| GOP governor: Hundreds asked about ingesting disinfectants after Trump coronavirus briefing Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Gov. Larry Hogan said he had to put out a warning after a surge in calls asking about the president's off-the-cuff medical advice at a White House briefing.
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| Venezuela appoints alleged drug trafficker El Aissami as oil minister Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday appointed his economy vice president, Tareck El Aissami, who has been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, as oil minister, amid acute fuel shortages across the country. Maduro named Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late President Hugo Chavez, as interim president of state oil firm PDVSA, according to the appointments published in the government's official gazette.
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| China envoy threatens Australia boycott over virus inquest demand Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT  China's ambassador in Australia has warned that demands for a probe into the spread of the coronavirus could lead to a consumer boycott of Aussie wine or trips Down Under. Australia has joined the United States in calling for a thorough investigation of how the virus transformed from a localised epidemic in central China into a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people, forced billions into isolation and torpedoed the global economy. In a thinly veiled threat, ambassador Cheng Jingye warned the push for an independent inquest into the origins of the outbreak was "dangerous".
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| New York's low coronavirus transmission rate suggests the state's outbreak is contained for now Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:00 PM PDT  Still, before New York can reopen, its hospitalization rate must be in decline for 14 days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday.
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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is 'alive and well' Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:03 PM PDT  The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is "alive and well", according to a top security adviser to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in. The adviser downplayed rumours over Mr Kim's health following his absence from a key anniversary. "Our government position is firm," said Mr Moon's special adviser on national security, Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "Kim Jong-un is alive and well." The adviser said Mr Kim had been staying in Wonsan, a resort town in the east of North Korea, since April 13, adding: "No suspicious movements have so far been detected." South Korean officials are calling for caution amid reports that Mr Kim may be ill or is being isolated because of coronavirus concerns.
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| Lives Lost: Virus fells double-lung transplant daredevil Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:31 PM PDT  Before her double-lung transplant, Joanne Mellady could barely put on a shirt without losing her breath. Mellady, who died of the coronavirus in March, had a bucket list that made her family blush. Before her death, Mellady was talking of a return visit to Alaska this summer and of participating again in the Transplant Games (now postponed).
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| House and Senate will return next week to backlog of oversight issues Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:34 PM PDT  The House and Senate will both be in full session next week for the first time in nearly two months, as lawmakers seek to strike a deal on another sweeping coronavirus relief package and address a backlog of oversight issues stemming from roughly $2.7trn worth of previous legislation.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced on a Democratic caucus call on Monday that the chamber will be called back for business, and that "votes are possible," according to his press account on Twitter.
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| Home of 'Duck Dynasty' star Willie Robertson struck by gunfire Posted: 26 Apr 2020 06:34 PM PDT  "They were just spraying bullets across my property," Robertson told a local newspaper.
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| No more bodies on the streets. But coronavirus batters Ecuador with disproportionate force Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Images of corpses in Ecuador stoked fear of the coronavirus' effect on developing nations. Infections have yet to peak elsewhere in Latin America.
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| Supreme Court seeks additional briefs in disputes over Trump's financial records Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:07 AM PDT  The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments May 12 in legal battles over the president's efforts to shield his financial records from congressional committees and New York investigators.
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| Mexico all but empties official migrant centers in bid to contain coronavirus Posted: 26 Apr 2020 02:25 PM PDT  Mexico has almost entirely cleared out government migrant centers over the past five weeks to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, returning most of the occupants to their countries of origin, official data showed on Sunday. In a statement, the National Migration Institute (INM) said that since March 21, in order to comply with health and safety guidelines, it had been removing migrants from its 65 migrant facilities, which held 3,759 people last month. In the intervening weeks, Mexico has returned 3,653 migrants to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador by road and air, with the result that only 106 people remain in the centers, it said.
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| After sailing into New York less than a month ago, the USNS Comfort is set to discharge its last coronavirus patient Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:19 AM PDT  According to a report by ABC7, the USNS Comfort will be discharging its last coronavirus patient on Sunday, April 26 and returning to its homeport.
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| Pentagon downplays Iran military satellite as 'tumbling webcam' Posted: 27 Apr 2020 06:30 AM PDT  The head of the US Space Command said the Pentagon believes that Iran's first successful launch of a military satellite into space does not pose any intelligence threat. The Nour satellite placed into orbit on April 22 is classified by the US military as a small 3U Cubesat, three adjoined units each no more than a liter in volume and less than 1.3 kilograms (one pound) each, said General Jay Raymond in a tweet late Sunday. "Iran states it has imaging capabilities -- actually, it's a tumbling webcam in space; unlikely providing intel," he wrote.
