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, yet the embargo has made the country reliant on Iran's airspace. While longer flight times and higher fuel costs have generated losses at state-backed Qatar Airways, the carrier has continued to expand its global reach and plans to increase capacity at Hamad International Airport in Doha.William Raillant-Clark, a spokeman for the International Civil Aviation Organization, had no comment on the dispute. He said ICAO is supporting the efforts of unidentified states to "ensure continued access for humanitarian reasons."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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| Why Army Helicopters Are Launching From a Navy Ship Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:50 AM PDT  The USS Puller is acting as a floating base for Army attack helicopters.
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| The coronavirus seems to disproportionately kill African Americans, according to the few states providing data on the race of victims Posted: 06 Apr 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Only a handful of states have publicly disclosed the race of those dying of COVID-19. No national database breaks down the numbers by race.
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| U.S. Eyes Second Coronavirus Outbreak in China Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  As the Trump administration scrambles to get a hand on the spread of the new coronavirus across the U.S., it is keeping one eye on developments in China, the country where the pandemic originated.According to two officials with knowledge of those efforts and cables reviewed by The Daily Beast, the administration is monitoring China's second wave of coronavirus cases, gathering data on the ground on the number of individuals newly infected and the reasons for the recent uptick. Over the past few days Chinese officials have noted an emergence of new cases, particularly in asymptomatic individuals. But U.S. officials say it is difficult to trust Beijing's numbers because of its history of putting out unreliable data.The push for real-time intelligence on China's new outbreak is an attempt by U.S. officials not only to study what factors can lead to a reemergence of the virus but also to get ahead of any attempt by Beijing to—yet again—put a spin on it, those same officials said. The White House is leaning on officials from across several agencies, including the State Department, Centers for Disease Control and the intel community to probe how Beijing is handling the new cases so as to better understand what the U.S. could expect later this year, when medical officials believe a second round of infections may happen as well. Grim Scenes at Chinese Hospitals as Doctors Rush to Treat Deadly CoronavirusThe effort by the U.S. to gather new data in China could rattle an already delicate detente that Washington and Beijing appear to have reached on coronavirus messaging.For weeks following the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration called out Beijing for misleading the world about the reality of the situation on the ground, claiming the lack of information and the silencing of health-care workers helped lead to the global spread of the virus. China relentlessly pushed back on that assertion and demanded that the U.S. stop referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus"—as several top Trump officials were doing. Since then, both President Trump and President Xi have toned down the tough talk and the State Department in cables has refrained from referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus". In public appearances and behind closed doors Trump has changed his tune, calling Xi his good "friend" and an "incredible guy".But officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said they worry that China could again manipulate its numbers, costing the U.S. and countries across the world valuable information needed to fight another wave of coronavirus cases. According to one State Department cable reviewed by The Daily Beast, China's National Health Commission appears to be linking the second wave with an uptick in individuals testing positive who do not show signs of symptoms. The Chinese government began reporting the number of asymptomatic cases on the mainland for the first time on April 1. As of last week China reported that 1,075 people with no signs of symptoms were "under medical observation." About 135 of those individuals had tested positive for COVID-19. "These asymptomatic infections include individuals who do not show any signs of illness but who have a positive laboratory test result for the virus that causes COVID-19," the cable reads. "Asymptomatic infections represented about one-third of current cases [in mainland China] as of March 31." White House Pushes U.S. Officials to Criticize China For Coronavirus 'Cover-Up'The fear of a second wave through asymptomatic individuals is concerning Chinese officials so much that some cities are now requiring individuals scan their QR health codes before riding public transportation. In Wuhan, the local government is reportedly considering "testing all residents to find asymptomatic persons due to fears of a second outbreak," according to that same cable.Like China, the Trump administration is increasingly worried about the spread of the coronavirus from asymptomatic or presymptomatic individuals. