| Some evangelicals fear the 'mark of the beast' from a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 14 May 2020 11:32 AM PDT  Peggy Popham, who described herself as a lifelong Republican, said that while her beliefs about the coronavirus vaccine "have a lot to do with my political views," they also "go along with my faith." "I'm 70 and I've gotten sick before," said Popham. But, she added, "I would not take the vaccine."
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| Medal of Honor recipient dies; saved lives in Afghanistan Posted: 14 May 2020 05:21 PM PDT  WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, who received the Medal of Honor in 2018 for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan, has died of cancer. Miranda Shurer said her husband died Thursday in Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. She said he was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. Ronald Shurer II received the nation's highest military honor from President Donald Trump in a formal White House ceremony attended by 250 people.
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| Trump says Biden has 'no idea what's happening' seconds before claiming that AOC 'wants wind' that 'kills all the birds' Posted: 15 May 2020 07:29 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's vendetta against wind turbines predates his presidency and has now made it onto his 2020 campaign platform.
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| China Threatens to Place Apple, Boeing, and Other U.S. Firms on ‘Unreliable Entities’ List Posted: 15 May 2020 10:11 AM PDT  China is preparing to place U.S. companies including Apple and Boeing on an "unreliable entities list" in response to newly announced sanctions on tech giant Huawei."China will take forceful countermeasures to protect its own legitimate rights," a source told China's government-owned Global Times. The country could cease purchasing planes made by Boeing, and impose restrictions or even launch investigations into Qualcomm, Cisco, or Apple under Chinese anti-monopoly and cybersecurity laws.The threat comes after the U.S. Commerce Department announced sanctions that would prevent companies from selling semiconductor ships to Huawei if the chips are manufactured with American technology. The U.S. considers Huawei a national security threat, alleging that the Chinese government can gain access to data gathered by Huawei networks around the world.Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) welcomed the new sanctions on Friday."Let's cut to the chase: China's main export is espionage, and the distinction between the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese 'private-sector' businesses like Huawei is imaginary," Sasse said in a statement. "Huawei's supply chain depends on contracts with American companies and the Commerce Department ought to take a careful look at how we can effectively disrupt our adversary."The Global Times reported earlier this week that the Chinese government was considering sanctions on U.S. lawmakers who have taken a hawkish line against the country, including Senators Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
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| U.S. accuses Chinese-born researcher at Cleveland Clinic of ties to Chinese spying Posted: 14 May 2020 01:00 PM PDT |
| 50 Years After the Jackson State Killings, America's Crisis of Racial Injustice Continues—and Shows the Danger of Forgetting Posted: 14 May 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Police unleashed a 28-second barrage that killed two young people. Today, though the nation retains a vivid memory of the violence at Kent State, Jackson State has been largely forgotten
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| GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler just handed over documents to federal authorities investigating alleged insider trading Posted: 14 May 2020 07:32 PM PDT  A spokesperson said the senator had forwarded "documents and information" to federal authorities investigating allegations of insider trading.
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| House Democrats float $3 trillion coronavirus bill, Republicans reject it Posted: 14 May 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled on Tuesday a $3 trillion-plus coronavirus relief package with funding for states, businesses, food support and families, only to see the measure flatly rejected by Senate Republicans.
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| Beaches in N.Y, N.J., Connecticut, Delaware to open Memorial Day weekend Posted: 15 May 2020 11:07 AM PDT  They will open on the Friday before Memorial Day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
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| 'They came to kill the mothers': Shock, blame swirl after Afghan hospital attack Posted: 15 May 2020 07:35 AM PDT  "They went through the rooms in the maternity, shooting women in their beds. It was methodical," a Doctors Without Borders representative said.
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| 35 Outdoor Fire Pit Ideas That Are Lit Posted: 15 May 2020 09:39 AM PDT |
| Photos taken 1 year apart show potentially troubling sign in volcano. Posted: 15 May 2020 12:28 PM PDT  The Halema'uma'u crater on Kilauea, located in Hawaii, has been relatively quiet over the last year after a frenzy of activity in 2018, which all began with an explosive eruption of ash 30,000 feet into the air during May. But, since at least 2019, there has been a change that scientists believe could pose a potential danger to the Big Island. Water has started to collect in the caldera to form a lake.A caldera is a large crater left behind in a volcano after an eruption. From 2010 until 2018, a lava lake had filled the caldera rather than water. That changed in May 2018 when the eruption caused the lava lake to drain, collapsing the caldera floor and causing a hole nearly as deep as the 1,776-foot One World Trade Center. The eruption also created a 459-foot cliff (140 meters) north of the crater.About a year later, a helicopter pilot flying over the volcano noticed a mysterious green pool of water in the Halema'uma'u crater. A second report of the same findings from a helicopter passenger prompted USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory researchers to survey the green pool of water.It was then discovered that water had indeed started to pool into the lowest part of the Halema'uma'u crater, and ever since the water was discovered in 2019, the depth of the lake has been steadily growing. The sequence of satellite images above shows Halema'uma'u crater before the lava lake drained (left), after the caldera floor had collapsed (middle) and after water pooled on the crater floor for nine months (right). (Joshua Stevens / Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey) "We know that the crater floor dropped a little more than 70 meters below the water table in 2018. Any time that you punch a hole below the level of the water table, water is eventually going to come in and fill that hole," explained Don Swanson, a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The pool of water in the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater