| Yahoo News/YouGov coronavirus poll: Most Americans reject anti-lockdown protests Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:42 AM PDT  The total number of protesters may be small. But the public's dismissive attitude toward them reflects a deeper sentiment: Americans strongly disagree with those who claim the country is ready to reopen for business.
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| Mexico enters most serious 'Phase 3' spread of coronavirus epidemic Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:52 AM PDT  Mexico has entered what the government calls "Phase 3" of the spread of the new coronavirus, the most serious stage, as transmission of the virus is intensifying, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday. Mexico has registered 712 coronavirus deaths and 8,772 infections, with 511 new cases reported on Monday. Lopez-Gatell on Thursday said the government's "Sentinel Surveillance" mathematical model estimated there were 55,951 cases across the country.
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| Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says its handheld device can detect coronavirus, scientists scoff Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Iranian scientists have rejected the claim and other government officials have distanced themselves.
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| AOC deletes tweet saying she ‘loved’ to see US oil prices at record-low after being accused of cheering job losses Posted: 21 Apr 2020 06:29 AM PDT  Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has deleted a tweet that celebrated the crash of the oil market which said: "You absolutely love to see it."As the price of US oil dropped to minus $37 a barrel on Monday, the Democrat had said on Twitter that the crash was an opportunity to 'save the planet'.
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| Vietnam protests China's expansion in disputed waters Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Vietnam protested on Sunday at China saying it had established two administrative units on islands in the South China Sea, in Beijing's latest move to demonstrate its assertiveness in the disputed waters.
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| The IMF says governments should consider new wealth taxes to raise cash from the rich as coronavirus slams the global economy Posted: 21 Apr 2020 01:03 PM PDT  In recent years, the IMF has shifted its focus from tax cuts and recommended policies aimed at reducing income inequality.
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| The new coronavirus may be mutating to a less deadly form Posted: 20 Apr 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Life will not return to normal anytime soon, even if states lift COVID-19 lockdowns in an attempt to revive hard-hit economies. Face masks will be de rigueur, people may be "trapped indoors for months," and crowded public events are out, science reporter Donald McNeil Jr. writes at The New York Times, citing more than 20 health and science experts. Until there's a vaccine, "if Americans pour back out in force, all will appear quiet for perhaps three weeks. Then the emergency rooms will get busy again."Among the many things we don't yet understand about this new coronavirus is how deadly it is or how many people have been infected. "Fatality rates depend heavily on how overwhelmed hospitals get and what percentage of cases are tested," and those numbers keep getting revised in hard-hit areas, McNeil reports. People who die of the disease at home or in overwhelmed hospitals are not counted, but people with few or no symptoms are never tested, so "if you don't know how many people are infected, you don't know how deadly a virus is."The changing fatality rate is one reason the models keep fluctuating, McNeil says, but "there may be good news buried in this inconsistency: The virus may also be mutating to cause fewer symptoms. In the movies, viruses become more deadly. In reality, they usually become less so, because asymptomatic strains reach more hosts. Even the 1918 Spanish flu virus eventually faded into the seasonal H1N1 flu."While we don't know the fatality rate or level of contagion, the "refrigerated trucks parked outside hospitals tell us all we need to know: It is far worse than a bad flu season," McNeil writes. How the pandemic ends depends on the virus' lethality, medical advances, and how individuals behave, he adds. "If we scrupulously protect ourselves and our loved ones, more of us will live. If we underestimate the virus, it will find us."More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are reportedly actively exploring a bid for the New York Mets A parade that killed thousands?
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| Pastor who defied virus ban arrested on assault charge Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:56 AM PDT  Video shows a white bus accelerating in reverse and stopping just a few feet away from a man carrying a sign in front of the church.
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| Merkel Warns Germany Shouldn’t Move Too Quickly With Easing Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:58 AM PDT |
| 9 Homes For Sale With Beautiful Workout Facilities Posted: 21 Apr 2020 02:36 PM PDT |
| Coronavirus outbreak at migrant shelter in Mexico linked to U.S. deportee Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:01 PM PDT  At least 14 other migrants at the shelter were infected in a scenario long feared by Mexican health authorities.
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| Saudi executions a record last year Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  "The death penalty is another violation which has gone in line with that trend of a real deterioration in civil and political rights," said a rights advocate.
