| Citing coronavirus, Trump threatens to adjourn Congress to make recess appointments Posted: 15 Apr 2020 04:29 PM PDT  President Trump said Wednesday that he was considering taking the unprecedented step of adjourning both houses of Congress in order to make recess appointments to fill government posts, citing the emergency created by the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Can you tell a coronavirus cough from a regular cold? There could be an app for that. Posted: 15 Apr 2020 01:08 PM PDT  Everyone knows that one of the main presenting symptoms of COVID-19 is cough. But what kind of cough, exactly? The data will be secure, Karlin emphasizes, and the app will not run in the background or monitor other people nearby.
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| Kim Jong Un tribute absence sparks speculation Posted: 15 Apr 2020 08:02 PM PDT  The April 15 birthday of the North's founder is the most important celebration of the nuclear-armed country's annual political calendar, known as the Day of the Sun. The state KCNA news agency did not mention him in a Thursday report on senior officials visiting the Kumsusan Palace to pay the "highest tribute" to the two late leaders.
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| China has been told by the UK that it cannot return to 'business as usual' after the coronavirus pandemic Posted: 16 Apr 2020 10:26 AM PDT  The UK is calling for an investigation into how the coronavirus pandemic started in China.
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| 'Commander' of New Mexico group that detained migrants near border is sentenced Posted: 16 Apr 2020 02:16 PM PDT  Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 70, was arrested in 2019. He was a "commander" of a group accused of detaining migrants at the New Mexico-Mexico border.
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| My cruise was canceled due to coronavirus. Here's how experts say you should navigate refunds, credits Posted: 15 Apr 2020 07:22 AM PDT  I was scheduled to depart on my first cruise on May 10 on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Of The Seas. Until the coronavirus pandemic struck.
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| Michigan Gov. Claims Protesters are Spreading Virus, Making It ‘More Likely’ State Will Continue Strict Lockdown Measures Posted: 16 Apr 2020 12:53 PM PDT  Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer suggested the "sad part" of state residents protesting her strict quarantine measures was that they would likely be exposed to and spread Wuhan coronavirus, resulting in further lockdowns.Thousands of protestors, organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition under the hashtag OperationGridlock, took to the capitol in Lansing on Wednesday to voice their disapproval of Whitmer's rules, which include the closing of businesses selling hardware supplies and gardening seeds, and the banning of travel "between residences." While Whitmer said she respected the "right" of the "small segment of the state" to protest, she warned they could be furthering the lockdowns by refusing to social distance."We have to take serious measures, and people are getting a little stir-crazy from being at home, being worried about work, worried about paying the bills, worried about their businesses, and a small segment of the state is protesting, and that's their right," she stated. "The sad part is, though, that the more likely they're out and about, the more likely they are to spread COVID-19 and the more likely we're going to have to spread this posture for a longer period of time."> Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: "A small segment of the state is protesting, and that's their right. The sad part is, though, that the more likely they're out and about, the more likely they are to spread COVID-19 and the more likely we're going to have to spread this posture." pic.twitter.com/eMo4aNxfpB> > -- The Hill (@thehill) April 16, 2020In a Wednesday interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid, Whitmer went further, saying the protest was "essentially a political rally.""This small group that came together without masks on, passing out candy with bare hands to children, who were congregating together, brandishing their weapons, having posters of being anti-choice — this was a political rally. It was a political rally that is going to endanger people's lives because this is precisely how COVID-19 spreads," she stated.As of April 16, Michigan has the fourth-most coronavirus cases in the country with 28,059 and 1,921 deaths.
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| Immigrants living illegally in California to receive cash amid coronavirus Posted: 16 Apr 2020 04:23 AM PDT  California is giving cash payments to immigrants living in the country illegally who are being affected by the coronavirus.