on Aug. 7, 2019. (USGS / D. Swanson) Currently, the water has an area larger than five football fields combined and is approximately 100 feet (30 meters) deep, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.The water has also changed color from the original chalky green to a rusty brown, due to chemical reactions happening in the water. The pool of water in the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater on April 21, 2020\. Since its discovery in 2019, the pool has slowly been growing. (USGS / M. Patrick) As for how the water could affect a future eruption of the volcano, Swanson said it could contribute to an explosive eruption, since one of the main factors behind a big volcanic explosion is the amount of water and other gases that get caught up inside the magma."In one case, magma could rise quickly up the conduit and intersect with the lake," said Swanson. "In the second, the crater floor could collapse and drop all of the water down to a zone where it would be quickly heated into steam."While an explosive eruption remains possible for Kilauea, Swanson said the next eruption could also happen slowly and all the water could evaporate."We do not want to be alarmist, but we also need to point out to the public that there is an increasing possibility of explosive eruptions at Kilauea," said Swanson.Only time will tell what is in store for Kilauea, but for now, the volcano is being closely researched and monitored by geologists.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| 2020 election: Joe Biden says anyone who believes Tara Reade should not vote for him in November Posted: 15 May 2020 05:42 AM PDT  Joe Biden has said anyone who believes accuser Tara Reade, who's claimed he harassed her while working in the Senate, should not vote for him come November, but confessed he doesn't remember the staffer.The former vice president and assumed Democratic presidential nominee spoke to Lawrence O'Donnell for MSNBC on Thursday to discuss his bid to unseat Donald Trump come November.
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| Pope joins inter-faith prayers against coronavirus, irks ultra-conservatives Posted: 14 May 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Pope Francis joined an inter-faith day of prayer on Thursday to call on God to end the coronavirus pandemic, brushing aside criticism from ultra-conservative Catholic groups, with one accusing him of associating with "infidels". A multi-faith committee formed after the pope's historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula last year came up with the proposal that Christians, Muslims and Jews pray, fast and perform charitable works on Thursday. "Maybe there will be someone who will say 'This is religious relativism and it cannot be done," Francis said in the homily of his morning Mass at the Vatican on Thursday.
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| Colorado police are looking for a man seen at a grocery story wearing a KKK hood with a swastika Posted: 15 May 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Amid the pandemic, Coloradans, like other Americans, have been asked to cover their faces in public, when social distancing isn't possible.
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| Feinstein was also questioned by FBI on coronavirus stock trades — but Loeffler won't say if she has been Posted: 14 May 2020 12:23 PM PDT  Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) spokesperson has confirmed she answered questions from the FBI over stock trades her husband made before the U.S. markets took a dive due to the coronavirus pandemic — but Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) is refusing to say if she was contacted as well.Reports emerged earlier this year Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) sold stocks while he was receiving briefings on the coming COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, and federal agents have now seized his cellphone. Numerous other senators also sold stocks around the same time as Burr, including Feinstein, as The New York Times reported she and her husband sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in the biotech company Allogene Therapeutics between Jan. 31 and Feb. 18.Feinstein denied being involved in the sales, with a spokesperson at the time saying, "All of Senator Feinstein's assets are in a blind trust" and "she has no involvement in her husband's financial decisions." On Thursday, Feinstein's spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that she answered questioned from the FBI and provided authorities with documents. Her aides also said this questioning occurred in April and that there have been "no follow up actions on this issue," per The Washington Post.Loeffler, who is a much closer ally of President Trump's than Burr, and her husband also sold stock around the same time after she was briefed on the coronavirus, although she says the decisions were made by investment advisers. But asked Thursday if she's been contacted by the FBI, Loeffler wouldn't say, and when asked by CNN if she has, a spokesperson didn't directly address the question, instead saying, "No search warrant has been served on Sen Loeffler. She has followed both the letter and spirit of the law and will continue to do so."More stories from theweek.com The next phase of America's coronavirus problem is a massive housing crisis 5 hilarious cartoons about Trump's vague 'Obamagate' allegations The conservative victimhood complex has made America impossible to govern
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| Venezuela says 39 ex-soldiers caught trying to enter country Posted: 14 May 2020 06:13 PM PDT  Venezuelan authorities said Thursday they have seized 39 military deserters trying to enter the country from Colombia, saying they are believed linked to the failed armed incursion by sea early in the month that was aimed at toppling President Nicolás Maduro. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López gave no details on where or when the former soldiers were captured. Maduro on Thursday claimed that "new mercenary groups" are being formed in neighboring Colombia, though he presented no evidence.
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| House to vote on additional $3 trillion coronavirus aid package Posted: 15 May 2020 05:51 AM PDT  The House of Representatives is pushing forward with a vote on an additional $3 trillion coronavirus response bill that has been met with skepticism from Republicans.
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| Al-Qaeda and Islamic State cross swords in Sahel Posted: 15 May 2020 04:15 AM PDT  Al-Qaeda and the Islamic state group have turned their guns on each other in the Sahel, according to experts, fracturing a period of cooperation that has held for years. The semi-desert African region has seen years of conflict with Islamic militants, who first emerged in northern Mali in 2012 before sweeping into the centre of the country, and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
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| Tropical weather system developing near Florida Posted: 15 May 2020 02:28 PM PDT  If it develops sustained winds of 39 mph or higher, the storm will be named Arthur.