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| Italy's daily coronavirus death toll climbs, new cases also up Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:10 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 534 on Tuesday, up from 454 the day before and the largest daily tally since Friday, the Civil Protection Agency said. The number of new infections also increased to 2,729 from 2,256 on Monday.
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| The White House appears to have silenced the surgeon general for his remarks on racial disparities in the coronavirus outbreak, as data shows black communities are hardest hit Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Health officials told Politico that Surgeon General Jerome Adams was one of the few to be talking about the impact on minority communities.
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| Delaware medical supplier says FEMA seized 400,000 N95 masks, now he's out millions of dollars Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:05 PM PDT  A Delaware importer says the Federal Emergency Management Agency seized a shipment of N95 masks two weeks ago – charges FEMA denies.
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| Alexis Martin: Governor commutes sentence of sex trafficking survivor supported by Kim Kardashian West Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:52 AM PDT  The governor of Ohio has commuted the sentence of a woman previously imprisoned in relation to the fatal shooting of the man who allegedly forced her into sex work.Governor Mike DeWine announced on Friday that he had granted seven commutation requests and denied 84.
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| Oil prices go negative — and Washington is paralyzed over what to do Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Reports that the Trump administration was considering paying oil companies not to pump oil have not comforted oil executives.
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| Opinion: Thanks to the Supreme Court, '10 Angry Men' can no longer send you to prison Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:16 PM PDT  An overdue decision says that juries in major state trials must be unanimous.
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| China to ease entry ban on foreigners with South Korea 'fast track' Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:59 AM PDT  China has reached an agreement with South Korea to set up a "fast track" for businesspeople to travel between the countries as Beijing looks to ease an entry ban on foreigners imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. With the deadly disease spreading globally, China last month blocked almost all foreigners from entering as authorities fretted over cases being imported from abroad. Beijing is also in talks with other countries including Singapore to set up a similar channel to stabilise economic cooperation and ensure supply chains run smoothly, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing Tuesday.
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| Three Florida newborns abandoned at same apartment complex are siblings, DNA shows Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:04 PM PDT  The babies, born and abandoned in 2016, 2017 and 2019, have the same mother and father, Orlando police said.
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| Deported from U.S., man infects 14 migrants with coronavirus in northern Mexico Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:16 AM PDT |
| Trump tones down the hydroxychloroquine hype Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:30 AM PDT  His public statements regarding the drug have diminished significantly over the past week for reasons that remain unclear.
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| China Daily Bureau Chief: Trump a ‘Racist A**hole’ for Suggesting China Has More Coronavirus Deaths than U.S. Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:47 PM PDT  The European bureau chief of China's state-run publication China Daily has called President Trump a "racist a**hole" for claiming China "must have the most" deaths from the global coronavirus pandemic."We don't have the most-in-the-world deaths — the most in the world has to be China," Trump said during Friday's White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. "It's a massive country. It's gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem. And they must have the most."China Daily's Chen Weihua, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's coronavirus response, responded by tweeting that Trump's suggestion was "coldblooded." He added in a later tweet that "Trump is like a mad dog with rabies biting everyone, only to divert attention from his failures," before tweeting that it was "irresponsible" and "immoral" for Trump to suggest that the virus could have come from a Wuhan lab. He also floated a theory pushed as Chinese propaganda that a U.S. military athlete brought the disease to China.In 2018, U.S. officials flagged the Wuhan Institute of Virology as the potential starting point of a "future emerging coronavirus outbreak," citing the lack of safety protocols applied to the Institute's research on "SARS-like coronaviruses in bats."While there is no documented evidence that China has more coronavirus deaths than the U.S., reports have detailed how China covered up the initial coronavirus outbreak, with the Chinese Communist Party recently restricting research into the pandemic's origins and censoring reports of thousands of asymptomatic cases. Radio Free Asia reported in March that Wuhan residents were dismissing the government's reported death counts, anecdotally referencing steep increases in funerals and cremations to estimate at least 40,000 deaths during the city's lockdown.Chen Weihua has been outspoken on Twitter about what he claims is the "racist" U.S. response to the pandemic, echoing a tactic used by other Chinese media outlets to suggest any scrutiny of China's handling of the coronavirus is xenophobic.
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| Texas emergency room doctor self-quarantines in his kids' backyard treehouse Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:12 AM PDT  Jason Barnes can't risk exposing his family to the coronavirus, so he has spent three weeks bunking in his kids' cabin treehouse.
