| Trump ties coronavirus outbreak to Democratic state leadership, potentially jeopardizing federal aid Posted: 23 Apr 2020 06:26 PM PDT  President Trump suggested that there was a correlation between Democratic leadership of states and the scope of the coronavirus outbreak in those states.
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| Judge: California can't require background checks for ammo Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:07 PM PDT  "California's new ammunition background check law misfires," wrote U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez.
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| Judge says government is violating protections for migrant kids Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:58 PM PDT  The judge ordered officials to promptly release children with sponsors from immigrant detention facilities, where the coronavirus has spread in recent weeks.
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| On Anzac Day, services in lockdown replaced by home vigils Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:25 PM PDT  Traditional crowds at dawn services for the Anzac Day memorial holiday in Australia were replaced Saturday with candlelit vigils in driveways and neighbors gathering to listen to buglers play "The Last Post." Restrictions on crowds and social distancing due to the coronavirus meant that the usual packed dawn services in cities and towns across the country were not held. The holiday, also celebrated in New Zealand, marks the anniversary of New Zealand and Australian soldiers, known as Anzacs, landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.
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| Thousands gather at Wisconsin state Capitol to protest coronavirus restrictions Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:40 PM PDT  The crowd stood shoulder to shoulder in defiance of the Wisconsin governor's order to keep businesses and schools closed.
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| Saudi Arabia bans flogging as a punishment after human rights activist dies in detention Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:32 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the state human rights commission said on Saturday hailing a "major step forward" in the reform programme launched by the king and his powerful son, days after a human rights activist died in custody. Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia - sometimes extending to hundreds of lashes - have long drawn condemnation from human rights groups. But they say the headline legal reforms overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have brought no let-up in the conservative Islamic kingdom's crushing of dissent, including through the use of the death penalty. The state human rights commission said that the latest reform, which was reported by Saudi media including the pro-government Okaz newspaper, would ensure that no more convicts were sentenced to flogging. "This decision guarantees that convicts who would previously have been sentenced to the lash will from now on receive fines or prison terms instead," its chairman, Awad al-Awad, said.
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| In Albania, Ramadan under lockdown revives memories of communism Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:42 AM PDT  Stuck in their Tirana flat under a coronavirus lockdown, 81-year-old Osman Hoxha and his family quietly mark the start of Ramadan, recalling the communist era when practicing religion meant risking death. Like many parts of the world, mosques in Muslim-majority Albania are eerily empty while iftar supper tables have fewer chairs than normal as families shelter at home to curb the spread of the virus. For older generations, the intimate settings inevitably stir up memories of how they were forced to furtively keep their faith alive under the long and brutal reign of the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who outlawed religion.
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| Hubble Turns 30: How the Famous Space Telescope Went From Idea to Launch Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:14 AM PDT |
| One of the last cruises at sea now has just 8 passengers left after 4 died of the coronavirus and hundreds abandoned ship. Here's how a 140-day world tour turned to disaster. Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:11 AM PDT  MV Artania started its trip from Germany in December 2019 on what was meant to be a seamless, 140-day world tour.
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| Cuomo says New York's coronavirus situation is back to where it was 21 days ago Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continued to express cautious optimism that his state, the epicent of the outbreak in the United States, is on the right trajectory amid the coronavirus pandemic.During his daily briefing, Cuomo, aided by a graph showing the amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state, said New York is "back to where we were 21 days ago."> NEW: Hospitalizations in New York State continue to decline. "We are back where we were 21 days ago," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "We want to know how fast that decline continues and how low that decline gets." https://t.co/3aqHgmUAFZ pic.twitter.com/hUNnJY6wX8> > — ABC News (@ABC) April 25, 2020The next step, he said, is to see "when we will back to the point where only several hundred people" show up at the hospital every day with COVID-19 infections. So while the current slope of the graph is trending in the right direction, Cuomo believes it's vital to see how low it can get, and at what speed.New York reported 1,184 new coronavirus infections Saturday, while the number of fatalities remained mostly stead at 437, a slight uptick from Friday's 422, which was the lowest number of deaths in the state since April 1.> @NYGovCuomo Sat COVID-19 briefing > Total hospitalizations, intubations continue to ⬇️ > New COVID cases 1,184> > "Only in this crazy reality would 11-hundred new cases be good."> > NYS sees another 437 deaths due to COVID-19 > Previous 4-days: 422, 438, 474, 481 pic.twitter.com/ebgd1uDQvp> > — Jeff Kulikowsky (@JeffNC9) April 25, 2020More stories from theweek.com The president is unwell Trump wants praise for his coronavirus response. Here it is. Some lawmakers, White House officials reportedly concerned by new joint Trump-Putin statement