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| Team Biden Says Path to Victory Could Go Through These Red States Posted: 15 May 2020 10:56 AM PDT  In a briefing call with reporters on Friday afternoon, senior Biden campaign officials outlined their internal "clear" path to victory, pointing to key areas they need to protect, win back, and expand in order to win against President Trump in November.Among the 16 states included in the campaign's calculus for success with 270 electoral votes, officials cited what they described as three new battlegrounds, Arizona, Georgia, and Texas, as some of the biggest points of possible expansion in 2020."I'm bullish about Arizona," campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said in an hour-long debrief. "Arizona is a battleground state for the first time." The strategy for Arizona includes persuading voters who went for Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as those who helped contribute to the "blue wave" Democratic House sweep in 2018. It also relies on increasing turnout among Latino voters and those under 30. Officials' internal estimates suggest that 15 to 20 percent of total turnout in the state will come from Latino voters, a bloc that Biden won there in the Democratic primary. Biden Campaign Is Secretly Building a Republican GroupBeyond those three states, the Biden campaign outlined several other areas they deem important to their electoral pathway. Five states—Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, and New Hampshire—are target areas that Democrats won in 2016 and remain critical to the campaign's coalition in November, senior officials said. Among those areas that went for former President Barack Obama in 2008 or 2012 but flipped for Trump in 2016, officials see Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Maine as possible avenues to achieve success. O'Malley Dillion said the campaign is "pulling ahead" in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona. "If we kept these numbers, and we kept them through November, that would put us at 318 electoral votes," she said. "We believe to win we must have a customized approach in each battleground state," she added. "There is no cookie cutter approach. There is no national election."Senior officials also outlined what the so-called "Biden coalition" will look like, drawing from three groups: young, African American, and Latino voters; suburban, college educated voters, and women; and disaffected voters. "We believe that we do not have to make a choice between one group or another group in terms of how we are going to win this," O'Malley Dillon said. The campaign's internal polling shows a 5 point increase from 2016 with women and a 3 point increase with white college graduates, for example, part of a key constituency that has grown more supportive of Democrats since 2012. In addition, among disaffected voters, which includes non-college educated white voters, blue-collar workers, African American and Latino men, and Obama-Trump voters who have grown less supportive of Democrats since 2016, officials see additional pickup opportunities. In 2016, 10 percent of Trump voters went for Obama in 2012. In addressing this, officials note that the former vice president saw "significant support" with that group in the primary, including winning working class voters in Michigan by 14 percent."These voters can be won by the vice president," O'Malley Dillon stressed.On a messaging front, Biden's top lieutenants plan to build out the strongest possible contrast with Trump with its long standing pitch for unity, a call they believed helped propel the former vice president to victory against over a dozen opponents in the Democratic primary. In particular, officials said they plan to spotlight Trump's inability to keep the public health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic under control. "Presidents get measured by how they are seen in a crisis," Mike Donilon, the campaign's chief strategist, said. "What the country saw with Donald Trump in this crisis was this: he was unprepared for it when it came. And then when it came, he failed to act. He didn't act decisively. What he did was, he froze."Navigating the virtual campaign season in the thick of coronavirus has been one of the centerpoints of contrast between Trump, who has held regular briefings rife with chaos broadcast on cable news, and Biden, who has largely been confined to a livestream broadcast from his basement. Officials on Friday saidthe campaign expects to continue to ramp up its digital capacity in the coming days and weeks, including by debuting a new livestream platform over the weekend.The campaign will have "a number of significant announcements coming over the next 10 days," O'Malley Dillon 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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| Afghan accused of mutilating wife after she asks for divorce Posted: 15 May 2020 03:53 AM PDT |
| Five arrested for brazen teen abduction over drug debt Posted: 15 May 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Toronto police say a 14-year-old teenage boy was abducted to settle his stepbrother's drug debt.
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| A US Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter crashed just outside Eglin Air Force Base in Florida Posted: 15 May 2020 09:47 AM PDT  The stealth fighter crashed during a training flight, but pilot ejected safely and is being taken care of by base medical personnel.
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| Experts believe Mexico's coronavirus cases could be 17 times higher than official tally Posted: 13 May 2020 08:38 PM PDT  The Mexican government has said it assumes the true number of coronavirus cases in the country is eight times higher than what is officially reported, but experts believe the actual number of cases could be 17 times higher, Vox reports. As of Wednesday, Mexico has reported 38,000 coronavirus infections and close to 4,000 deaths. Funeral home directors, mayors, doctors, and former officials have said they reported deaths that haven't been reflected in the government's tally; the mayor of Chimalhuacán told Al Jazeera the town had 87 coronavirus deaths, but the government "counted us as having 24 dead."It's unclear if the discrepancy is due to inefficiency or if the numbers are deliberately being undercounted, Vox notes. "If Mexico is good at anything, it's hiding numbers," said Dr. Laurie Ann Ximénez-Fyvie of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. El País reports that Mexico, which has a low testing rate, likely has between 620,000 and 730,000 COVID-19 cases. "We don't even know who the sick people are, and we don't know where they are," Ximénez-Fyvie said.Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been criticized for his response to the coronavirus and accused of not taking it seriously. In late March, he traveled to several cities and met supporters, even shaking hands with the mother of convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in Badiraguato. Read more about how the Mexican government is handling the coronavirus pandemic and the state of its health care system at Vox.More stories from theweek.com The conservative victimhood complex has made America impossible to govern 5 hilarious cartoons about Trump's vague 'Obamagate' allegations The next phase of America's coronavirus problem is a massive housing crisis
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| Iraqi doctor's fight with virus lays bare a battered system Posted: 14 May 2020 10:57 PM PDT  Dr. Marwa al-Khafaji's homecoming after 20 days in a hospital isolation ward was met by spite. The young physician was catapulted into the front lines of Iraq's battle with the virus in early March. The Associated Press followed her tale from inside a squalid quarantine room to her return to the streets of her childhood, where she found piercing glares had displaced greetings.