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| Saudi says closely monitoring oil markets, ready to act Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:19 AM PDT  OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it was closely monitoring oil markets and stood ready to take further measures after crude prices plunged to historic lows. "The kingdom continues to closely monitor the situation in the oil markets and is prepared to take any additional measures in cooperation with OPEC+ and other producers," the cabinet said in a statement cited by the official Saudi Press Agency. It said cabinet reiterated that the kingdom is constantly working to achieve stability in the oil market, reaffirming a commitment along with Russia to implement agreed output cuts over the next two years.
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| Don't Expect Boris Johnson to Be the Same Prime Minister Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:34 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- In his absence, Boris Johnson's British government has mainly followed the lockdown strategy that was determined before the prime minister was infected with Covid-19. Many are hoping that he will soon return to work and change course; that he'll celebrate signs of a flattening infection curve and reopen Britain for business. It's unlikely to work out that way.It's true that you almost expect Johnson to bound up to the cameras and change the narrative. His modus operandi throughout his career has been Tiggerish enthusiasm. The politician who banished the "gloomsters and doomsters" on Brexit and championed the three-word campaign slogan ("Take Back Control" and "Get Brexit Done") might well have been expected, before his illness struck, to make "Lift the Lockdown" his mantra.Even if Johnson looks and sounds much the same when he returns to full-time work, the experience of serious illness and a forced leave of absence as thousands died must have affected his sense of mission. Johnson had often used the country's National Health Service as a prop when building his case for Brexit and his election campaign (leaving Europe, he argued speciously, would free money to spend on health care). Will he not now do more to support an underfunded, overstretched and ill-equipped service that he credits with saving his life?There will certainly be no immediate rush to relax the lockdown strictures. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has deputized for Johnson, has already extended the measures by another three weeks. Still, as other nations begin to loosen controls, the clamor will grow louder in Britain too.Last week Raab announced five tests that would determine the timing for a reopening of the U.K. The first three are fairly straightforward: The government must be confident that the NHS can provide sufficient care across the country; there must be a sustained fall in the daily death rate; and there needs to be evidence that the infection rate is decreasing.The fourth test — confidence that the supply of testing and personal protective equipment for medical workers can meet demand — is more vague. The U.K. is increasing testing, finally, but it's a long way from the kind of regimes put in place in east Asian countries that quickly suppressed the spread of the virus, including contact tracing. Germany is well ahead on this too. PPE shortages, one of the unnecessary tragedies of this outbreak, persist, as the British Medical Association and doctors repeatedly note. And yet Raab's fourth target doesn't specify what levels of testing and PPE need to be delivered.Even if the government fixes these problems, the fifth test is that there can be no risk of a second peak in infections from relaxing the lockdown. While Johnson is a political gambler who favors the bold stroke, he surely wouldn't open the sluice gates and let a new wave of infections wash away the stability built through social distancing and curtailed activity. Indeed, Bloomberg News reported Monday that in Johnson's conversations with cabinet members, he emphasized caution. Updated models based on more recent infection data will offer some basis for judgment, but a guarantee against a serious second wave of Covid-19 will require a vaccine or widespread testing and contact tracing. Neither are certainties, suggesting that social distancing measures of some sort will be around for a while.A report released Monday by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change argues that since a total lockdown isn't sustainable, the government should use hard metrics for its five tests and phase in some liberalization. For example, it could specify that if there were fewer than 500 new daily cases, testing capacity had expanded to more than 100,000 people per day, and contact tracing was widespread, then conditions could be set for a return to the workplace for individuals not in a high-risk category and for schools to reopen. It's not a bad suggestion, but where to put the thresholds and how to manage the complexities of restrictions are ultimately political decisions for Johnson and his cabinet.The pressure is on to find some way to ease up. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates a massive drop in national income during the second quarter if the lockdown persists through June. Unemployment is expected to rise by 2 million to 10% from historic lows. That blow might be temporary, but the longer the economic shutdown lasts, the greater the risk of lasting damage.There's also the impact on the business sectors that Johnson most wanted to "level up" — to help working-class communities — with new investment and infrastructure spending. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that a third of employees in the lowest-earning part of the income distribution chart are in sectors that have been mostly or completely shut down.If, as some have argued, restrictions are lifted by age group, there are questions about how that would be enforced. Johnson has set himself a unifying mission to keep the support of the ex-Labour Party voters who delivered him a handsome election victory. He'll have to find ways to restart the economy that don't ignore or further worsen inequalities. It's hard to imagine Johnson releasing wealthier parts of the country from lockdown while poorer areas languish under restrictions. But some phasing will be necessary.These decisions will have a profound impact, not only on the fight against the coronavirus but on the economic recovery and on how politics is redefined through this crisis. And they come amidst growing scrutiny of Johnson's early handling of the outbreak. The government has spent much of the past two days trying to rebut a Sunday Times investigation of how it did too little too late.Johnson's mistakes will be subject to a proper inquiry in time. His challenge when he returns will be to avoid compounding them.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| As Latinos lose jobs, remittances to their relatives in Latin America dry up Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:38 AM PDT  "I couldn't even pay rent this month," a Miami resident from Guatemala said, "and we need to keep a little bit of reserves so we can eat."