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| Police Photos Show Crystal Meth in Hotel Room Where Andrew Gillum Was Found Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:54 AM PDT  New photos from the Miami Beach Police Department confirm the presence of crystal meth in the hotel room where former Democratic candidate for Florida governor Andrew Gillum was found after a suspected overdose incident in March.Early in the morning on March 13, Miami Beach Fire Rescue were called to the hotel room by an associate of Gillum's who found the former Tallahassee mayor and another man in the room in an intoxicated condition. The man told police that he suspected Gillum and the other man to be under the influence of an unknown substance."Gillum was unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state," the police report stated, but was found to be in stable condition when authorities returned for a checkup later. Fire rescue crews treated the second man, Travis Dyson, for a suspected overdose, and he was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Gillum was not arrested and was allowed to return home.According to local reports, Dyson said he was a "pornstar performer" and solicited business as a gay male escort.Police confirmed they found three small clear plastic bags of crystal meth lying in plain sight on the bed and floor. Other prescription drugs are also visible in the police photos, including Citalopram, Gabapentin, Xanax, and a vial containing a mixture of papaverine, phentolamine, and alprostadil, a combination used to treat erectile dysfunction.The former Tallahassee mayor, who in 2018 narrowly lost Florida's gubernatorial race, apologized in a statement, saying he was in town for a wedding and had too much to drink but denied he has ever used crystal meth. Asked about Gillum's explanation, Dyson said Gillum did not mention a wedding to him. Friends of Gillum said he was expected to officiate at a wedding but did not show up.Later, Gillum, who is married with three children, announced he would seek rehab treatment for alcohol abuse. He has also taken a leave of absence from CNN, where he serves as an on-air political commentator."After conversation with my family and deep reflection, I have made the decision to seek help, guidance, and enter a rehabilitation facility at this time," he said. "This has been a wake-up call for me."
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| Top Pentagon leaders split on next steps for fired captain who warned of coronavirus Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:18 PM PDT  The unprecedented decision to reinstate Crozier would be a rebuke to former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly.
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| 'When He Gets New Information, He Likes To Talk That Through Out Loud,' Dr. Birx Says of Trump's Comments on Ultraviolet Light, Disinfectants as COVID-19 Treatments Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx defends Trump's comments on ultraviolet light, injecting disinfectants as coronavirus treatments
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| Fauci's absence from recent coronavirus briefings draws notice Posted: 25 Apr 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The national health expert was in attendance for just one of this week's seven briefings.
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| Iran's president says Tehran watches U.S. closely, but won't start conflict Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:08 AM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that Tehran was closely following U.S. activities, but would never initiate a conflict in the region. Rouhani's comments, which come at a time of rising tension between Washington and Tehran, were made during a telephone call to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Iranian state media reported. "The Islamic Republic of Iran follows America's activities and movements closely, but it will never be the one that starts conflict and tension in the region," Rouhani was quoted as saying during the call, held due to the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
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| Two transgender women found burned to death in Puerto Rico Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:02 AM PDT  Their killings would be the third and fourth against transgender people in the last two months.
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| China sent team and medical experts to advise on North Korea’s Kim Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:49 AM PDT  China has sent a team to North Korea, including medical experts, to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation.
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| DR Congo police arrest sect leader after deadly raid Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:59 PM PDT  The self-styled prophet of a separatist sect blamed for deadly attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested in a raid on his home in Kinshasa involving hundreds of security forces. "Mission accomplished," a police tweet said, after troops stormed the home of former MP Ne Muanda Nsemi, who heads the Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) sect, following an hours-long siege on Friday. A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several BDK members were found in the house and added that an undisclosed number of people had died in the raid.
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| Scientists fear the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine will fail and we will all have to live with the 'constant threat' of COVID-19 Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:00 AM PDT  No vaccine for any other form of coronavirus has ever been approved for use, leading some scientists to fear none will be found for COVID-19 either.