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| FBI offers $1m reward for captors of Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle Posted: 14 May 2020 09:46 AM PDT  * US-Canadian couple were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 * After release Boyle was cleared of abusing Coleman in CanadaThe FBI has offered a $1m reward for the arrest and prosecution for those responsible for the kidnapping of US citizen Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, eight years ago in Afghanistan.The offer of a reward for their captors is the latest twist in the protracted saga of Coleman and Boyle, who were the subject of intense media scrutiny following their dramatic rescue in 2017 – and a subsequent trial over allegations of abuse by Boyle.Shortly after their wedding in 2012, Boyle and Coleman travelled to Afghanistan, where they were kidnapped by a Taliban-linked group shortly after arriving in the restive country. The couple spent five years as captives of the Haqqani network, during which time Coleman gave birth to three children."At times the [guards] could be very violent, even sometimes with the children," Coleman told ABC News in 2017, shortly after their release. "Some of the guards actually actively hated children and would somewhat target [one of our children], try to come up with reasons to hit him, either with a stick or otherwise, claiming that he was making problems, he was being too loud."The family say they were shuffled between different sites and captors – often kept underground – until they were eventually freed by Pakistani soldiers in October 2017 and returned to Canada.But in late December of that year, Boyle was arrested in Ottawa and charged with 19 offenses – including sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering a death threat – all of which were alleged to have taken place after the family had arrived in the city. The closely watched trial lasted more than a year, culminating in a judge clearing Boyle of all charges in December 2019.Timothy Slater, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, told the Canadian Press that agents were still actively working to track down the family's captors but need the public's help. In one proof of life video recorded by the family, Coleman identified her captors – but more information was needed for a breakthrough in the case.
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| Man blocks black delivery driver in Oklahoma neighborhood Posted: 15 May 2020 11:14 AM PDT  "My intention was never to go viral," Travis Miller said. "My intention was to cover myself in case he called my employer and said I did something other than what I did."
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| Coronavirus: Three children orphaned, after both parents die within weeks Posted: 15 May 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The mother and father of three children who fled Isis, both died within a few weeks of each other, after contracting coronavirus.Nada Ayram, who was 46 years old, died 21 April and her husband, 52-year-old Nameer, passed away from coronavirus earlier this week.
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| Trump threatens China ties, says in no mood for Xi talks Posted: 14 May 2020 11:54 AM PDT  US President Donald Trump further hardened his rhetoric towards China on Thursday, saying he no longer wishes to speak with Xi Jinping and warning darkly he might cut ties over the rival superpower's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions have ratcheted up between Washington and Beijing as they trade barbs over the origin of the pandemic -- which first appeared in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and which Trump has dubbed the "Plague from China." "I have a very good relationship (with Xi), but I just -- right now I don't want to speak to him," Trump said of the Chinese president on Fox Business.
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| Make Your At-Home Dining Experience Fit for a Five-Star Restaurant Posted: 15 May 2020 10:52 AM PDT |
| BAT says potential COVID-19 vaccine using tobacco leaves ready for human trials Posted: 15 May 2020 05:02 AM PDT |
| Murder of holocaust survivor in Paris should be treated as anti-Semitic, say prosecutors Posted: 15 May 2020 09:03 AM PDT  French prosecutors have called for two men accused of murdering a Holocaust survivor in her eastern Paris council flat to be tried for killing her on anti-Semitic grounds. Mireille Knoll, 85, was stabbed 11 times in March 2018 and burned in a frenzied onslaught, which shocked the nation and outraged political leaders. President Emmanuel Macron, who attended her funeral at the time amid widespread public mourning, said: "She was killed simply because she was Jewish." Her neighbour, Yacine Mihoub, 30 is now in custody along with another suspect, 24-year old Alex Carrimbacus with mental health issues. On Thursday night, Paris prosecutors called for the pair to be tried for "murder of a vulnerable person due to the victim's real or supposed affiliation to a religion". It is now up to the investigating magistrates conducting the investigation to decide whether to retain the motive of anti-Semitism. Prosecutors pointed out that Yacine Mihoub had scrawled graffiti in praise of the Paris terror attacks in his cell and had conducted internet searches on the liberation of Palestine, Salafist Islam and the Muslim brotherhood. Carrimbacus is thought to have asked whether the victim was rich. "This evidence legitimately raises the question over Yacine Mihoub and Alex Carrimbacus's state of mind and the deep reason for the murder," the prosecution was cited as arguing in Le Parisien.