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| Sweden has nearly 10 times the number of COVID-19-related deaths than its Nordic neighbors. Here's where it went wrong. Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:04 PM PDT  Sweden, which has yet to order any lockdown amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, has seen 14,777 COVID-19 cases and 1,580 deaths from the virus.
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| China detects African swine fever in another pig truck Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:14 AM PDT  China's agriculture ministry said on Tuesday it had detected the deadly African swine fever virus in pigs transported to the southwestern province of Sichuan, the latest in a dozen such cases in the last two months. China has been battling African swine fever since August 2018, after the disease spread rapidly throughout the world's top pork producer, killing millions of pigs and sending pork prices soaring. "The government has easier access to pig transport trucks than having to rely on farmers' willingness to report outbreaks," said Dirk Pfeiffer, professor of veterinary epidemiology at City University of Hong Kong.
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| Canada shooting: Virtual vigil for victims due to Covid-19 Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:26 PM PDT  A policewoman and two frontline coronavirus workers were among the 18 victims who died.
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| Nearly all abortions in Texas must stop, appeals court rules Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:13 PM PDT  The vast majority of abortion services will again be halted in Texas.
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| Joe Biden's running mate search moves into high gear amid conflicting demands Posted: 20 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Some supporters worry that in looking for a "simpatico" running mate, Joe Biden will be too cautious and make a choice that fails to excite voters.
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| AOC Praises Crash of U.S. Oil Market: ‘You Absolutely Love to See It’ Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:35 PM PDT  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) tweeted "you absolutely love to see it," as the U.S. oil market reached negative territory for the first time ever, potentially putting hundreds of American oil companies out of business."This along with record low interest rates means it's the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet. *cough*," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.> She deleted this tweet: pic.twitter.com/PrGYpuR3Sz> > -- Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) April 20, 2020 She then deleted the tweet and rephrased it, saying "it's the right time to create millions of jobs transitioning to renewable and clean energy. A key opportunity.> This snapshot is being acknowledged as a turning point in the climate movement.> > Fossil fuels are in long-term structural decline. This along w/ low interest rates means it's the right time to create millions of jobs transitioning to renewable and clean energy. A key opportunity. https://t.co/UqT8DI5u2I> > -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 20, 2020Oil prices went negative on Monday for the first time in history, dropping over 100 percent on the day to hit -$37.63 a barrel. While the June delivery of U.S. crude oil is currently trading above $20 a barrel, experts have warned the low prices could put hundreds of U.S. companies out of business."$30 is already quite bad, but once you get to $20 or even $10, it's a complete nightmare," Artem Abramov, the head of shale research at Rystad Energy, told CNN Business. Rystad estimated that 533 US oil exploration and production companies will file for bankruptcy by the end of 2021 in a $20 oil market, while the number would double to over 1,100 in a $10 market.Ocasio-Cortez, who introduced a bill to ban fracking nationwide in February, proposed the "Green New Deal" last year to transition the U.S. entirely to "net-zero" carbon emissions within ten years, a piece of legislation that fell flat among Senate Democrats after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) decided to allow a allow a vote.
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| A 5-year-old Detroit girl dies of COVID-19, becoming the first child to die in Michigan Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:02 AM PDT  Skylar Herbert became the youngest person in Michigan to die of COVID-19 Sunday. Up until now, the state's youngest victim was 20; the average age 73.