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| How Does a Harvard Professor Think It’s ‘Authoritarian’ to Allow Parents to Teach Their Kids? Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  A Harvard University law professor has called for a "presumptive ban" on homeschooling -- claiming that the freedom to do so under our current laws is "authoritarian.""The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18? I think that's dangerous," Elizabeth Bartholet said in an interview with Harvard Magazine."I think it's always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless, and to give the powerful ones total authority."Bartholet stated that there is "an essentially unregulated regime in the area of homeschooling," with "very few requirements that parents do anything.""[P]eople can homeschool who've never gone to school themselves, who don't read or write themselves," she said.Bartholet also stated that homeschooling can make it easier for parents to get away with abusing their children and/or indoctrinating them with white supremacy and misogyny:> [I]t's also important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people's viewpoints.I do not, of course, want to minimize the absolute horror of child abuse. It's disgusting; it's heartbreaking; and anyone who isn't a sociopath agrees that it's necessary to protect our children.Unfortunately, however, it's also true that abuse is hardly something that can occur only in a child's home. In fact, as Harvard grad and homeschooler Kerry McDonald pointed out in a letter to Harvard Magazine in response to its article, "many parents choose to homeschool their children to remove them from abuse at school, whether it's widespread bullying by peers or, tragically, rampant abuse by teachers and school administrators themselves.""Banning homeschooling, or adding burdensome regulations on homeschooling families, who in many instances are fleeing a system of education that they find harmful to their children, are unnecessary attacks on law-abiding families," McDonald continues.What's more, another of Bartholet's suggestions -- that the freedom to homeschool equals masses of children being painfully undereducated by illiterate parents -- is as offensive as it is inaccurate. In fact, many, many children don't simply receive an adequate education through homeschooling but an exemplary one that sets them up for greater success than any traditional school could have. As McDonald pointed out in her letter, although "there may always be outliers and more research is needed, most peer-reviewed studies on homeschooling outcomes find that homeschoolers generally outperform their schooled peers academically, and have positive life experiences."In any case, and even apart from all of this, Bartholet's characterization of the freedom to homeschool as "authoritarian" is nothing short of absurd. A government allowing its citizens the freedom to educate their own children is not only not authoritarian, it is also the exact opposite of authoritarian. That's a fact, and you don't even need to know the first thing about homeschooling to understand that -- really, you just need to know what the word means.In terms of knowing about homeschooling, though, I can also say that I personally do know more than the average person. I was homeschooled for fourth and fifth grade, and can confidently say that the two years I spent with my father as my teacher were responsible for countless positive outcomes in my life -- ones that I wouldn't have had otherwise. For example: Before I was homeschooled, I was struggling to learn math the way that the public school had been teaching it, and getting the chance to learn some fundamentals in a way that worked for my own particular brain was instrumental in making the subject much easier for me in the future.But that wasn't all. See, unlike math, I loved reading and writing. Those subjects had always come easily to me, and I enjoyed them. Homeschooling provided an advantage for me in this area, too. It allowed me to learn advanced aspects of grammar. I had the liberty to read works of literature that I wouldn't have studied in a traditional school because they would have been "above" the designated level for my classroom. I wrote poetry and short stories about subjects of my own choosing. When I returned to public school in the sixth grade, the English lessons were things that I'd already learned -- but fortunately, having had the opportunity to develop a love of writing and curiosity about books is something that kept me reading and writing what I wanted in my own time. Hell, I'm still doing it now.Finally, it's also patently ignorant how Bartholet aims to use the fact that children must be exposed to varying viewpoints and people while they're growing up as some kind of argument against homeschooling. McDonald states that "research on homeschoolers finds that they are tightly connected with their larger community and may have more community involvement and participation in extracurricular and volunteer activities than schooled children due to their more flexible schedules and interaction with a wide assortment of community members," and I'm not surprised. In fact, this was my experience exactly.I mean, does Bartholet think not attending a traditional school somehow means that I never left the house at all? Because honestly, that couldn't have been less true. I was quite active in my community, even participating in activities such as Girl Scouts with my friends from public school. I didn't miss out on any of that.In fact, I was actually exposed to far more experiences and perspectives specifically because I was homeschooled. I was able to act in community theater plays at multiple venues, interacting with all kinds of interesting people from various walks of life, without having to worry that a late-night dress rehearsal would make me too exhausted to learn in the morning because my schedule revolved around me. For the same reason, my family was able to take a random trip to New York City to see my father's friend's play -- and within hours of arrival, I decided I was definitely going to move here when I grew up and work either on a stage, in front of a camera, or both. I had the luxury of learning from truly transformative, unique experiences, ones that I certainly wouldn't have had if I'd been forced to spend that time square dancing in a gymnasium.Harvard Magazine points out that "rapidly increasing" numbers of Americans are choosing to homeschool their children. (By "choosing," by the way, I mean that this was true before coronavirus essentially forced this lifestyle on everyone.) Bartholet apparently sees this as some kind of tragedy that will lead to a future generation full of sexist Nazis who don't know how to read, but this simply isn't fair. No, homeschooling isn't perfect for everyone, but it can and has worked uniquely well for many people, myself included. We shouldn't be taking that option away, and certainly not in the name of stopping authoritarianism. It isn't hard to see how completely a**-backwards that "logic" is -- after all, even a former homeschooler like me was able to figure it out.