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| Trump's performance against Biden reportedly improves after voters watch 90 seconds of a coronavirus briefing Posted: 15 Apr 2020 02:29 PM PDT  President Trump's daily briefings on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are apparently working to his political benefit, The Atlantic reports.A Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a private research initiative in which voters were shown a 90-second clip of a recent briefing. Trump's general election performance against his likely Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, reportedly improved by more than two percentage points after voters watched the clip. Considering most polls are indicating a tight contest, that's quite a shift after such a small amount of footage.Per The Atlantic, part of the briefings' purpose is to serve as a platform for Trump to reclaim the narrative about his initial response to the coronavirus, and push the idea that the president acted swiftly. Trump initially downplayed the threat of the virus and suggested further response efforts were unnecessary. Similarly, The Atlantic notes, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent robocalls to more than 120,000 numbers over a three-day period in late March, during which people were polled about Trump's press coverage, followed by a "sympathetic female voice" expressing frustration with the media coverage of Trump's handling of the pandemic. Read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com Lindsey Graham keeps breaking fundraising records. His Democratic challenger still outraised him. Why can't you go fishing during the pandemic? Airline conducts COVID-19 blood tests on passengers
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| IMF approves $1.4 billion in coronavirus aid to Pakistan Posted: 16 Apr 2020 04:18 PM PDT  The IMF on Thursday approved nearly $1.4 billion in emergency aid to Pakistan to help it weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. "While uncertainty remains high, the near-term economic impact of COVID-19 is expected to be significant, giving rise to large fiscal and external financing needs," the international lender said in a statement. Pakistan has recorded just over 100 deaths but experts have voiced fear that the country of 215 million people could see a rapid and devastating increase due to its shortage of medical infrastructure and crowded cities.
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| China tries to revive economy but consumer engine sputters Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:42 PM PDT  China, where the coronavirus pandemic started in December, is cautiously trying to get back to business, but it's not easy when many millions of workers are wary of spending much or even going out. Millions of families were told to stay home under unprecedented controls that have been copied by the United States, Europe and India. The ruling Communist Party says the outbreak, which had killed more than 3,340 people among more than 82,341 confirmed cases as of Thursday, is under control.
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| Hundreds of USPS workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, but it still may be safer to get postal mail than other types of packages Posted: 16 Apr 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The risk of contracting COVID-19 from a piece of mail is extremely low, according to experts. But plastic packaging may be riskier than paper mail.
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| India charges Muslim leader with culpable homicide for coronavirus surge Posted: 15 Apr 2020 11:07 PM PDT |
| Ivanka Trump skirted coronavirus guidelines to travel to N.J. for Passover Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:34 AM PDT  The president's daughter has promoted staying at home during the pandemic.
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| These European Countries Are Slowly Lifting Coronavirus Lockdowns. Here's What That Looks Like Posted: 16 Apr 2020 10:46 AM PDT  From France to Italy, here's how European countries are handling lifting coronavirus restrictions.
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| Nigerian Forces Imposing Virus Controls Kill 18, ThisDay Says Posted: 16 Apr 2020 12:46 AM PDT |
| Sen. Mitt Romney was the only GOP senator not invited on Trump's new coronavirus advisory group Posted: 16 Apr 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Sen. Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator not invited to serve on the president's new panel addressing ways to reopen the country.
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| Gates Foundation calls for global cooperation on vaccine for 7 billion people Posted: 15 Apr 2020 03:34 PM PDT  The wealthy Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation called Wednesday for global cooperation to ready COVID-19 vaccines for seven billion people, while offering $150 million toward developing therapeutics and treatments for the virus. While it is likely to take as many as 18 months to develop and fully test a safe coronavirus vaccine, global authorities and businesses need to start now on plans to manufacture it, said foundation chief executive Mark Suzman. "When you are dealing with a novel pathogen like COVID-19, as and when we get to identifying a successful vaccine, we are going to need billions of doses."
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| Mexico sees widespread noncompliance with business closures Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:15 PM PDT  Mexico's coronavirus point-man said Wednesday there has been widespread non-compliance with orders for all non-essential businesses to close. Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said those firms that don't comply would be inspected, fined and possibly subject to criminal investigations for endangering the health of employees. While there have been widespread reports that border assembly plants known as maquiladoras had failed to close during the pandemic, López-Gatell cited only one border state — Baja California — as having a high level of non-compliance.
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| Britons make a noise for their health workers with weekly applause Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:33 AM PDT  Britons applauded health workers from their front doors and windows again on Thursday in what has become a weekly moment of cacophony and solidarity during the coronavirus lockdown. Foreign minister Dominic Raab and finance minister Rishi Sunak joined in from outside the Foreign Office, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to recuperate after contracting COVID-19. "Like millions of people across the country, the Prime Minister joined in the clap for carers this evening, to say thank you for the incredible efforts of the country's doctors, nurses and care workers," his office said in a statement.