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| The future of college tuition in the age of the coronavirus: Yahoo News Explains Posted: 15 May 2020 08:30 AM PDT  As college campuses across the country remain closed amid social distancing orders, graduating high school seniors and their families are stuck with a difficult question: Is college worth the price if classes are online? In turn, the American Council on Education predicts that fall enrollment could decrease by 15 percent or more, leaving colleges and universities with an estimated $23 billion in lost tuition. David Klein, CEO and co-founder of CommonBond, a finance company that specializes in affordable student loans, explains that there may, in fact, be a silver lining here — pressure to enroll students could force universities to address the college tuition crisis that existed long before the coronavirus.
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| Israeli troops kill Palestinian driver who hit soldier Posted: 14 May 2020 07:53 AM PDT  Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man who allegedly rammed his car into a soldier in the southern West Bank on Thursday, the army said, the latest in a string of violence in recent days. The military said the Palestinian driver struck an Israeli soldier near the West Bank settlement of Negohot, south of Hebron. Paramedics said the Israeli soldier suffered moderate injuries and was hospitalized.
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| Fighter jet crashes at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; pilot ejected and taken to hospital Posted: 15 May 2020 11:39 AM PDT  An F-22 fighter jet crashed Friday at the Eglin Air Force Base reservation. The plane wasn't part of the flyover planned to honor coronavirus workers.
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| Phone location data shows millions of Americans have already started leaving home and traveling more in the past week Posted: 15 May 2020 09:11 AM PDT  The data shows that millions more Americans have started leaving home and moving around in recent weeks as states reopen.
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| Religious Far Right Mounts Anti-Abortion Attack on COVID-19 Vaccine Posted: 15 May 2020 12:34 AM PDT  As universities and pharmaceutical companies race to put out the first COVID-19 vaccine, some sectors of the religious right are gearing up to fight it, based on tenuous ties to what they call "the abortion industry" and a biblical teaching about "the mark of the beast." LifeSite News, a Catholic, anti-abortion website, has gathered more than 350,000 signatures on a petition protesting mandatory coronavirus vaccination orders—none of which have actually been issued. The petition starts with the kind of big-government concerns that have become a hallmark of anti-shutdown protests, claiming that "fear of a disease" could inadvertently lead to support for "the hidden agenda of governmental as well as non-governmental bodies" with plans to "restrict personal freedoms.""The so-called 'public health experts' have gotten it wrong many times during the current crisis," the petition states. "We should not, therefore, allow their opinions to rush decision-makers into policies regarding vaccination."How the Hunt for a Coronavirus Vaccine Could Go Horribly WrongFurther down, the petition raises the issue of stem cell research used in the production of vaccines. A number of life-saving vaccines—from the chickenpox to measles—are cultured in human stem cells originating from legally aborted fetuses, a process long approved by the Food and Drug Administration. At least one pharmaceutical company is currently using these stem cell lines to test a vaccine, according to a letter sent to the FDA by two dozen religious leaders. The LifeSite petition calls the use of these stem cell lines "a total non-starter," stating that the organization "opposes immorally-produced vaccines using aborted fetal cell lines." (A note at the bottom of the page, seemingly meant to distance the organization from the anti-vaxxer crowd, states that LifeSite has no position on "any particular coronavirus vaccines produced without such moral problems.")The stem cells used in vaccine development come from two fetuses aborted more than 50 years ago and, according to vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit, contain "incredibly small amounts of [their] DNA." The Pontifical Academy for Life, National Catholic Bioethics Center, and former Pope Benedict XVI have all determined that using vaccines cultured in stem cells is acceptable in the interest of public health, not least because they are so far removed from any actual abortion. Just last year, the Pontifical Academy stated that parents could vaccinate their children with a "clear conscience" that the use of most modern vaccines "does not signify some sort of cooperation in voluntary abortion." Still, some religious leaders have gone so far as to declare that they will not accept a COVID-19 vaccine developed with these products—even though experts the world over agree a vaccine is the best chance to stop a pandemic that has already killed some 300,000 people."So sad… even with Covid-19 we are still debating the use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research," Bishop J. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweeted in April. "Let me go on record...if a vaccine for this virus is only attainable if we use body parts of aborted children then I will refuse the vaccine...I will not kill children to live."What Are the Most Promising Coronavirus Treatments, Vaccines, and Tests?Deacon Keith Fournier, founder of the Common Good Foundation, tried to convince his Twitter followers this week that some COVID-19 vaccines are being made using "body parts from unborn babies.""I GUARANTEE I, and any other Pro-Life Catholic and any other TRUE Christians will NEVER use such a vaccine. NEVER. NEVER," he wrote.The religious leaders who wrote to the FDA did not go quite as far, instead urging the U.S. government not to fund vaccines developed through stem cell technology. The letter to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn states that the leaders "strongly support efforts to develop an effective, safe, and widely available vaccine as quickly as possible.""However, we also strongly urge our federal government to ensure that fundamental moral principles are followed in the development of such vaccines, most importantly, the principle that human life is sacred and should never be exploited," the letter says.Others have tried to tie the vaccine to abortion through donations from Bill Gates, who has pledged $300 million to developing and distributing a vaccine. LifeSiteNews has long opposed Gates for his donations to Planned Parenthood and support of contraception and abortion access. Its petition claims the billionaire "should not be permitted to influence policy