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| These are the 6 new possible symptoms of the coronavirus the CDC added to its list Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:16 AM PDT  Chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and a loss of taste or smell are the new symptoms added to the CDC list.
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| US review: Airstrike in Somalia killed, injured civilians Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:04 AM PDT  An American military airstrike in Somalia more than a year ago killed two civilians and injured three others, U.S. Africa Command acknowledged in a new report on Monday. The deaths, confirmed by an internal investigation, mark only the second time Africa Command has determined that civilians were killed in a military strike in Somalia. The decision comes even as U.S. airstrikes against the al-Qaida linked al-Shabab extremist group this year are increasingly outpacing 2019 totals.
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| Louisiana officer killed, another wounded; suspect arrested after hourslong standoff Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:51 AM PDT  Ronnie Kato, 36, was detained after a roughly four-hour standoff in which he barricaded inside a house, police said.
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| Over-70s should not be forced to stay in isolation when coronavirus lockdown eased, Sage adviser says Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:34 AM PDT  The over-70s cannot be told to continue isolating once Britain's coronavirus lockdown measures are eased, a Sage scientific adviser has suggested. Last month, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said older people would be "shielded for their own protection", meaning those aged 70 and over could be asked to stay at home for up to four months to protect themselves from the risk of coronavirus. However, a scientist on a sub-committee of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) board, has called for "more reformed and nuanced" guidance. Susan Michie, professor of health psychology and sirector of the Centre for Behaviour Change at UCL, said: "The guidance is based on averages, and as we know there's huge individual differences for every average. "So there are many 70 and 80-year-olds that are much fitter and healthier than those who are a lot younger. I think the problem is that if people don't perceive the guidance to be proportionate to their own situation there will be problems with adherence, and we now know more about who is at risk and the whole progress of the disease."
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| Trump Questions Whether U.S. Should Aid ‘Democrat’ States Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:35 AM PDT |
| The White House is reportedly discussing a plan to replace HHS chief Azar Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:50 AM PDT  It may seem unlikely that the White House would implement any major departmental leadership changes during a global health crisis, especially in the Department of Health and Human Services, but don't count it out just yet.Though they're indeed reluctant to complete any major shakeups during the coronavirus pandemic, White House officials are discussing a plan to replace HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Politico and The Wall Street Journal report. Criticism of Azar's role has reportedly mounted in recent weeks, especially after Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Rick Bright was moved to a National Institutes of Health position, a transfer which Bright described as a form of retaliation, reportedly rattling some administration officials.President Trump had reportedly expressed frustration with Azar even before the pandemic and ultimately replaced him as the coronavirus task force leader with Vice President Mike Pence. Some names that are being considered as his replacement include coronavirus coordinator Dr. Debora Birx, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, and Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, Politico reports.Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement Saturday that Azar "continues to lead on a number of the president's priorities" and "any speculation about personnel is irresponsible." Read more at Politico and The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com Everybody Loves Raymond creator highlights the people who stand behind Trump, literally and awkwardly American optimism is becoming a problem Oxford researchers have reportedly received promising news about their coronavirus vaccine
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| Russia at risk of spike in coronavirus cases during May holidays: official Posted: 26 Apr 2020 02:07 AM PDT  Russia could experience a spike in cases of the new coronavirus if people flout lockdown measures during public holidays scheduled for early May, a top health official said on Sunday. The number of coronavirus cases in Russia began rising sharply this month, reaching more than 80,000 on Sunday after a record 6,361 new cases were registered over the past day. Anna Popova, head of Russia's consumer health watchdog, said the country had so far avoided a spike in cases and could continue to do so "if only we do not give up during the holidays".
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| A 'nanofiber' mask fabric manufactured in Oklahoma filters 9 times as many tiny, potentially dangerous particles as a bandana, independent tests show. Here's how you can buy it. Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:35 AM PDT  Here's what you need to know about an Oklahoma company called Filti that's selling material for homemade masks.
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| New York may partially reopen May 15: Cuomo Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:10 PM PDT  New York, which has ground to a halt to stop the coronavirus pandemic, may start reopening manufacturing and construction after May 15, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. Cuomo, however, said that any easing of measures would take place first in the north of the state and not in the New York City metropolitan region, by far the hardest-hit area in the United States. "The regions that would be more likely able to open sooner would be the upstate regions," Cuomo told reporters.