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| Trump Tweets That Virus Briefings Maybe ‘Not Worth the Time’ Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:41 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has been determined to talk his way through the coronavirus crisis, but frequent misstatements at his daily news conferences have caused a litany of public health and political headaches for the White House.On Friday, Trump sought to clean up his briefing room riff from the day before about the possibility of fighting coronavirus infection in patients with chemical disinfectant or sunlight -- a dangerous idea that doctors and a manufacturer of cleaning products felt obliged to publicly warn against.By Saturday, Trump suggested the briefings, which have become a televised daily substitute for his campaign rallies, were "not worth the time and effort," a day after a report that he plans to scale back such appearances. Trump on Friday said he had "sarcastically" suggested Americans be injected with disinfectant. The president's new spokeswoman also sought to clarify his remarks."President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday's briefing," the press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said in a statement. "Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines."Trump's most public response to the U.S. coronavirus outbreak has been the extended news conferences he's held almost every day, including most weekends, to talk about it. He pulled off his 2016 election upset and survived the Russia investigation and impeachment in part due to his ability to dominate media coverage. But the president has never been known as a detail-oriented leader and his off-the-cuff briefings have left many Americans distrustful of what he says.As questions mounted about Trump's comments on disinfectant, Trump and his coronavirus task force on Friday evening held their shortest news conference yet, at just 22 minutes. He took no questions.There was no briefing on Saturday but instead, a series of Twitter messages that returned to familiar targets including the media and Democrats. Just 23% of Americans consider Trump a trustworthy source of information on the virus, while 52% trust their state and local leaders, according to poll published Thursday by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago.Trump's QuestionsTrump's remarks on Thursday followed a presentation by a Department of Homeland Security undersecretary, Bill Bryan, who showed White House reporters new research indicating the virus wouldn't survive as long on nonporous surfaces in higher temperatures and humidity. The research suggested summer heat could help temper the U.S. outbreak, at least temporarily, although places in warm climates such as Singapore are still battling their own outbreaks.After Bryan's presentation, Trump chimed in, off script."So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you're totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light -- and I think you said that that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it," Trump said. "And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that too. It sounds interesting."Bryan responded: "We'll get to the right folks who could.""Right," Trump continued. "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that."Two-Hour BriefingsEven some Republicans have said Trump would be better served by holding fewer news conferences or speaking less during the events, leaving his medical experts and others to convey the information. But the former reality TV star has until now shown no sign of surrendering the lectern and has repeatedly bragged about his television ratings.In the last month, the White House has held a coronavirus briefing on all but three days, and the last time Trump did not speak at one was late March, according to data compiled by C-SPAN. Of the 47 briefings held since the start of the pandemic response, Trump has spoken at 43 of them -- the most of any administration official, the data show.His marathon public remarks -- the news conferences have extended for as long as two hours and 23 minutes, according to C-SPAN -- have been peppered with false claims, exaggerations and misstatements, opening the president to criticism by Democrats seeking to defeat him in November. Trump's claims that the virus would "disappear" and that "nobody could have ever seen something like this coming" have been included in political ads arguing he is ill-equipped to combat the pandemic.Even government health authorities have been forced to rebut the president. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration cautioned against the use of two drugs Trump has promoted to treat coronavirus infection, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. The malaria medicine has not been shown to be effective against the virus. Nonetheless, the FDA issued an emergency order last month permitting the drug to be prescribed for hospitalized coronavirus patients, after Trump repeatedly recommended it and directed his administration to procure millions of doses.The medicines "can cause abnormal heart rhythms" as well as "a dangerously rapid heart rate called ventricular tachycardia," the FDA said Friday. "These risks may increase when these medicines are combined with other medicines" including azithromycin, the FDA said.The U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, meanwhile tweeted on Friday an admonition against Americans self-medicating without their doctors' advice.The state of Maryland's Emergency Management Agency said in a tweet on Friday that it had "received several calls regarding questions about disinfectant use and Covid-10.""This is a reminder that under no circumstances should any disinfectant product be administered into the body through injection, ingestion or any other route," the agency said.And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a tweet Friday that household cleaners and disinfectants "can cause health problems when not used properly."'Something There'Trump views the daily White House briefings as an opportunity to share his optimistic view of the U.S. effort against the virus and battle critics, according to a person familiar with the matter. That has included insulting and arguing with individual reporters, particularly those from news organizations such as CNN that he considers unfair.The briefings also serve as an outlet for the president, who is no longer able to stage the boisterous political rallies that were the spine of both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, the person said.But his frequent speaking appearances have also exposed his lack of preparedness. Trump rarely attends the White House coronavirus task force meetings that precede the briefings and does not typically rehearse his opening remarks, often reading them for the first time just minutes before he goes on air, the New York Times reported.After his remarks about light and disinfectant on Thursday, a litany of scientists and doctors called the president's suggestions dangerous. The maker of Lysol, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, issued a statement saying that "under no circumstance" should its disinfectant products be administered into the human body. The company said it felt obliged to issue a statement because it has a "responsibility in providing consumers with access to accurate, up-to-date information as advised by leading public health experts."In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was invited to clarify his remarks. "I do think that disinfectant on the hands could have a very good effect," he said, adding that he'd like the government to research the effect of sunlight, heat and humidity on infected patients."Maybe there's something that's there," Trump said. "They have to work with the doctors. I'm not a doctor."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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| Nova Scotia shooting: 'They had no idea the hell they were going to face' Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:15 AM PDT  Canada's deadliest shooting is pieced together by the people swept up in its path of terror.