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| Beijing Privately Warned Health Officials of A ‘Pandemic’ Six Days Before Xi Jinping’s Public Coronavirus Comments Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:05 AM PDT  Documents reveal that Chinese President Xi Jinping waited six days to publicly warn about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, after his top officials determined that the situation was "likely to develop into a major public health event."On January 20, Xi broke silence on the outbreak to warn it "must be taken seriously," with leading Chinese epidemiologist, Zhong Nanshan saying for the first time publicly that the virus was transmissible from person-to-person.That public warning came six days after a January 14 teleconference in which the head of China's National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, warned Xi and local health officials that a global pandemic was likely underway, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Some 3,000 Chinese people are believed to have been infected during the six-day delay."The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event," Ma said, according to the memo.The call came a day after authorities in Thailand discovered the first case reported outside of China, which the memo cited as an indication that the situation had "changed significantly." It added that "clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible.""With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high," the memo reads. "All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic."Ma also urged officials to prioritize political considerations and social stability ahead of the long China's two biggest political meetings of the year in March.The same day as the teleconference, the World Health Organization stated that "preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in Wuhan, China." One day prior, on January 19, the National Health Commission said the virus was "still preventable and controllable."A timeline of China's slow response to the coronavirus reveals the failures of Beijing to slow the spread of the pandemic. While the Chinese government has reported approximately 82,000 cases, estimates have suggested the number is closer to 2.9 million.In December, party officials issued a gag order to labs in Wuhan after scientists realized the novel virus closely resembled SARS, ordering them to halt tests, destroy samples, and conceal the news.
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| U.K. to Decide on Lockdown Extension as Virus Seen Peaking Posted: 16 Apr 2020 06:07 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. is expected to extend its nationwide lockdown even as pressure builds on the government to map out a strategy for easing the restrictions amid signs the country may soon be past the peak of the pandemic.U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab -- standing in for Boris Johnson as the prime minister recuperates following his hospitalization -- will make the lockdown call following an emergency committee meeting on Thursday. The panel is faced with a steadily rising death toll: 12,868 people have now died in hospitals due to Covid-19 in the U.K., after a daily increase of 761 in the latest figures.Still, hospital admissions and infection rates are stabilizing, and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said at a televised press conference Wednesday the outbreak is "probably reaching the peak overall."That's led to calls for the government to explain how it plans to ease the strictest social-distancing measures, as some other European countries have begun to do. Since March 23, U.K. citizens have only been allowed to leave their homes for essential work, exercise, and purchasing food or medicine.BE Primer: Pandemic Will Push U.K. Economy Into Deep RecessionBut Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told lawmakers in Edinburgh the measures must continue for at least three weeks."While we are increasingly confident the lockdown measures are working, we are not yet confident the virus has been suppressed sufficiently to lift any of the measures," she said ahead of U.K. government's emergency committee meeting.Too EarlyU.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier that even discussing how the lockdown might be eased could lead the public to ignore instructions to remain indoors at a time when the virus's transmission rate is still too high."We will not be distracted into confusing the messaging," Hancock told BBC Radio 4. "The scientists can say what they like, the commentators can say what they like -- frankly, the interviewers can say what they like -- but we will do what is best in dealing with this virus."Hancock was speaking after Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London who advises the government on its response to the pandemic, said "decisions need to be accelerated and progress made" in putting in plans to exit the lockdown."If we want to reopen schools and get people back to work, we need a way of keeping transmission down in another manner," Ferguson said, pointing to measures countries including South Korea have put in place to isolate Covid-19 cases and trace people they have been in contact with.Testing RowFerguson said that would require a significant ramp-up of testing, another pressure point for the government. Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, told reporters the government still aims to achieve Hancock's target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.But the latest numbers show that while capacity is increasing, not all of it is being used. Just under 16,000 tests were carried out, according to the latest daily figures, compared with total capacity of about 35,000.Johnson himself has said widespread testing is the key to getting through the pandemic. It also feeds directly into the decision on the lockdown, where the challenge for the government is balancing the danger that lifting restrictions might increase infections against the potential harm to people's health and welfare of a long shutdown.Whitty, who is part of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies that counsels Raab and the government, said they are closely watching the rate of transmission of the virus -- the so-called r0 value -- a measure of how many people are infected by any one individual with Covid-19 in the U.K."It's between about 0.5 and about 1," he said. "The more we have an understanding of where that is, which will happen as we go over the next 10 days or so, the more easy it is for us to judge exactly how we can go through to the next phase."Elsewhere in the virus response effort, the House of Commons will resume on April 21 using teleconferencing software for the first time. Up to 120 MPs will take part in proceedings using Zoom, while about 50 MPs will gather in the chamber observing social-distancing rules.(Updates with Sturgeon comment in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Nurses suspended for refusing to treat coronavirus patients unless they have N95 masks Posted: 16 Apr 2020 03:54 AM PDT  Nurses at a California hospital were suspended after they refused to enter the rooms of coronavirus patients unless they had N95 respirator masks.