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| Less-invasive breathing therapies could keep 'significant number' of patients off ventilators Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:40 AM PDT  A potential ventilator shortage has made building and buying them a national priority to fight COVID-19. But doctors are becoming less concerned.
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| Coronavirus can linger in the air of crowded spaces or toilets for hours, study finds Posted: 27 Apr 2020 11:00 AM PDT  Covid-19 can linger for hours in the air of crowded spaces and rooms such as toilets that lack ventilation, according to a new study by scientists who now recommended wearing masks in public. While the transmission of the coronavirus from direct human contact and through respiratory droplets, such as coughing or sneezing, is clear, the potential for airborne transmission is much less understood. The World Health Organisation has said the risk is limited to very specific circumstances, pointing to an analysis of more than 75,000 cases in China in which no transmission from breathing or talking was recorded. However, a study carried out by scientists from the University of Wuhan and published on Monday in the scientific research journal Nature, suggests the virus can potentially remain in the fair or some time in areas with poor ventilation. The study took samples from 30 sites across Wuhan, China, where the novel virus was first reported, including inside hospitals as well as public areas of the city during the height of its outbreak in February and March. It found levels of airborne virus particles in the majority of public areas was too low to be detectable, except in two areas prone to crowding - including the entrance of a department store.
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| China Says It Is ‘Victim’ of Coronavirus Disinformation, Accuses U.S. of ‘Hiding Something’ Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The Chinese government went on the attack Monday against U.S. criticism of the Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, claiming it is a "victim" of disinformation surrounding the pandemic and accusing the U.S. of "hiding something.""China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation," the Chinese foreign ministry wrote on its Twitter account. "Peddling disinformation and recrimination are by no means prescription for international anti-pandemic cooperation and should be rejected by all."Moments later, the foreign ministry added a tweet hammering the U.S. response to the coronavirus and suggesting that the U.S. government has been dishonest about the pandemic with the American public."Growing doubts over the US government's handling of the COVID19, e.g. When did the first infection occur in the US? Is the US government hiding something? Why they opt to blame others? American people and the international community need an answer from the US government," the foreign ministry tweeted.The U.S. has strongly condemned China's managing of the virus from the earliest days of the outbreak with the exception of President Trump's initial praise for Chinese president Xi Jinping.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week doubled down on his previous criticism of Beijing's response, saying the U.S. "strongly believed" China flouted World Health Organization rules by neglecting to report on the outbreak in a "timely fashion," and did not report on the community spread of the virus "for a month until it was in every province inside of China."Even after the Chinese Communist Party eventually reported the outbreak to the WHO, China did not share all the information it had on the virus, Pompeo said, but instead covered up the danger the disease posed, censored those who tried to warn the rest of the world, and halted the testing of new samples while destroying existing samples.The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report released Wednesday that China deliberately provided incomplete public numbers for coronavirus cases and deaths resulting from the infection.In December, local and national officials issued a gag order to labs in Wuhan after scientists there identified a new viral pneumonia, ordering them to halt tests, destroy samples, and conceal the news.Meanwhile, Wuhan doctor Ai Fen, who expressed early concerns about the coronavirus to the media, disappeared several weeks ago and is believed detained by Chinese authorities. Fen, the head of emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital, was given a warning after she disseminated information about the coronavirus to several other doctors.
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| Pelosi endorses Joe Biden, calling him a tested 'voice of reason and resilience' in the coronavirus crisis Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:33 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in a video released early Monday, becoming the latest Democratic heavyweight to formally back the presumptive Democratic nominee. Pelosi, who remained neutral during the primary, touted Biden as an experienced and tested leader well-positioned to handle America's current and future problems. "As we face coronavirus, Joe has been a voice of reason and resilience, with a clear path to lead us out of this crisis," Pelosi said, adding that he led the economic response to the Great Recession of 2008-09, helped save the Affordable Care Act, and was in charge of a high-profile "moonshot" to cure cancer."I am proud to endorse Joe Biden for president: a leader who is the personification of hope and courage, values, authenticity, and integrity," Pelosi said. "With so much at stake, we need the enthusiasm, invigoration, and participation of all Americans — up and down the ballot, and across the country."Biden was supposed to underscore his primary victory with wins in his two home states, Pennsylvania and Delaware, this week. But both primaries have been pushed back due to the coronavirus. The pandemic has also drained coverage from his sequestered campaign and its search for a running mate. In recent weeks, Biden has also been endorsed by former rivals Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), plus former Vice President Al Gore and former President Obama.More stories from theweek.com Everybody Loves Raymond creator highlights the people who stand behind Trump, literally and awkwardly American optimism is becoming a problem Oxford researchers have reportedly received promising news about their coronavirus vaccine
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| More than two million Australians download COVID-19 app, testing expands Posted: 26 Apr 2020 06:01 PM PDT  More than two million Australians have downloaded an app to trace contacts of COVID-19 patients hours after its release, the government said on Monday, as states set out plans to expand testing for the infection. Prime minister Scott Morrison has said more testing and widespread use of the CovidSafe phone app - which has angered some privacy campaigners - are among the main conditions for easing nationwide lockdowns. Australia has so far confirmed around 6,700 cases of the novel coronavirus and just 83 related deaths, way below figures reported in the United States and other hotspots - something the government has put down to its border closures and other measures.