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| ‘This Has Changed Everything’: Saudi Economy Shaken by Oil Crash Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:04 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The meltdown in oil markets is turning back the economic clock for Saudi Arabia, putting it on track for the deepest contraction in two decades.Already under lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the world's largest crude exporter is bracing for a second impact from the oil rout and unprecedented production cuts negotiated by OPEC and its allies. Both will slash government revenue, and in turn derail a fragile economic recovery. Brent crude traded at under $19 a barrel on Tuesday -- a quarter of the level Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget -- leaving officials with limited options to offset economic pain without crippling public finances."This has changed everything," said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. "So much of the recent recovery was based on the fact that the oil price had been above $50-$60, providing support to economic activity, and that's just been decimated."The setback presents difficult choices for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After the last oil price slump, from 2014 to 2016, he announced a major economic transformation plan. While officials have made significant progress -- developing fledging sectors like entertainment and lifting non-oil revenue with taxes and fees -- the economy still hinges on crude. Now the price shock is threatening many of the government's gains, making it difficult to fund projects and investments when over 60% of revenue this year was meant to come from oil.Ricardo Hausmann, an economist at Harvard University, compared the situation facing Saudi Arabia to "war being fought on at least two fronts," according to a recent presentation for Saudi officials, seen by Bloomberg, that outlined the dual hit from the pandemic and the oil crisis."Each shock in itself is huge," Hausmann wrote. "Both at the same time makes things much more complex."Aggressive MeasuresSo far, Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 infection in the region, with less than 12,000 cases among 34 million people. That's partly due to aggressive measures to slow the spread, steps that are also shutting down swaths of the $779 billion economy.When the government put major cities under a 24-hour curfew this month, business surged for Ayman Alsanad, co-founder of one of the kingdom's most popular delivery applications. He was sleeping four hours a night as his company, Mrsool, rushed to recruit couriers to meet the spike in demand from people stuck at home. But even as he commended the government's help for companies, he was worried about the looming oil crisis."Everyone is scared about coronavirus and the lockdown situation, but look, everything is around the oil prices here," Alsanad said at the time. "If this goes down, you should expect huge implications on anyone's business."As oil prices in the U.S. plummeted below zero for the first time in history, Saudi phones pinged with text messages and tweets asking what it meant for the kingdom.The collapse in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude has little direct impact for Saudi Arabia, since it sells only about a 10th of its oil to the U.S. The kingdom's fate is more closely tied to the price of global benchmark Brent crude, which is also falling, in part because of low U.S. prices."Yesterday's price slump was psychologically very important," said Eugen Weinberg, Commerzbank AG's head of commodity research. "There is a possibility it will change perceptions forever."The price rout was partly caused by a supply surge during a bitter oil-price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia -- but underlying it is expectations of a drawn-out period of lower demand. Warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump that he'll consider blocking imports of crude from Saudi Arabia only add to concerns.Recovery derailedMany Saudi business owners were looking forward to 2020 after several tough years. Now, economists say they can hardly cut their forecasts fast enough.Gross domestic product could shrink more than 3% this year in what would be the first contraction since 2017 -- and the biggest since 1999 -- according to Malik. Unemployment is poised to spike as businesses struggle to stay afloat.The government's budget deficit could widen to 15% of economic output, said Mohamed Abu Basha, head of macroeconomic analysis at investment bank EFG Hermes in Cairo. The fiscal shortfall reached 4.5% last year after peaking at just over 17% in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund.Despite the grim outlook, many Saudis are grateful for officials' swift response to the pandemic. Business owners say that the government's stimulus package saved them from collapse. A few weeks ago, Faisal AlSager -- who employs more than 1,500 people at a firm that provides call centers and customer-service solutions -- was on the verge of laying off workers as clients pulled back.But when the government announced it would cover 60% of salaries for some Saudis in the private sector, his company, Etisal International, suspended layoffs."Such measures taken by the government will help us at least survive," he said.So far, officials say they plan to borrow more to fill the widening budget gap, and have announced only minor spending cuts. Fawaz al-Fawaz, a Saudi economic consultant, said the government has significant reserves and a low debt-to-GDP ratio compared to other big economies. He pointed out it wasn't the first time Saudi Arabia had lived through an oil crash."The cyclicality of the oil industry is not new to the Saudi decision makers," al-Fawaz said. "They have seen this drama before, so they have experience."(Updates with additional quotes and context from fourth paragraph onwards.)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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| Vietnamese refugee went from 7-Eleven cashier to resettling thousands Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT  2020 is the 45th anniversary of Southeast Asian American refugees' arrival in the U.S., still the largest group to be resettled since then.