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| Trump says China lying about coronavirus numbers Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:55 PM PDT  Chinese journalists investigating the outbreak have gone missing.
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| Air pollution has dropped by 30% in the Northeast, NASA says. Are coronavirus stay-at-home orders responsible? Posted: 15 Apr 2020 12:55 PM PDT  Cities such as Washington, Philadelphia and New York are seeing significant improvement in air quality as people stay home because of the coronavirus.
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| Israeli president asks parliament to choose prime minister Posted: 16 Apr 2020 12:37 AM PDT  Israel's president on Thursday asked the Knesset to choose a new prime minister, giving parliament three weeks to agree upon a leader or plunge the country into an unprecedented fourth consecutive election in just over a year. President Reuven Rivlin made the move after his prime minister-designate, former military chief Benny Gantz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to reach a power-sharing deal by a midnight deadline. The bitter rivals had pledged to form an "emergency" government to steer the country through the coronavirus crisis, which has ravaged the economy and sent unemployment to record highs.
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| Trump administration aims to buy milk, meat to help farmers hit by coronavirus: Perdue Posted: 15 Apr 2020 09:19 AM PDT  The decision comes amid rising pressure from the U.S. farm lobby for government purchases as growers and ranchers struggle to get their goods to market because of disruptions caused by the pandemic, forcing some of them to throw out their supplies. "We want to purchase as much of this milk, or other protein products, hams and pork products, and move them into where they can be utilized in our food banks, or possibly even into international humanitarian aid," Perdue said in an interview on Fox News. Reuters reported on Monday that Department of Agriculture will spend up to $15.5 billion in the initial phase of its plan to bolster the nation's food supply chain against the impacts of the outbreak, the first big push to ensure the pandemic doesn't trigger consumer food shortages.
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| Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state Posted: 16 Apr 2020 04:28 AM PDT  • Coronavirus: world map of deaths and cases • See all our coronavirus coverage • Coronavirus – latest global updatesThe number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 continues to grow in the US. Mike Pence, the vice-president, is overseeing the US response to the coronavirus.So far, 80% of patients experience a mild form of the illness, which can include a fever and pneumonia, and many of these cases require little to no medical intervention. That being said, elderly people and those with underlying conditions such as diabetes or heart and lung issues are the most vulnerable. The coronavirus death rate in China for people 80 or over in the government's study of more than 72,000 cases, was 14.8%.default default default • Due to the unprecedented and ongoing nature of the coronavirus outbreak, this article is being regularly updated to ensure that it reflects the current situation at the date of publication. Any significant corrections made to this or previous versions of the article will continue to be footnoted in line with Guardian editorial policy
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| N.J. Gov. Says He ‘Wasn’t Thinking of the Bill of Rights’ When He Imposed Strict Social Distancing Guidelines Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:29 AM PDT  New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday that he was not thinking of the Bill of Rights when he implemented strict social distancing measures across the state, saying the consideration is "above my pay grade."During an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson, Murphy defended his decision to ban social gatherings, even religious events such as funerals, saying more than 3 million residents — about a third of New Jersey's population — would have caught the coronavirus if he had not imposed the restrictions."By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order?" Carlson asked the governor, citing constitutional protections for freedom association and religious practice."That's above my pay grade, Tucker," Murphy responded. "I wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this. … We went to the scientists who said people have to stay away from each other.""That's the best thing we can do to break the back of the curve of this virus," the governor said.Murphy issued an executive order on March 21 ordering residents to remain at home except for necessary errands and requiring the closure of nonessential businesses until the crisis is over.Carlson continued to press Murphy, saying his action "clearly contravenes the Bill of Rights.""We know we need to stay away from each other, number one," Murphy said. "Number two, we do have broad authority within the state. And number three, we would never do that without coordinating, discussing, and hashing it out with the leaders of the faiths of New Jersey."Earlier this month, police in Lakewood charged 15 men with violating New Jersey's ban on large social gatherings by holding a rabbi's funeral at a synagogue.Carlson also asked Murphy whether he had consulted an attorney about the restrictions."I don't go to the men's room without consulting an attorney, so I guarantee you we did that," Murphy quipped.As of Thursday morning, New Jersey has more than 71,000 coronavirus cases and at least 3,156 deaths from the respiratory illness.