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| Mike Bloomberg's failed presidential campaign cost him over $1 billion. Here are some of the things the billionaire spent money on, from free booze and NYC apartments for staff to sponsored Instagram posts. Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Mike Bloomberg paid staffers $6,000 a month (plus perks) while they did work that other campaigns gave to volunteers.
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| Anti-vaxxer apologizes after refusing to leave children's playground Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:27 AM PDT  An anti-vaccination activist in Idaho who was arrested for refusing to leave a children's playground has apologized to police.
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| Trump news: President cancels briefing before quickly changing his mind, as US coronavirus cases approach 1 million Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:37 AM PDT  Following furious social media posts about media criticism over his dangerous suggestion that disinfectant could treat coronavirus, Donald Trump returned to the White House for the first briefing since making those remarks, though he had signalled over the weekend that they were no longer worth his time.White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also said the briefings would return later in the week in a different form.
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| South Africa's inequalities exposed by virus, says leader Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:21 AM PDT  The coronavirus is highlighting South Africa's stark inequalities, 26 years after the end of the country's apartheid regime of racial oppression, the president told the nation on Monday. President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Freedom Day, the public holiday marking the country's first democratic elections in 1994, that the fight against COVID-19 is underscoring the lasting disparities between South Africa's rich and poor. "Some people have been able to endure the coronavirus lockdown in a comfortable home with a fully stocked fridge, with private medical care and online learning for their children," said Ramaphosa in the televised address.
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| Erdogan defends Turkey religious chief's anti-gay sermon Posted: 27 Apr 2020 11:55 AM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday defended a top religious official who claimed homosexuality caused diseases, corrupted people and was condemned in Islamic teaching. Ali Erbas, head of a state-funded agency called the Diyanet, which runs mosques and appoints imams, also claimed during his weekly sermon that homosexuality caused HIV. The Ankara bar association of lawyers accused him of inciting hatred against gay people while ignoring child abuse and misogyny.
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| Detroit health care worker dies after being denied coronavirus test 4 times, daughter says Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:33 PM PDT  Kaila Corrothers said that when she thinks of her mother, Deborah Gatewood, there is one thought that lingers: "This did not have to happen this way."
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| A massive asteroid is approaching Earth, and it looks like it's wearing a face mask Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:56 AM PDT  The asteroid known as 1998 OR2 will be 4 million miles away from Earth on Wednesday at 5:59 a.m. ET. It also looks as if it's wearing a mask.