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| Pro-China trolls are doing their best to stoke tensions for Taiwan by amplifying racist claims and spreading misinformation about California leaving the US Posted: 23 Apr 2020 10:37 PM PDT  Maria Repnikova, a political scientist at Georgia State University, told the Sydney Morning Herald the trolling was "bottom-up cyber nationalism."
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| Fed reports financial details on 3 key support programs Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:23 AM PDT  The Federal Reserve had $85.8 billion in loans outstanding last week in three of the programs it rolled out last month to protect the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. In a report to Congress that provided a look at the three programs as of April 14, it said Friday that it had $51.1 billion in loans outstanding for a program to support money market mutual funds and another $34.5 billion outstanding in loans to the giant Wall Street financial institutions that serve as primary dealers in the Treasury bond market. For the third program, the Fed said it had $249 million in loans outstanding to support the commercial paper lending market.
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| Austria Ski Resort Ishgl, Europe’s Coronavirus Super-Spreader, Reopens Without Party Tourism Posted: 24 Apr 2020 03:10 AM PDT  Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Alpine ski resort of Ischgl, widely known as the "Ibiza of the Alps," knew how to throw a party. The village, which is nestled in the snowy mountains where the borders of Austria, Italy, and Switzerland intersect, billed itself as the winter capital of "party tourism," where après-ski bars were packed every night of the week all season long. Ischgl locked down on March 13, after nearly 800 coronavirus cases, from Iceland to Ireland and beyond, were traced back to the adult playground. That was five days after a bar closed down after one of its staffers tested positive for COVID-19 a week earlier (the bar was disinfected but not shuttered), and nine days after Iceland declared the resort town a hot spot (the bad kind). At the time, local authorities in the Tyrol government, which has jurisdiction over the resort area, shot back that the Icelandic skiers undoubtedly contracted the virus on the flight home, which went through Milan. The ski season brings in revenue of around $120 million a year to Ischgl. Its chalets and hotels are booked years in advance, so authorities feared that raising the alarm would have left many in financial ruin—a fate they suffered anyway.Authorities now say the über-contagion took place over a 14-day period that was left unchecked even as health authorities warned that it was fast-becoming the epicenter of European spread after infected skiers passed it from one to another on the slopes, in the spas and at the bars. The German magazine Der Spiegel traced how the contagion was left unchecked, and how authorities ignored the warning signs that could have helped mitigate the spread to other countries. The investigation focuses on a single traveler from Ireland who brought it back from his ski holiday, and on 14 cases in Iceland involving people who did not all travel together, and who stayed in five different hotels in the resort town. On Thursday—post-quarantine—the village reopened, but not as the party town it once was. "We will question developments of the past years and, where necessary, make corrections," Ischgl Mayor Werner Kurz said in a statement as he unlocked the village, which still has several weeks of good snow left. "That means more quality and less party tourism, prioritizing skiers and fewer day-trippers on buses who only come to party."Reinventing the town that thrived on fast fun is not going to be easy—or cheap. "We are also thinking with all businesses about what an upmarket après-ski culture can look like," Kurz's statement says.But many of the town's businesses lost tens of thousands of euros in the pandemic and just won't have resources to start over to attract more discerning guests. The rebranding also garnered a mea culpa from Tyrol's governor, Guenther Platter, who called the spread "not serious" back in March. Platter has now launched a government review of the handling of the situation in response to a lawsuit brought on by an Austrian consumer-rights group and admitted that "mistakes were made."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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| Coronavirus: Politician apologises for wearing face mask that looks like Confederate flag Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:25 AM PDT  A state senator has apologised for wearing a face mask that resembled the Confederate flag during a vote at Michigan's state capitol.Republican Dale Zorn had previously denied that pattern on his mask on Friday was the flag - despite telling local media it would 'raise some eyebrows'.