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| Air conditioning spread the coronavirus to 9 people sitting near an infected person in a restaurant, researchers say. It has huge implications for the service industry. Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT  As restaurants slowly reopen, they will likely have to reduce capacity, and patrons may have a limit on how long they can stay and eat.
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| Driver killed in WHO vehicle carrying virus swabs in Myanmar's Rakhine Posted: 21 Apr 2020 02:33 AM PDT  It did not say who carried out the attack in a region where fighting between the army and Arakan Army insurgents has intensified despite global calls for a ceasefire over the pandemic that has killed five and caused 119 infections in Myanmar. The driver, Pyae Sone Win Maung, died in the state's Minbya township on Monday, the United Nations office in Myanmar said in a Facebook post.
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| Kentucky lawmaker who ran for governor faces assault charge Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:30 AM PDT  A Republican lawmaker who ran for Kentucky governor last year was arrested Tuesday after a woman accused him of choking her with an ethernet cable and trying to "hog tie" her during a domestic dispute. State Rep. Robert Goforth was arrested by the Laurel County sheriff's office on charges of strangulation, fourth-degree assault and terroristic threatening, Sheriff John Root said. Goforth, 44, was released after posting bond pending an initial court hearing set for Wednesday.
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| There are 4 requirements for reopening the U.S. amid COVID-19. Americans won't tolerate all of them. Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:41 AM PDT  The White House has proposed a list of "preparedness responsiblities" for lifting social distancing rules enacted to slow spread the COVID-19 coronavirus. States should be able to test for the coronavirus, contact trace, and ensure hospitals have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) and ICU capacity for when the virus flares up again. Individuals should wear face masks when they can't keep six feet apart in public.Testing, tracing and isolating, hospital readiness, and masks are the four main pillars of reopening, dozens of scientists, public health experts, and disease historians told The New York Times and ProPublica, but the White House is seriously lowballing the amount of testing needed and skimming over some difficult choices America must make. Keeping the economy locked down isn't sustainable, but "the White House's 'phased' plan for reopening will surely raise the death toll no matter how carefully it is executed," Donald McNeil Jr. writes at the Times. "The best hope is that fatalities can be held to a minimum."A vaccine — the generally accepted prerequisite for a return toward normalcy — is realistically 18 months away at the earliest. All the experts agreed the U.S. needs to massively ramp up testing for both the virus and, separately, the antibodies that show who has already recovered — and they all agreed the U.S. is nowhere near ready for this. The U.S. also has tens of thousands too few workers trained to trace everybody who came in contact with every infected individual.China, South Korea, and other countries have supplemented the labor-intensive task of contact tracing with smartphone monitoring, a step the U.S. has neither the legal framework nor the civil-liberties culture to embrace. And however the positive cases are identified, the next step is even thornier. "To keep the virus in check, several experts insisted, the country also must start isolating all the ill — including mild cases," McNeil writes. China sent everyone testing positive to make-shift infirmities, while Taiwan paid infected citizens to quarantine in hotels."Separating people from their families for 14 days is a very tough thing to do," and "it would be massively unpopular" in America's "family-centered society," ProPublica notes. But "what we've learned in Italy, Taiwan, and now our country is sobering," and it's that when people self-isolated at home, "the disease spread to the entire family, sometimes sickening multiple generations." Read more about our coronavirus future at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? A parade that killed thousands? The health vs. wealth election
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| Mexico admits it can't stop drug cartels distributing virus aid Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:15 AM PDT  Drug cartels have been distributing aid packages amid the coronavirus pandemic, Mexico's president said Monday.