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| South Africa CEOs Heed President’s Call to Take Pay Cuts Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:25 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- South Africa Inc. is putting up and shutting up.Business leaders across industries are following President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet in taking about a third of their pay for the next three months and donating the money to a government fund to fight the coronavirus. Their largesse comes after months of criticism of the government's failure to implement structural reforms needed to revive the economy.For Rob Shuter, the chief executive officer of Africa's largest mobile-phone company MTN Group Ltd., that will mean a donation of about 1.43 million rand ($77,000), based on his basic annual pay last year of 17.3 million rand. Alan Pullinger, the CEO of the continent's most valuable bank, FirstRand Ltd., will be giving away more than 730,000 rand.The show of support from company bosses will bolster the trust and confidence Ramaphosa enjoys from business, although it may come at a cost to winning over rival factions within his ruling African National Congress, said political analyst Ralph Mathekga."Politically it says business is too close to government to the point they might be dictating," he said by phone. Still, for the first time since schisms in the party erupted with Ramaphosa taking over as president from the scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma in February 2018, corporates are stepping in with donations, Mathekga said.His ascension to the presidency was greeted with "Ramaphoria," a term coined to describe investor confidence on expectations that he would reform a struggling economy.By the middle of last year, that exuberance had all but dissipated as infighting in the ANC crippled progress, with business leaders criticizing his dithering on big decisions dealing with debt-laden state-owned companies and structural changes in the economy.That was until the coronavirus struck and Ramaphosa sprang state machinery into action. He started with a 21-day lockdown on March 27 that was later extended to the end of April. The central bank cut interest rates to a record low, injected liquidity into capital markets and loosened capital rules for banks to free up money for lending to try contain some of the damage.The country's richest were among the first to respond, with the family of Nicky Oppenheimer and that of Johann Rupert committing 1 billion rand each to support small businesses and save jobs. The Oppenheimer family later added another 1 billion rand, while that of billionaire Patrice Motsepe and his companies pledged to spend 1 billion rand on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.Next ChallengeCompanies are also responding in other ways. Investec Group, a South African bank and wealth manager whose top executives are also donating their pay for the next three months, is providing two meals a day to 100,000 people, CEO Fani Titi said in an interview.The Johannesburg Stock Exchange donated two-days of trading, clearing and settlement revenue to the government's Solidarity Fund, while chemicals firm Sasol Ltd. provided a million liters of jet fuel to help repatriate South Africans stuck abroad. Insurer Old Mutual Ltd. is providing free life cover to health workers, while Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd. is matching contributions made from members of its loyalty program.Ramaphosa's next challenge is getting business leaders behind efforts to reboot the continent's most-industrialized economy. A virtual cabinet meeting on Wednesday night decided that further discussions were needed to before a final economic plan can be approved at the next meeting on April 20, the government said in a statement."The devastating casualty of the lockdown is people's livelihoods," said James Formby, the CEO of investment bank Rand Merchant Bank. "We need to shift the strategy from lockdown to gradual restart to avoid irretrievable economic damage."(Updates table to add Momentum Metropolitan Holdings)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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| Private labs say demand for COVID-19 tests is down and they can test more people who aren't as sick Posted: 15 Apr 2020 01:43 PM PDT  The labs say they can now test more people who aren't already hospitalized or in other high-priority categories.
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| Trump didn't bail out trucking, but he did give 4 truck drivers a mysterious gold key at White House ceremony. Nobody knows why. Posted: 16 Apr 2020 01:07 PM PDT  "We have a little special award," President Donald Trump said. Unfortunately for truck drivers, it was not a bailout.
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| Thornberry wants $6 billion this year to launch counter-China fund Posted: 15 Apr 2020 09:01 PM PDT  The ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee will seek $6 billion for an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
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| France urging top powers to endorse UN virus cease-fire call Posted: 15 Apr 2020 02:33 PM PDT  French President Emmanuel Macron says he hopes that "in the coming days" the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council can discuss and endorse U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for a cease-fire to all conflicts in the world in order to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Macron, who has been pushing for more international cooperation in fighting the virus, said in an interview with French radio RFI broadcast on Wednesday that he is only waiting for agreement from Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold the 5-country video conference.