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| Grocery stores are portioning flour from industrial bags to deal with demand Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:55 PM PDT  Baking has become a favorite hobby of homebound, stir-crazy Americans.
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| Trump says briefings not worth his time after disinfectant gaffe Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:08 PM PDT  President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that his daily coronavirus briefings were not worth his time, two days after sparking a furor by suggesting patients might be injected with disinfectant to kill an infection. "What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately," Trump wrote. On Thursday the US leader stunned viewers by saying doctors might treat people infected with the coronavirus by shining ultraviolet light inside their bodies, or with injections of household disinfectant.
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| Coronavirus: Ecuador 'victim' found alive in hospital mix-up Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:40 PM PDT  Alba Maruri was wrongly declared to be dead, and someone else's ashes were sent to her family.
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| Serbia sends four planes carrying medical equipment to Italy Posted: 25 Apr 2020 04:59 AM PDT  Serbia sent four planes carrying medical equipment including gloves, masks and protective suits to Italy on Saturday as a donation to help the EU member state tackle the spread of coronavirus. Another four equipment-laden planes will be sent in the next two days, also donated by the Serbian government, President Aleksandar Vucic said. "We will win together, be brave Italy, Serbia is with you," Vucic wrote on one of the boxes of equipment before it was loaded on to a plane.
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| Casting aside its precedents, Supreme Court moves inexorably toward abortion rights Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A more conservative court is increasingly willing to reverse the work of its predecessors. And no issue hangs in the balance more than abortion.
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| Marc Benioff's Salesforce scores a 370% return on Zoom after investing $100 million last year Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Zoom's stock price has skyrocketed as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive users to its video-conferencing app.
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| GOP memo urges anti-China assault over coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:41 PM PDT |
| NY Businessman Charged With Hoarding and Price-Gouging Under Defense Production Act Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:25 AM PDT  A Long Island businessman who portrayed himself as a philanthropist for donating medical supplies to health-care workers and first responders was actually a profiteer who hoarded masks and gowns desperately needed by hospitals and then sold them at a massive markup, federal authorities say.Amardeep Singh—better known as Bobby Singh on his self-congratulatory Instagram account—allegedly continued to price-gouge even after being cited by the Nassau County Department of Consumer Affairs and the state Attorney General's office, according to a criminal complaint.Now Singh is facing federal charges of violating the Defense Production Act—the first such criminal case since the start of the coronavirus crisis. He is expected to surrender next week, prosecutors said.His attorney, Bradley Gerstman, said the invocation of the Defense Production Act was a farce."No one even knows that selling PPE [personal protective equipment] had any criminal implications," he said. "If it does, we could look everywhere and anywhere to start locking people up."Gerstman said police officers, doctors, and nurses have been going to his client's store to buy necessities that hospitals and public agencies have run out of. "Where are they going to go now?" he said.He also denied the feds' accusation of insane price hikes, saying the figures in the complaint were a fiction. "He's a community member. He never gouged. This is a total attack on his reputation," Gerstman said, adding that he had bought some of the items himself.Singh operates a sneaker and sportswear store in Plainview, New York, and a warehouse in Brentwood, and markets his business under the names New York Tent Sale and Warehouse Liquidation Center. In mid-March, the feds say, he began selling what he called "COVID-19 Essentials," including the scarce N-95 masks and other pieces of personal protective equipment like face shields, gowns, and coveralls.The complaint says Singh ordered 1.6 tons of disposable face masks, 2.2 tons of disposable surgical gowns, 1.8 tons of hand sanitizer and 253 pounds of digital thermometers.The complaint alleges he sold the items at markups ranging from 59 percent for some N-95 masks to 1,328 percent for three-ply disposable face masks—and some of the overpriced items were sold to non-profit children's and senior citizens' organizations."The criminal complaint describes a defendant who allegedly saw the devastating COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to make illegal profits on needed personal protective equipment," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement. The complaint, signed by a postal inspector, notes that Singh wore a face shield—one of the items covered by the Defense Production Act—in a photo on his Instagram account, posing behind a table full of hand sanitizer.The account also contains numerous photos of Singh posing with a soldier, local firefighters, local police officers, and various health-care workers with captions indicating he had donated supplies to them—along with photos of cash that he said he received to underwrite the cost of the donations.Gerstman said the complaint—along with the citations from the county and state—were "unfounded accusations" and that his client will be "exonerated.""I was there the day of the raid, and I was as confused as anybody," he said. "You can't imagine how many New York City cops were running there to get their PPE equipment."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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| B-1 Returns to Pacific in 'Dynamic Force Employment' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:58 PM PDT  The U.S. Air Force this week flew a B-1B Lancer to the Pacific as part of its new unpredictable deployment experiment.