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| Mitch McConnell's state bankruptcy idea may be 'dumb' but it isn't stupid Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:25 AM PDT  If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) manages to block aid to state and local governments in the next coronavirus relief bill, one result would be longer and deeper financial pain for the U.S., The Washington Post reports. And McConnell's idea that states should be allowed to declare bankruptcy makes no sense and would hurt everyone, Josh Barro explains at New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) described McConnell's bankruptcy idea as "one of the really dumb ideas of all time."State and local governments employ 13 percent of the U.S. workforce. "Without emergency relief as their revenues crater, state and local governments will not be able to run key programs like unemployment insurance, social services, housing assistance, and small business outreach needed to protect people and businesses in this crisis," tweeted Amy Liu, director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. An unidentified local government budget expert told the Post: "If you want to send the country into an extended depression, sending state and local governments into bankruptcy is a great way to do it."But "state bankruptcy is not some passing fancy," writes David Frum at The Atlantic. "Republicans have been advancing the idea for more than a decade." And McConnell is trying to use this fiscal crisis — states are projected to lose at least 25 percent of their revenue even as health care, welfare, and unemployment costs shoot up — to make it a reality while he still can.McConnell doesn't represent Kentucky so much as "the richest people in bigger, richer blue states who find it more economical to invest in less expensive small-state races," Frum writes. These wealthy donors want to gut pension funds and enact other fiscal policies anathema to voters in their states. "A federal bankruptcy process for state finances could thus enable wealthy individuals and interest groups in rich states to leverage their clout in the anti-majoritarian federal system to reverse political defeats in the more majoritarian political systems of big, rich states like California, New York, and Illinois," Frum explains. "McConnell gets it. Now you do, too." If not, read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com Everybody Loves Raymond creator highlights the people who stand behind Trump, literally and awkwardly American optimism is becoming a problem Oxford researchers have reportedly received promising news about their coronavirus vaccine
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| Russia's stranded migrants lose jobs, rely on handouts and peers for food Posted: 27 Apr 2020 02:37 AM PDT  Even before Moscow's coronavirus lockdown, Ibragim Artykov, a builder from Tajikistan, was down on his luck. Now the 32-year-old, one of 10 million labour migrants in Russia, can't find a job at all because of the coronavirus lockdown that is four weeks old. President Vladimir Putin has said the epidemic is yet to peak.
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| A serious new coronavirus-related condition may be emerging in children, with UK doctors reporting growing numbers requiring intensive care Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:48 AM PDT  There is 'growing concern' that a serious new coronavirus-related condition may be emerging in children.
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| Trump Seethes About Michael Cohen’s Early Release and New Tell-All Posted: 26 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  In the midst of the global pandemic and a worsening economic crisis, one of the president's most loathed turncoats got word that he'd receive an early release from prison to serve the rest of his sentence at home due to concerns over the coronavirus. The prisoner, his family, his friends were all relieved and predictably ecstatic when they got the news.Donald Trump was not.According to those who spoke to him about it this month, the president was visibly agitated, bemoaning the early release of Michael Cohen, his former fixer and lawyer turned "rat" for the feds. Cohen was serving three years in prison after taking a plea deal over illegal hush-money payments to two women, which he said Trump directed him to make. Trump denied directing Cohen to commit a crime, even though published audio exists of the two men privately discussing the hush money. Michael Cohen Is Writing a Secret Tell-All to 'Spill the Beans' on TrumpMichael Cohen: Trump Attorney Told Me to Keep Quiet About Additional Russia Contacts in Moscow Tower DealThe president also discussed pursuing legal options against Cohen, if anything in his ex-fixer's upcoming, dishy book on Trump breaks attorney-client privilege or is deemed defamatory or libelous, according to two individuals familiar with the matter."He was not pleased when he found out Michael was getting out early," one of the individuals bluntly stated.Before the news broke earlier this month on Cohen's newly improved circumstances, the president had been passively monitoring details of Cohen's confinement in the minimum security prison in Otisville, NY, after reports surfaced in January that his former lawyer was fighting for early release, according to a White House official. Trump is said to be particularly irritated by what Cohen could detail in his upcoming, potentially explosive memoir, which was first reported by The Daily Beast, and whether its contents would perturb Trump enough to sue Cohen. This new manuscript comes two years after Cohen's hopes of publishing a prior memoir—a pro-Trump screed with the working title of Trump Revolution—were dashed amid his escalating legal woes.But a person with knowledge of the book project said they were not concerned about any legal action from the president or his Gawker-crushing celebrity attorney, Charles Harder. "The stories that will be in the book aren't privileged. The stories wouldn't violate attorney-client privilege," this person said. "They are stories about Trump's personality and behavior that would raise an eyebrow. There are stories about what it's like being around this man and things that he did that most people typically do not do. A lot of it will be about looking at things he's said and done with women and other [politically incorrect] things. It'll be an insider's look about what it was like to be alongside the president for 12 years."A person close to Cohen said he was still "pissed" that he went to prison for crimes that Trump allegedly ordered him to commit, and the book would pull no punches and zero in on Trump's treatment of women. Similar Trump "tell-alls" from the likes of the president's once sycophantic adviser and Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault Newman have contained an allegation that he used the N-word, while a book about Trump and women