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control issued new guidelines advising Americans to wear cloth face covers or masks while around other people even if they did not feel sick.The administration had hesitated on issuing such guidance in part out of concern that a run on medical masks would further hamper American hospitals that are struggling to procure personal protective equipment for their workers. In order to address that shortage, President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner last week announced that he and White House adviser Peter Navarro were working with a team to help buy supplies like masks and gowns internationally, including from China. But the Chinese supplies are a subject of concern as well, after reports of faulty equipment in places such as Spain and the Netherlands.According to a State Department cable, China last week implemented a new policy to ensure all of the medical supplies it planned to export were functioning correctly."The policy regulated exports of medical supplies including detection reagents, medical masks protective clothing, ventilators, and thermometers by requiring exporters to provide documentation that shipments meet China's medical device product registration requirements," the cable reads. As the administration tries to track down accurate data in China on the new asymptomatic cases sweeping the country, it's also looking to keep Chinese disinformation at bay. In the State Department, officials have been tasked with flagging "news" stories and foreign cables that appear to propagate false information. For example, the State Department highlighted in a cable last week the statements made by Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France. "Following international media reports that the COVID-19 death toll in Wuhan had been dramatically understated (as evidenced by the social media posts, now censored, showing a large number of urns and long lines of residents at government-operated crematoriums)… Shanye told French media that official statistics in Wuhan were accurate," the cable reads. "When asked why the PRC government censored videos and pictures of the long queues of persons waiting to pick up urns, Lu said, 'if they were censored, where did you get those pictures and videos?'" The ambassador was referring to photos that spread on social media last week showing stacks of urns in Wuhan funeral homes. The photos have been deleted but their publishing raised additional questions about the true scale of the coronavirus crisis in China.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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| Political hackery at its worst: Supreme Court gives Wisconsin a green light to disenfranchise voters during the pandemic Posted: 06 Apr 2020 07:10 PM PDT  The court disenfranchises voters who are rightly afraid to vote in person because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Surgeon general: Coronavirus death toll can come in under projections if we 'continue to do our part' Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:08 PM PDT  Surgeon General Jerome Adams and the director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention are both voicing optimism that the United States' coronavirus death toll can end up lower than the projection previously shared by the White House.CDC director Robert Redfield in a Monday interview with KVOI Radio said the "large majority of the American public" is following social distancing guidelines, and he therefore anticipates "the numbers are going to be much, much, much, much lower than would have been predicted by the models," per Politico. The White House recently shared a forecast suggesting the U.S. coronavirus death toll could be between 100,000 and 240,000.In a Tuesday appearance on Good Morning America, the surgeon general was asked about Redfield's comments and whether it's his expectation that the country's death toll will come in below the White House projection."That's absolutely my expectation, and I feel a lot more optimistic because I'm seeing mitigation work," Adams said."I really do believe that we will come in under those protections as long as we can continue to do our part for 30 days," Adams continued, referring to the federal social distancing guidelines that were recently extended until the end of April.Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force's response coordinator, previously said the United States could be facing up to 200,000 coronavirus deaths even in a scenario where Americans do everything "almost perfectly."The total number of coronavirus deaths in the United States has passed 11,000, and on Tuesday, New York reported its deadliest day so far. But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) did say the hardest-hit state is "reaching a plateau in the total number of hospitalizations." He previously suggested New York could be seeing a "flattening of the curve" but stressed, "we have to continue the social distancing."More stories from theweek.com What America needs to do before lockdown can end Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledges $1 billion to coronavirus relief Is Trump's 'campaign of retaliation' about to get worse?
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| US says airstrike in Somalia kills an al-Shabab leader Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:54 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus outbreak delayed his liver transplant. Then doctors found a solution. Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:38 AM PDT  Rapid coronavirus testing allowed doctors to give Zach Branson the liver he needed. The pandemic has led many hospitals to postpone transplant operations.
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| Philippines extends coronavirus lockdown, home quarantine to end-April Posted: 06 Apr 2020 07:52 PM PDT  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday approved the extension of lockdown and home quarantine measures covering more than half of the population, a crisis panel official said, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Enhanced Community Quarantine was due to end next week but would be extended until April 30, Karlo Nograles, a cabinet secretary, told a regular news conference. The Philippines was among the first countries to adopt strict home quarantine measures.
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| Ray of hope in New York despite record coronavirus deaths Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT  New York saw glimmers of hope in its coronavirus fight Tuesday, despite announcing a record number of deaths as it prepares to treat COVID-19 patients in a cathedral and on a ship. Volunteers began turning Manhattan's vast Cathedral of St. John the Divine into an emergency field hospital as Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed the navy's USNS Comfort would now tend to coronavirus patients. Medical tents in wooden crates were brought into St John's, which describes itself as the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and whose nave has been emptied of pews.