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| America Can’t Face China Alone Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:30 AM PDT  You can't beat something with nothing. But America seems determined to try.America's attempt to integrate China into the global economy as a "responsible stakeholder" failed. China's economy has become more statist, its political system more repressive, its foreign policy more bullying, its ambitions more outsized than they were 20 years ago. China did not challenge American leadership directly. It altered the character of international institutions from within.The multilateral institutions that comprise the American-led liberal international order have been decaying for some time. Coronavirus has accelerated the deterioration. NATO, the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization — they are unresponsive, unaccountable, divided, demoralized, defunct. The world is a more dangerous place.We are used to autocratic domination of the U.N. General Assembly and the secretariat's various commissions. No one bats an eye when Russia or China vetoes a Security Council measure. Less publicized were the concessions made to China as part of the Paris Climate Accord. Or the fact that the World Trade Organization treats the world's second-largest economy as a "developing" nation. But the way Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the WHO, caviled and covered for Beijing as the coronavirus spread throughout the world is impossible to ignore. Drift, confusion, and chaos result.There are three options. The first is to work within the system to revitalize the existing structures. The second is to build alternative institutions. The third option is to do nothing.President Trump has tried a hybrid of options one and three. But with a twist. Where others might try a kind word or some quiet diplomacy to inspire reform and collaboration, he turns against the very institutions America created to force them to live up to their commitments. He browbeats NATO members into spending more on defense. He cheers for Brexit and supports the EU's internal critics. He cripples the WTO's arbitration mechanism and threatens to withdraw entirely. He suspends funding for the WHO.It's the "America First" foreign policy Trump promised. And the results have been mixed. NAFTA was replaced. NATO budgets are up (for now). Mexico agreed to have asylum-seekers wait on its side of the border while their claims are adjudicated. China signed a "Phase One" trade deal.But there's a cost. Allies may accede to your demands, but resentment builds. The foundations of the alliance weaken. Unpredictability inspires fear and caution. If sustained for too long, though, it conveys irresoluteness and fecklessness. Adversaries begin to probe. They buzz flights and collapse the oil price, resume shelling U.S. troops and harassing U.S. naval vessels, begin tailing container ships in the South China Sea.The democracies look inward. NATO is silent, the EU split, America distracted and distressed. China exploited this strategic vacuum. It launched a global disinformation campaign falsely assigning responsibility for the pandemic to the United States. Its agents pushed scurrilous and panic-inducing messages to U.S. cellphones saying that President Trump was about to impose a national lockdown policed by the National Guard. Its diplomatic "Wolf Warriors" enforce the party line whenever foreign governments challenge Beijing's preferred narrative.Chinese propaganda used to amplify achievements and repress criticism. Now it attacks directly overseas enemies of the state. The strategy, writes Laura Rosenberger in Foreign Affairs, "aims not so much to promote a particular idea as to sow doubt, dissension, and disarray — including among Americans — in order to undermine public confidence in information and prevent any common understanding of facts from taking hold." It's working.China isn't invincible. It is reaping the economic whirlwind of the coronavirus it hid from the world. None of its neighbors are thrilled about the growth of Chinese power. Its internal political situation may be unstable. But the speed with which it has used the pandemic for geopolitical advantage is extraordinary. Look at how it plays favorites with its distribution of pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment, how it stepped into the breach with a new flow of cash for its friend Dr. Tedros. Confronting China's rise requires "a common understanding of facts," and partners with whom to share those facts in common. These days, America is lacking in both.By all means, punish the World Health Organization for collaborating with China. But also be prepared to stand up another mechanism to do the good work its founders intended. Go ahead, demand allies live up to their commitments. But also recognize that partnerships of like-minded nations were critical to success in the First Cold War. This is the time to build new institutions that reflect the realities of a 21st century that pits liberal democracies against an authoritarian surveillance state. For every moment that passes without American leadership brings us closer to a world where the sun never sets on the five golden stars.