released last year, titled All The President's Women, contained 43 new allegations of alleged inappropriate behavior with women, including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact. (The official position of the Trump White House is that all the women accusing this president of sexual harassment or assault are lying.)Weeks before the Trump administration declared a national emergency over the novel coronavirus and its mounting body count, Cohen's lawyer made a play to get Inmate No. 86067-054 released early from jail—but received a blistering response from a judge. "That Cohen would seek to single himself out for release to home confinement appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle," U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III wrote in a scathing order. "Ten months into his prison term, it's time that Cohen accept the consequences of his criminal convictions for serious crimes that had far-reaching institutional harms."The order exceeded the animus of even some longtime Trump allies, who recognize the extreme circumstance of the coronavirus threatening U.S. prison populations. "I haven't been in touch with [Michael] but don't see what is accomplished by keeping him incarcerated at a time like this," said former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a Trump supporter who'd been friends with Cohen, even after the 2018 federal raid that upended Cohen's life and sealed his fate as an anti-Trump snitch.Cohen's attorney, Roger Bennet Adler, declined to comment, and the White House didn't provide comment on this story. Harder, Trump's personal attorney who often handles such matters and has threatened to sue people connected to anti-Trump books on behalf of the president, did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Daily Beast, either.Cohen is due to be released from Otisville, following a 14-day quarantine period, on May 1 at 9 a.m. and then be reunited with his family and serve the remainder of his prison sentence on house arrest. "His family are ecstatic and they are really looking forward to having Michael back home," the person close to Cohen said. "I would hope the President of the United States would have more important things at this time to worry about than Michael," the person added. With Cohen's transfer to house arrest imminent, the coming days will likely end the latest chapter in the long-running saga of Trump and Cohen, which for years played out as a relationship between an emotionally distant father figure and a bootlicker who had devoted his life to ruining others if it would make Trump happy. The friendship came to a screeching halt as each wildly turned on the other, amid the pressures of federal investigators and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Even in the weeks before Cohen publicly broke with Trump in 2018, White House officials had been encouraging allies and surrogates to stress to the media that even if Cohen were to decide to rat out the president, the Trump lawyer wouldn't have anything good to give the feds because he didn't know anything, two people with knowledge of the events said.Turns out, Cohen knew enough.And with his possible return to the public sphere on the horizon, Trumpworld is giving a collective eye roll. Other lawyers who've represented the president, including former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (with whom Cohen repeatedly tussled), did not comment for this story. Many in the Trump legal orbit would prefer it if Cohen would simply go away forever.Asked to comment by The Daily Beast on Monday, John Dowd, an attorney who repped Trump for nearly a year of the Mueller investigation and who has continued informally advising the president, curtly replied, "Waste of time. Not worthy… Bye," before quickly hanging up.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UN report notes drop in number of Afghan civilians killed Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  A report by the U.N. mission in Afghanistan on Monday noted a drop in the number of civilians killed in violence in the first three months of this year, compared to the same time last year, but underscored the still heavy toll the conflict continues to inflict on the civilian population. The report said 533 people, including 152 children, died due to the fighting in the war-torn country in the first quarter of 2020, and hundreds more were wounded. The report came as the Kabul police said a sticky bomb attached to a vehicle detonated in the capital on Monday but caused no casualties.
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| COVID-19 and gun violence: Mayors fight double health crisis Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:21 PM PDT  Everytown for Gun Safety offers new guidelines for mayors struggling with a "perfect storm"
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| Tyson Foods chairman warns: 'The food supply chain is breaking' Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:16 AM PDT  In recent weeks, the poultry producer has suspended operations at plants across the country.
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| Supreme Court sidesteps major Second Amendment case, a setback for NRA Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:12 AM PDT  The justices ruled that New York City's repeal of gun restrictions rendered the case moot. But other Second Amendment cases are in the pipeline.
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| Australia rejects Chinese 'economic coercion' threat amid planned coronavirus probe Posted: 27 Apr 2020 02:17 AM PDT  Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has cautioned China against attempts at "economic coercion" as Australia pushes for an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic that China opposes. Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said in a newspaper interview on Monday the "Chinese public" could avoid Australian products and universities. Australia last week called for all members of the World Health Organization (WHO) to support an independent review into the origins and spread of the coronavirus, and is lobbying world leaders.
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| A Detroit healthcare worker died after reportedly being denied coronavirus testing 4 times from the hospital she worked at for 31 years Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:30 PM PDT  "The fact that she got infected by doing the job she did for 31 years and she couldn't get taken care of ... it's sad," her daughter told Fox 2 Detroit.
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| Trump ‘can't imagine why’ there are increased reports of people misusing disinfectants Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:30 PM PDT  President Trump on Monday said he "can't imagine why" there have been more reports of people misusing disinfectants after his comments on the subject last week.
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