decisions on a coronavirus vaccination program." "Unwitting citizens must not be used as guinea pigs for New World Order ideologues, or Big Pharma, in pursuit of a vaccine (and, profits) which may not even protect against future mutated strains of the coronavirus," the petition reads.Trumpists Believe Bill Gates Is Using Coronavirus to Implant Brain ChipsOther religious figures have decried Gates' participation because of a popular but ludicrous conspiracy theory that suggests the billionaire will plant a microchip in every injection. Ronnie Hampton, a free Methodist pastor who died of the virus in March, told followers before his death that the vaccines would have "some type of electronic computer device that's gonna put some type of chip in you and maybe even have some mood, mind-altering circumstances.""They're saying that the chip would be the mark of the beast," he added, referring to a belief among some Christians that the anti-Christ will one day return and physically mark his followers.Pastor Curt Landry of Oklahoma, meanwhile, claimed the vaccine would not contain the mark of the beast itself, but a microchip that the government could use to track who was willing to accept it."Do not pray, do not hope, do not think, 'Oh, praise God they are going to have a vaccine,'" he told followers in a YouTube video. "That vaccine is from the pit of Hell. Do not pray for those vaccines, and do not take the vaccine. These vaccines are going to be coming. They are not going to be good. They're not good for you physically, and spiritually, they're a set-up for what shall come later." The conspiracy theory seems to have come from a Reddit AMA in which Gates suggested that countries would eventually have digital certificates to show who has recovered from the virus, who has been tested recently, and who has received the vaccine. He did not say anything about microchips.The "mark of the beast" theory, meanwhile, has been roundly dismissed by religious scholars. Writing for the Logos Academic Blog, minister and theology PhD Matthew Halstead argued that the mark of the beast is something given to people who willingly worship the anti-Christ—not something you accidentally ingest in a Gates-funded vaccine. Christians should not fear the vaccine unless they plan on using it as a symbolic expression of their "willful and public rejection of the Christian faith," he wrote. "If that's you and if that's your plan," he added, "then it's not the vaccine that's the problem."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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| Jordan warns Israel of 'massive conflict' over West Bank annexation Posted: 15 May 2020 09:24 AM PDT  "If Israel really annexed the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," King Abdullah II said.
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| The next phase of America's coronavirus problem is a massive housing crisis Posted: 15 May 2020 02:50 AM PDT  Thursday brought yet more grim economic numbers, with 2.98 million Americans filing for unemployment over the last week. That makes for 36.5 million claims since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (though millions no doubt have not managed to make it onto the program rolls, or are not receiving benefits even if they have). A recent Federal Reserve study found that nearly 40 percent of households making $40,000 per year or less lost a job in March.Millions of people are already unable to afford their rent or mortgage payments, and tens of millions more will be unable to in a few months if nothing changes. America is facing a major housing crisis if it doesn't get its act together. Either the economic rescue programs need to be strengthened and extended, or we need some kind of cancellation of rent and mortgage payments until things return to normal, or both.There have been several programs and rules passed already intended to help homeowners and renters. But, as usual in American policymaking, these policies are haphazard, over-complicated, and incomplete. For renters, evictions have been temporarily banned in many cities and states, and some places like Philadelphia have begun to extend rental payment assistance for lower-income people. But rent payments have only been paused in most places, not canceled, and there hasn't been any nationwide policy. Landlords are already champing at the bit to evict people.For homeowners, mortgage holders or servicers have been banned from foreclosing on people for 60 days starting March 18. Homeowners whose loans are backed by the government (which is most of them) can apply for forbearance, which puts their payments on hold for up to a year. However, the stipulations are complicated and unclear. Mortgage servicers (businesses that collect the loan payments and administer paperwork for the true loan owner) are reportedly misleading homeowners by telling them all missed payments will be due at the end of the forbearance period, when in fact there are several repayment options, including paying them at the end of the loan term.These are the same servicers who were major villains in the foreclosure crisis a decade ago. The Obama administration deliberately enabled this between 2009-11 by running its homeowner "assistance" program through servicers, who have a financial incentive to foreclose and routinely tricked people into it, often with forged documents. The effect was to push the losses from the housing bubble from banks to individuals. (As an aside, it is preposterous for the government to use servicers for the loans it owns. It could easily do the job itself for cheaper.)So far the number of people failing to pay rents or mortgages has not increased that much, probably because of the one-off rescue payment of $1,200 and the temporary increase in unemployment benefits. But that won't last forever. Many have already spent their payment, and super-unemployment expires at the end of July. Analysts are predicting a big surge in rent and mortgage nonpayment if nothing changes.A tidy solution here would be to simply pause all rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the crisis, and restart afterwards without any repayment. Homeowners and renters would be secure, and landlords would be mostly fine as well since mortgages are typically by far their largest expense — plus it would be much easier to administer without any complicated means test. Joe Biden actually suggested something along these lines recently.The overall effect would probably be somewhat regressive on net. Many more people live in owner-occupied homes than rent them, and higher-income people tend to live in more expensive homes with bigger mortgage payments. But now is hardly the time to worry about that. The Federal Reserve is blasting rich investors with a money cannon, and even Democrats are trying to sneak through a tax cut in which 56 percent of the benefit would flow to the top one percent. (Loudly