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| Coronavirus is revealing how broken America’s economy really is Posted: 06 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT  We are told by everyone from the United Nations to Donald Trump that the US is a 'developed' economy. The statistics suggest otherwiseWhen Susan Finley developed flu-like symptoms, she didn't go to the doctor because she was frightened about the cost. Finley's grandparents later found her dead in her apartment. She was 53.Finley did not die as a result of Covid-19. She died in 2016 as a result of America's healthcare system – a system that led her to avoid treatment for the common flu in order to avoid debt. It is that same system that is currently creaking under the pressure of a pandemic that experts warned was coming but governments failed to prepare for. It is a system that does not qualify for the term "developed".The United States of America, we are told by everyone from the president to the United Nations, is a developed economy. That term, "developed economy", sounds like an endpoint, like man standing upright after a series of hunched and hairy iterations. It's the contrast that makes the definition – developed economies can only really exist if they are compared to their poorer "developing" counterparts. Covid-19 has merely shown the cracks in a very successful marketing campaign about which category the US falls into.There are 2.9 hospital beds for every 1,000 people in the United States. That's fewer than Turkmenistan (7.4 beds per 1,000), Mongolia (7.0), Argentina (5.0) and Libya (3.7). In fact, the US ranks 69th out of 182 countries analyzed by the World Health Organization. This lack of hospital beds is forcing doctors across the country to ration care under Covid-19, pushing up the number of preventable deaths.America's numbers are similarly unimpressive when it comes to medical doctors. The United States has 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people, placing it behind Trinidad & Tobago (2.7), and Russia (4.0 doctors per 1,000, for a country that is described as being "in transition"). Life expectancies at birth are lower in the US than they are in Chile or China. The US has a higher maternal mortality rate than Iran or Saudi Arabia.It's not just health. Access to the internet is better in Bahrain and Brunei (two countries the UN does not consider developed economies) than it is in the US. Inequality scores are higher in America than they are in Mali and Yemen. A closer country to America in inequality is Israel, a country which functions as an apartheid state.And the US ranks 81st in the world in terms of women's political representation. So, you've got a better chance of making it into office as a woman if you live in Vietnam, or Albania. Sub-Saharan Africa is most comparable to America - 24% of seats in the region's parliaments are held by women, the same figure as in the US.In the United States, 83% of students graduate high school. That figure is higher in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Barbados, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Montenegro. None of those countries are considered "developed economies" by the United Nations.So why does the United Nations consider the US as a developed economy when its own statistics so clearly suggest otherwise? One might argue that it's about simple wealth, or gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the economy, per capita.But if that were the measure of development then European countries such as Romania, Hungary and Slovakia should not qualify for the term "developed economy" while Bermuda, Qatar, Singapore and China should all make the list. Besides, GDP per capita is no reliable measure of wellbeing in a country like the US where the richest 5% of people own two-thirds of the national wealth.The facts are as exhaustive as they are exhausting. There's one simple conclusion from all of this. We've been tricked. We've been told that America, like most other majority-white countries, deserves the title "developed economy". It does not. You can not charge a woman $39.95 to hold the baby that she has just given birth to. You can not constantly operate hospitals at close to capacity in order to maximize profits. The pursuit of private money in systems built for public good has not worked ethically or practically.Why does it matter whether a country is defined as developing or not? Because it means that policymakers here can distract voters into thinking that crises are constantly diplomatic, military or trade based when actually the problems that America needs to fix most urgently are right here – they're the crises of health and education. Had those problems been better addressed, the nation would not be struggling as desperately as it is right now.
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| Congo mine gun attack kills three Chinese nationals: Xinhua Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:24 AM PDT  A gun attack in a mining area in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed three Chinese nationals, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Chinese embassy in the mineral-rich central African country.