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| Senate fails to provide more coronavirus relief money for small businesses Posted: 16 Apr 2020 10:18 AM PDT  A government loan program for small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic is out of funds, and there's disagreement on how to replenish it.
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| Young Thais join 'Milk Tea Alliance' in online backlash that angers Beijing Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:44 AM PDT  Young Thais have banded together to pillory the Chinese embassy in Bangkok over a feud with Thai celebrities, part of a growing online movement to show solidarity with Taiwan and Hong Kong that has annoyed Beijing. The movement, which calls itself the "Milk Tea Alliance" after a shared passion for sweet tea drinks, has triggered a wave of online criticism of China at a time when Beijing is trying to improve its image hurt by the coronavirus crisis. The movement burst into the public eye in Thailand in recent days, after Chinese internet users launched a campaign against a young Thai actor whose TV drama has been popular in China, and his Thai model girlfriend.
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| A Secret Weapon in the Fight Against COVID-19 Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:52 AM PDT  "Readability means dropping the jargon and getting to the heart of the matter as clearly as possible..."
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| Coronavirus: Lions nap on road during South African lockdown Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:42 AM PDT  A pride of lions take advantage of traffic-free roads in Kruger National Park for an afternoon rest.
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| Trump Is Right about the WHO Posted: 16 Apr 2020 03:30 AM PDT  President Trump announced that he would halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) pending an investigation into the agency's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The White House based its decision on a series of misleading statements issued by the WHO, as well as on director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus's effusive praise of the Chinese government. (Not coincidentally, China backed Tedros's bid to lead the organization in 2017.)Critics charge Trump with scapegoating the WHO for the administration's failures, while others caution that pulling funding will weaken efforts to combat the pandemic. They are wrong on both counts.It's no secret that the White House got off to a late start in combating the coronavirus. Trump downplayed the threat of the disease even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to brace for an outbreak, and we criticized him for it. But this obviously doesn't vindicate the World Health Organization. We noted its failures last week.Tedros objected to Trump's correct decision to impose travel restrictions on China, claiming it would "have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit" — a stark contrast with his deferential statements about China's response. In mid January, the WHO announced that there was "no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus," despite numerous reports to the contrary. Parroting Chinese misinformation wasn't enough for Tedros: He went on to praise the Chinese Communist Party for "setting a new standard for outbreak control." Later, Tedros overruled the objections of WHO colleagues and delayed the declaration of a public-health emergency, which cost the world precious time in preparing for the pandemic.Because there are no existing vaccines or proven treatments for COVID-19, information is our most valuable resource in fighting this pandemic. Policymakers must calibrate their responses based on data collected domestically and received from abroad. In its capacity as the facilitator of international information exchanges, the WHO is supposed to vet and disseminate data from its 194 member states. The organization fell down on this most basic task by buying Chinese spin wholesale.Some argue that withholding our funding of the WHO — $400 million a year — will hinder its international relief efforts. This is a legitimate concern, but the WHO's missteps themselves hindered the fight against the pandemic at a critical stage. In any event, U.S. funding of pandemic relief does not depend on any single multilateral bureaucracy. In fact, the U.S. has already spent more than $500 million on foreign aid to combat the pandemic — roughly 25 percent of the WHO's annual budget — on top of existing contributions to multilateral and nongovernmental organizations. During the 60-day hold on funds to the WHO, the White House says it will redirect resources to public-health programs untainted by Chinese influence. While the White House conducts its investigation, the WHO will retain the bulk of its considerable resources. In the meantime, it will deservedly face more international scrutiny for its apparent complicity in China's coverup of the coronavirus.The more the World Health Organization capitulates to Chinese soft power, the less effective — and the less deserving of our support — it will be. The White House is right to bring serious pressure to bear to try to check this trend.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Bernie Sanders campaign suspension and Joe Biden support Posted: 15 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT  The New York City congresswoman responds to Joe Biden's promise to pick a female running mate.
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| Mexico to restrict mobility to areas less affected by virus Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Mexico will begin to restrict movement between places most affected by the COVID-19 virus — mostly large cities — and places with few infections, the president said Thursday. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked authorities Thursday in towns so far unaffected by the pandemic to "help us establish sanitary cordons" to slow the spread. Health undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell said the recommendation from advisory groups is to divide the country into areas with lots of cases and those that have had few or none.
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