protesting about the rich being included in welfare systems while quietly shoveling money out the back door to plutocrats is a long bipartisan American tradition.)Alternatively, we could simply flood the population with enough income that everyone can pay all their bills. If Congress keeps universal stimulus payments flowing monthly (which will be easier logistically now that the first one has been done), and preserves super-unemployment as long as the crisis lasts, then just about everyone should have enough money to cover their bills indefinitely.Over the medium term, we should also consider homeowner relief along the lines of Franklin Roosevelt's Home Owners' Loan Corporation. Millions of homeowners will no doubt be underwater on their mortgages soon if they aren't already (that is, their mortgage debt is greater than the value of the home). This will be a big economic drag in the future — people with negative net worth tend to drastically cut their spending to repair their balance sheet, and many will likely opt to just walk away from their homes, which badly harms neighborhoods. We should allow underwater homeowners to write down their principal to the value of the property, and refinance to take advantage of the cheap credit the Federal Reserve is flooding into the economy.That's a lesser priority, but America needs to do something to stave off a housing disaster. Children are already going hungry. Without swift action many will end up on the street.More stories from theweek.com 5 hilarious cartoons about Trump's vague 'Obamagate' allegations The conservative victimhood complex has made America impossible to govern Esteemed medical journal blasts Trump's coronavirus response in 'stunning' editorial
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| Sanofi says COVID-19 vaccine will be available worldwide simultaneously Posted: 14 May 2020 07:46 PM PDT  Sanofi will ensure that a potential vaccine against COVID-19, if approved, reaches all regions of the world at the same time, the chairman of the French drugmaker said on Thursday. "There will be no particular advance given to any country," Serge Weinberg told France 2 television. Sanofi operates 73 industrial locations in 32 countries.
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| Powerful storm forces thousands from homes in virus-hit Philippines Posted: 15 May 2020 04:38 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of people were forced into cramped shelters by the powerful storm pounding the Philippines on Friday, making social distancing nearly impossible as the nation battles the coronavirus pandemic. Typhoon Vongfong smashed homes, schools and virus quarantine sites when it hit central Samar island on Thursday, but then weakened into a severe tropical storm on its path north to the capital Manila. The storm struck as tens of millions of Filipinos are hunkered down at home to protect themselves against COVID-19, but more than 140,000 had to flee in central Bicol region because of the powerful storm, disaster officials said.
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| US sends oil to Belarus, seeking to diversify from Russia Posted: 15 May 2020 08:55 AM PDT  The United States has dispatched a shipment of oil to Belarus, which is seeking to diversify its supplies after a price dispute with Russia, the Belarusian government said Friday. The 80,000-ton shipment is expected to arrive at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda in June and from there will sent by rail to Belarus. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said cooperation with the U.S. on oil is "an element of energy security."
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| Surrogates left holding the baby as coronavirus rules strand parents Posted: 14 May 2020 01:00 AM PDT  The US surrogacy business is in turmoil, with parents overseas unable to pick up their baby and others unable to leave AmericaA week before Sierra Martin's 27 February due date, she received an email. It was from the couple that Martin was carrying a baby for, as a gestational surrogate. This was Martin's first surrogacy; she was carrying a boy for a gay couple from China.Due to the coronavirus travel ban, the email read, the couple wouldn't be able to get into the US to collect their son. Would Martin look after him, until the restrictions were lifted?"I waited a full day before replying, because I didn't know what to do," says Martin, who is 22 and works as a barista and childminder in Lake Bay, Washington. "I have nothing to look after a baby!"After thinking about it, she agreed. Martin gave birth to baby Steven on 23 February, and took him home. She is raising him alongside her two children, aged three and five, until his parents can get into the US, sort the paperwork, and bring Steven home to China.Spending nearly three months raising a baby she has given birth to, but who she is not biologically related to and will be giving back to his parents eventually, is emotionally wearing. "I love having the baby snuggles," says Martin, "but it's definitely hard knowing that he is not mine. I love him, but I know that he has to go back to his own parents eventually."Martin and baby Steven are caught up in a nationwide surrogacy crisis of growing proportions. Commercial surrogacy is legal in some US states, making it a hotspot for parents looking to have children through assisted reproduction. But the coronavirus travel ban has seen President Trump close the country's borders to almost all international visitors, while a nationwide US passport office shutdown has made it impossible for parents who do manage to get into the country to obtain the necessary documentation to take their children home.As a result, babies are being born without their parents present at the birth (immigration authorities will only let parents in once the surrogate has given birth to the child). In at least one case, a mother flew from France to attend the birth of her child, only to be turned back by border control. Some parents aren't being allowed in the country at all. Surrogates and surrogacy agencies are scrambling to look after babies themselves. "It's unprecedented for a surrogate to be looking after the baby," says Rich Geisler, a Californian surrogacy lawyer. "We as an industry really try to avoid that. We want to avoid the possibility of the surrogate bonding with the child."Martin is adamant that she'll be able to give Steven back to his parents when the time is right. "It will be hard to give him back, because I'll miss him," Martin says. "But I know he's not mine, and that I have to give him up, which is totally OK with me." She pauses. "But there's definitely a bit of attachment there," Martin says. "I care for him. When you love on a baby, you love on a baby."To avoid leaving children in the care of their surrogates, with the emotional challenges this can entail, some surrogacy agency workers are taking