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| U.K. Records Highest Daily Deaths With Johnson in Intensive Care Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:58 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson was still being monitored in a critical care unit as the U.K.'s coronavirus crisis deepened, with the highest daily rise in deaths so far.After he was taken into intensive care Monday, Johnson, 55, remained in a stable condition receiving oxygen treatment, and has not been diagnosed with pneumonia or put on a ventilator, his officials said. A statement Tuesday evening said this was unchanged.But the prime minister's personal struggle to recover from Covid-19 leaves the U.K. without its leader at a critical time as the country prepares for cases to increase over the next 10 days. The death toll rose by 786, the Department for Health said Tuesday, bringing the total to 6,159.Asked why the U.K.'s death rates were so much higher than Germany's, England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty appeared to blame the British government's lack of wide testing for the virus.There were hints of better news elsewhere in the U.K. data, according to a televised briefing shortly after the death figures were published. There is no acceleration in the number of new cases, and it is "possible" that the infection curve is starting to flatten, said Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser. The trend won't be clear for about another week, he said.With Johnson out of action, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is deputizing at the head of the government, with the peak of the outbreak expected in the days ahead. "I'm confident he'll pull through because if there's one thing I know about the prime minister, he's a fighter," Raab said at the same press conference on Tuesday evening.The cabinet is working collectively to deliver Johnson's instructions on fighting the pandemic, Raab said when asked how much power he has over government policy.Johnson was taken to St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Sunday evening after struggling to shake off virus symptoms for 10 days.Adding to the government's woes, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove -- a key member of Johnson's top team -- said he is in self-isolation after a family member displayed symptoms of coronavirus at the weekend. Gove has no symptoms himself and is continuing to work, he said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.Raab and the rest of the Cabinet face a series of key decisions in the days ahead -- on the process for easing the national lock down, and whether restrictions on people's movements should be lifted, extended or tightened even further.Trump SupportIt's an extraordinary turn of events for Johnson. Just over two months ago, he was at the peak of his powers, celebrating Britain's departure from the European Union after scoring an emphatic election victory.U.S. President Donald Trump, a supporter of Johnson, said at a press briefing that he has told pharmaceutical companies to get in touch with London to offer help. Trump cited "rather complex" therapeutic treatments for the virus with "really incredible results," but didn't specify them."When you get brought into intensive care, that gets very, very serious with this particular disease," Trump said.With Johnson out of action, the untested Raab will now need to get a grip on the government machine and coordinate the pandemic response. Britain's strategy for defeating coronavirus has already come under strain, with ministers accepting they had not done enough to test people for infections.Johnson himself was criticized by medical experts and members of his own Conservative Party for failing to act quickly enough to close schools and ban public gatherings.Cabinet DivisionsThere have been divisions among Johnson's officials during his period of isolation already, a situation that risks getting worse with Raab, who was a leadership rival to Johnson last year, now in charge. Gove and Health Secretary Matt Hancock also stood for party leader and are now in lead roles in the virus strategy.On Tuesday, Gove told the BBC the government is working "in a team way" and taking decisions "completely by consensus," as Raab chairs key meetings. "Physically, Boris is full of life and fit -- he is a keen tennis player and runner and he's a man of great zest and appetite for life," Gove told LBC radio later. "We hope and pray that he enjoys a quick recovery."Johnson revealed on March 27 he had tested positive for coronavirus and was going into isolation in his Downing Street apartment. His meals and official papers were left outside his door, but he continued to chair daily crisis meetings via video link.The premier recorded several "selfie" video messages for social media in recent days in which he insisted he was doing well and remained in charge. At times, though, he appeared short of breath and visibly unwell.After being taken into intensive care, the premier received well wishes from colleagues including his predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron, as well as his chief opponent, Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer. International leaders including Irish premier Leo Varadkar and President Emmanuel Macron of France also sent messages of support.Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, also had symptoms of the virus and had been isolating.(Adds Downing Street statement on Johnson's health in second 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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| Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Joke’ Posted: 06 Apr 2020 05:05 AM PDT  Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur on Sunday criticized Chinese government statistics on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, appearing to blame those statistics for other countries' slow response to the emerging pandemic."It seems statistics from China [were] a bitter joke, because many in the world thought this is just like influenza, with fewer deaths," Jahanpur said during a video conference in remarks translated by Radio Farda. "This [impression] were based on reports from China and now it seems China made a bitter joke with the rest of the world."Jahanpur added, "If in China they say an epidemic was controlled in two months, one should really think about it."The remarks caused a spat with Chinese officials, with China's ambassador to Iran saying the country should " show respect to the truths and great efforts of the people of China." Jahanpur took to Twitter to criticize Chinese statistics yet again, but subsequently offered praise of China, an ally of Iran."The support offered by China to the Iranian people in these trying times is unforgettable," Jahanpur wrote on Monday.While Iran has reported over 60,000 cases of coronavirus with more than 3,700 deaths as of Monday, U.S. officials believe the extent of the outbreak is much wider than the government has revealed. In late February, Iranian parliament members criticized their own government for concealing "horrific numbers" of deaths in the country.
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| Sweden, which refused to implement a coronavirus lockdown, has so far avoided a mass outbreak. Now it's bracing for a potential surge in deaths. Posted: 07 Apr 2020 05:16 AM PDT  Sweden urged people to practice social distancing but left shops and restaurants open, contrasting with many countries across Europe and the world.
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| Bangladesh arrests fugitive killer of independence leader Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:50 AM PDT  Police in Bangladesh arrested a fugitive killer of the country's independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Tuesday, nearly 45 years after the brutal assassination, the country's home minister said. Abdul Majed, a former military captain, was arrested in the capital, Dhaka, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, adding that the arrest was "the biggest gift" for Bangladesh this year. Majed had publicly announced his involvement in the assassination after the killing and had reportedly been hiding in India for many years.
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