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| Hong Kong dissident reopens bookshop in Taiwan, defying Beijing Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:54 PM PDT  A Hong Kong publisher previously detained by Chinese authorities reopened his bookstore in Taiwan on Saturday, defying what he called attempts linked to Beijing to intimidate him. The opening of Lam Wing-kee's Causeway Bay Books came a year after he fled to the island when the Hong Kong government announced a now-scrapped proposal to allow extraditions to China. The 64-year-old was one of five booksellers from Causeway Bay Books publishing salacious titles about China's leaders who vanished and then resurfaced in custody on the mainland in 2015.
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| El Salvador orders 24-hour lockdown of jailed gang members Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:45 AM PDT |
| First lady sends gifts to hospitals dealing with coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Melania Trump is sending blankets, caps and other gifts to hospitals in 10 states, including some hit hardest by the new coronavirus outbreak, for use by medical staff and children who are patients. The care packages were shipped Thursday to hospitals in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Delaware, Nevada and the District of Columbia, the White House said. Mrs. Trump met doctors and nurses at some of the hospitals during past visits to promote her youth program, the White House said.
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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the lone Democrat to vote against the latest stimulus bill, tells Republicans to start legislating 'like rent was due' Posted: 23 Apr 2020 07:59 PM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, urged lawmakers to pass rent and mortgage relief before May 1.
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| Coronavirus: 'I faked having Covid-19 on Facebook and got arrested' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:55 AM PDT  Across the world police are chasing down alleged symptom-fakers who are being accused of triggering panic.
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| Michigan senator apologizes for wearing Confederate flag face mask Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Dale Zorn initially defended his actions, saying it was part of 'our history', but eventually apologized after widespread outrageA Republican politician in Michigan has apologized after wearing a face mask that appeared to depict the Confederate flag, an image offensive to many Americans as a symbol of racism and slavery.Michigan state Senator Dale Zorn wore the mask during a Senate vote at the state capitol in Lansing on Friday. He initially defended his actions, saying his wife had made the mask and that it depicted the flag of Tennessee or Kentucky."I told my wife it probably will raise some eyebrows, but it was not a Confederate flag," Zorn told Lansing TV station WLNS on Friday.He went on to add: "Even if it was a Confederate flag, you know, we should be talking about teaching our national history in schools and that's part of our national history and it's something we can't just throw away because it is part of our history."When Zorn was asked what the meaning of the Confederate flag is, he replied "the Confederacy".> This is Dale Zorn. He is an elected member of the Michigan Senate. He wore a Confederate Flag mask on the floor of the Michigan Senate. Then he tried to tell us he didn't. > > THIS IS MICHIGAN, NOT MISSISSIPPI! > > Get that trash outta here. pic.twitter.com/uTOaBzweTO> > — Bryan Newland (@RealBNewland) April 25, 2020In fact, displaying the Confederate flag, or other symbols of the slave-owning south during the American civil war, is usually seen as racist. While some advocates claim they are celebrating southern identity and heritage, it is widely seen as a racist symbol deeply offensive to black Americans. Nor is it just flags. There is an ongoing campaign to remove Confederate war statues from public display or rename streets and buildings which commemorate Confederate generals or politicians.After sparking widespread outrage, Zorn issued an apology on Saturday."I'm sorry for my choice of pattern on the face mask I wore yesterday on the Senate floor. I did not intend to offend anyone; however, I realize that I did, and for that I am sorry. Those who know me best know that I do not support the things this pattern represents," he wrote on Twitter. "My actions were an error in judgment for which there are no excuses and I will learn from this episode."A spokesperson for Michigan's senate majority leader, Republican Mike Shirkey, said that Shirkey "would not support or encourage any senator to display an insensitive symbol on the Senate floor".The leader of the Democrats in the Michigan senate, Jim Ananich, said: "I'm just really disappointed to see him make a choice that is deeply hurtful to so many people. When he was called out for it, he didn't seem to even understand or acknowledge what the problem was."Zorn was in Lansing on Friday to vote on measures that would increase oversight of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's powers during the Covid-19 pandemic.Michigan is one of a number of states that have attracted protests against stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. Zorn said he supported bipartisan oversight of Whitmer's actions.
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| Retailer charged with hoarding, price gouging on sanitizer Posted: 25 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Federal prosecutors charged a New York retailer on Friday with hoarding tons of disposable masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer in a Long Island warehouse and selling the items at huge price markups.
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