babies into their own homes. "I never anticipated something of this nature happening," says Katie Faust, a 26-year-old surrogacy case worker from Tampa Bay. Faust is caring for a three-week-old baby girl, whose name we have withheld at her parents' request.When it became apparent that her parents, a heterosexual couple living in China, would be unable to collect her, Faust, her husband, and three children flew to California to collect the baby, rented a car, then drove for five days back to Florida. (As the baby doesn't have a passport, they couldn't take her on a commercial flight.) "We're just kind of planning it as we go along," says Faust. "We're trying to figure out a way to get her reunited with her parents as soon as we can. But I'm OK looking after her, until they get here."For the parents on the other end of the coronavirus shutdown, there is an excruciating wait to meet their children for the first time. "I feel really sad about almost everything to do with my son's birth," says John, a 41-year-old airline worker from Shanghai.John's baby son with his partner Will, a 39-year-old finance worker, was born on 24 February: they have not been able to enter the US to meet him due to the travel ban. (Both men have requested anonymity, as they are not out to their employers.)When Trump issued an order preventing Chinese nationals from entering the US in January, John wept. "I cried and cried," he remembers. "It was really important for me to be there for the birth."Fortunately, Will's elderly parents live in Portland, and are caring for the baby. "We speak to the baby by WeChat almost every day," says John. "When I look at his photos or videos, I feel like my heart is melting." But Will's parents are elderly, and he worries what would happen should they, or the baby, fall sick with coronavirus – the baby is uninsured, as the shutdown means they can't get the documentation they would need to insure him. John wants more than anything to get into the US and bring his son home. "Here in China, life is returning to normal," John says. "I think the US government should open the border, so I can get my son. Most people here are healthy and do not have the disease."In addition to the logistical challenges of arranging care for a child you have never met on the other side of the world, the shutdown means that parents like John and Will are missing out on those precious early months with their children. Martin is sending Steven's parents pictures and videos, but it's not the same. "For Steven's sake it would be nice for him to bond with his parents instead of with me," Martin says. "Those first three months of his life are instrumental in the bonding process for the baby."And even if you can get into the US to collect your child, your problems don't end there. Surrogacy is an expensive process. Having to wait in the US for the passport office to reopen – at the moment, it is only issuing documents for life-and-death emergencies, which do not include surrogacy – all add to the cost. "People are running out of funds," says New Jersey reproductive lawyer Melissa Brisman. "They've already spent so much money on this. They can't afford another £2,000 a week on a certified nurse to take care of the baby."When I speak to Nir Tcik, he sounds almost frantic. "We are under huge pressure, because every day our money is getting lower and lower," he says. Tcik, 47, and his husband Avi, 46, are from Israel, where same-sex surrogacy is illegal. Their daughter Noga was born on 2 April. Since Noga's birth, the family of four – the Tciks have a four-year-old son, also born via surrogate – have been stuck in a New Jersey hotel room, waiting in vain for the authorities to issue her a birth certificate. Even when the birth certificate comes through, they will probably still be stuck, unless the Israeli embassy can make an exception and issue Noga emergency travel documents to fly home, in lieu of a US passport.The Tciks did not budget for nearly two months in the US. They estimate they have spent almost $20,000 in additional costs due to the coronavirus shutdown, on top of the approximately $150,000 cost of the surrogacy. "If this goes on much longer," Tcik says, "we are going to have to borrow money from family and friends."He is terrified that Noga will fall ill – as Noga has no official paperwork, she is uninsured. As a result, the Tciks are terrified to take her outside, lest she contracts coronavirus. "We are stuck in this hotel," says Tcik. "All the time, we're in this hotel room. We don't feel safe."The solution, Brisman says, is for the US immigration authorities to allow parents into the US to collect their children, and expedite the process by which they can leave the country. "I would like to see the government allow these people in quickly, and allow them home quickly," she says. "We need expedited passports, birth certificates and visas for people whose babies are being born."The administrative and bureaucratic nightmare in which the Tciks now find themselves means that coronavirus has cast a pall over what should be a joyful experience. "We thank God that we have a daughter who is healthy, and that the surrogate is also OK," says Tcik. "That is the most important thing. But this coronavirus shutdown, and us being stuck here, has ruined everything."
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| China plans landing drill for Pratas Islands as US ramps up military activity in sensitive Taiwan Strait Posted: 14 May 2020 06:12 AM PDT  The Chinese military is planning to conduct a large-scale landing drill in August to simulate the possible future seizure of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands amid rising tensions between China and the United States in the South China Sea, according to Japanese media reports. Both Beijing and Washington have ramped up military activities near Taiwan in recent months, including regular Chinese air force drills near the island and several US sailings through the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The US navy said on Thursday that the USS McCampbell, a guided-missile destroyer, had transited the narrow waterway on Wednesday, just one week before Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration for a second term in office. Japan's Kyodo News reported earlier this week that the Chinese People's Liberation Army intended to hold a beach landing simulation off Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, which would mobilise marines, landing ships, hovercrafts and helicopters.
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| Navy sailors cleared to return to USS Theodore Roosevelt test positive for COVID-19 in latest sign of trouble Posted: 14 May 2020 02:51 PM PDT  The sailors had previously tested positive and were put in isolation. Afterwards, they tested negative twice and were cleared to get back on the ship.
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