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| China turns on the charm and angers Trump as it eyes a global opportunity in coronavirus crisis Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:17 AM PDT  A new "red scare" is developing in the U.S. While Beijing is busy with a global propaganda crusade following the spread of the coronavirus from China to around the world, foreign policy hawks in Washington are seething. Donald Trump lashes out at Beijing's response to the crisis at daily press conferences amid growing reports of anti-Chinese sentiment among Americans. As a scholar of international affairs and former policy advisor to the German Embassy in Beijing, it is clear to me that China is turning the crisis into an opportunity. It is touting its role in the world and praising its governmental system and enormous countrywide surveillance network for successfully battling the coronavirus. Yet, this is the nature of international relationships. The U.S. or any other great power would be tempted to do the same. China is exploiting the situation while the U.S. and the Western world are occupied with their own problems and have little time for anything else. Trading insultsDuring most of Trump's years in office, relations between China and the U.S. have been tense. Much of this has centered on the huge American trade deficit with China which Trump strongly criticized even before he became president.In the 2016 election campaign, Trump accused Beijing of "raping" the U.S. and talked about "the greatest theft [of American jobs] in the history of the world." While referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a good friend, Trump has accused China of intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices and lack of market access for U.S. companies. In late 2018, the U.S. president unleashed a painful trade war with sharply escalating tariffs, but it did little to resolve Trump's grievances. Neither the U.S. nor China could win this harmful conflict and a provisional trade deal was signed on Jan. 15, 2020. The truce lasted exactly two weeks. On Jan. 31, Trump announced a travel ban on visitors from China. Conspiracy theoriesIn his many remarks on the crisis since, Trump has not hesitated to resort to language criticized as xenophobic and anti-Chinese, such as referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus." Meanwhile, the administration has done little to discourage a conspiracy theory that has the virus originating from a Chinese research laboratory near Wuhan and not from a live animal market in the city – which most scientists believe. On April 15, Trump said the U.S. was investigating the lab claim and ratcheted up the rhetoric further a few days later by suggesting that China would face consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the pandemic. Meanwhile Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said China needs to "come clean" over the emergence of the virus and how it spread. Certainly there are many questions that need to be answered over the true extent of the disease in China – on April 17 Beijing revised the number of fatalities in Wuhan up by 50% – but the rhetoric from the White House may be contributing to anti-Chinese sentiment directed not at the government in Beijing, but at people in China and of Chinese descent. On the ground in U.S. cities and towns, Asian Americans are reporting being subjected to verbal and even physical abuse. Tit-for-tat measuresThe Chinese government isn't blameless when it comes to conspiracy theories. With the likely nod of Beijing's all-powerful seven-member Standing Committee of the Politbureau, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian speculated wildly on Twitter that it might well have been the U.S. army which brought the virus to Wuhan.There have also been plenty of reports that foreigners, in particular Africans who live in China, have faced severe discrimination and abuse since the coronavirus crisis broke. They are unfairly accused of having imported the virus to China.Meanwhile, both Washington and Beijing have put in place tit-for-tat restrictions on each others' media outlets, severely limiting the number of journalists who are allowed to work in their respective countries.It accompanied growing reports in the western media about China's slow initial response to the virus and the silencing of the late Dr. Li Wenliang and other doctors who had attempted to alert Chinese authorities about the looming pandemic as early as December 2019. Saving faceDespite a sluggish start which contributed to the initial spread of the virus, China has since trumpeted the success of its policy of locking down entire cities and provinces. The country has now been able to open up for business again.Beijing is also praising itself as a benign global hero by donating and selling huge amounts of much-needed face masks, ventilators and other protective gear to countries round the world, including the U.S. In so doing, China is subtly using the opportunity to expand its global influence, not least its soft power appeal. Beijing has embarked on a global "charm offensive."While this may be regrettable from a Western perspective, would any other big country behave differently? If the roles were reversed, I believe the U.S. would also be tempted to exploit its position for political advantage. It seems this is the instinctive reaction of any great power. But there is no reason for panic about this. Without doubt, relations between China and many of the countries it is helping have become closer. But they still need to be cemented in the long run – this may or may not happen. Ruling the world?China, like many great powers, has a track record of not following through with its promises of financial help. Just ask the countries who have signed up to Beijing's huge and creative Belt and Road initiative that seeks to pump Chinese money into infrastructure projects around the world, or the 17+1 China-Central Eastern Europe initiative linking China with governments in central and eastern Europe, including many EU countries. There is much disappointment about broken or semi-fulfilled financial promises and agreements.And some of the face masks and other gear donated to European countries have proven faulty or of inferior quality.For the time being, the world should be pleased that China is able and willing to help out with much needed equipment as well as doctors and nurses to help fight the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere. It does not mean that once the crisis is over, China will be able to run the world. In fact, the U.S. should build on Beijing and Washington's haphazard and sporadic cooperation during the current crisis to improve relations with China in a more lasting way. [You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]
Este artículo se vuelve a publicar de The Conversation, un medio digital sin fines de lucro dedicado a la diseminación de la experticia académica. Lee mas:
Klaus W. Larres does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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