| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 'A new normal': Hilton follows Marriott, Airbnb with cleanliness initiative amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Hilton is partnering with the company behind Lysol, as well as the Mayo Clinic, to better ensure cleanliness in its hotels.
|
| At a glance: Brazil buckles under spread of new coronavirus Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:01 PM PDT  Latin America's largest nation is moving closer to becoming one of the world's hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The number of cases in Brazil is growing amid political discord over the nation's response, threatening to overwhelm hospitals, morgues and cemeteries. With 211 million residents, Brazil is the largest nation by population as well as size.
|
| 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.
|
| Supreme Court Dismisses NYC Gun Rights Case; Conservative Justices Dissent Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:00 AM PDT  The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case brought by three New York City handgun owners challenging a city regulation that prohibited gun owners from transporting their firearms outside the city.The court agreed to hear the case in December, but the city then amended the regulation to allow gun owners to bring firearms to other locations. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in an unsigned opinion that the case was moot because the city had amended its original regulation.Conservative justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch wrote in their dissent that the case should not have been dismissed."By incorrectly dismissing this case as moot, the Court permits our docket to be manipulated in a way that should not be countenanced," the justices wrote. Lawyers for the plaintiffs had argued that the case should not be dismissed because the city changed its regulation due to fears that the Supreme Court would use the case to restrict broader gun control measures.Gun rights advocates had initially hoped the court's conservative majority would tip the case in their favor."I believe it will change the way the Second Amendment is applied to everyone who owns a gun in the country," Romolo Colantone, a resident of Staten Island and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said in December 2019.
|
| 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.
|
| El Salvador: Gangs 'taking advantage of pandemic' Posted: 27 Apr 2020 06:21 AM PDT  President Nayib Bukele authorises the police and army to use lethal force to contain the violence.
|
| Coronavirus is a lurking danger for pregnant women. Congress should act: March of Dimes Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT  COVID-19 calls for studies focused on pregnant women and infants. And ensure that every pregnant woman in the USA has insurance and access to care.
|
| 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.
|
| Drive-by shooters spray Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson's estate with bullets Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:42 PM PDT  One bullet lodged in the bedroom wall of son John Luke Robertson's and his wife Mary Kate McEachern's home.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| Trump cancels daily coronavirus press briefing – then appears unable to resist Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:17 AM PDT  The White House cancelled a planned Monday afternoon coronavirus task force briefing, the third consecutive day Donald Trump was not scheduled to appear for what had become his daily – and chaotic – Covid-19 press conference. But, later, his press secretary tweeted that Mr Trump would indeed brief the country on Monday evening."UPDATE: The White House has additional testing guidance and other announcements about safely opening up America again. President @realDonaldTrump will brief the nation during a press conference this evening," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted.
|
| Colombian capital's mayor under fire for lockdown breach Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:46 PM PDT  Prosecutors in Colombia are investigating Bogota mayor Claudia Lopez for allegedly breaching the country's strict quarantine rules against the spread of the coronavirus. The state prosecutor's office said it was investigating Lopez after a video circulated on social media at the weekend showing the mayor shopping at a supermarket with her wife, a senator. The leftist mayor is married to member of the country's senate, Angelica Lozano.
|
| E.R. doc on COVID-19 'front lines' died by suicide Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:18 PM PDT  Dr. Lorna Breen was a "hero who brought the highest ideals of medicine to the challenging front lines of the emergency department," the hospital said in a statement.
|
| Taiwan pushes WHO participation in rare ministerial call with U.S. Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:58 PM PDT |
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| North Korean media is reporting that Kim Jong Un is still alive based on a thank-you note sent to workers at a tourist zone Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Kim Jong Un's health has been in question since CNN reported on April 21 that a recent surgery left him in "grave danger."
|
| New York Democrats cancel 2020 primary, kicking Bernie Sanders off the ballot Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:45 AM PDT  New York has delivered a major blow to Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) continued push for Democratic power.Democrats on the New York state Board of Elections decided Monday to cancel the party's presidential primary, which had already been pushed from April back to June 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That leaves Sanders without a chance to grab any delegates in the state, despite his insistence on staying on the ballot to secure more standing within the party.Sanders suspended his 2020 run last month and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, but still wanted his supporters to vote for him so his delegates could "exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions" at the Democratic National Convention. But Doug Kellner, one of the two Democratic commissioners on the elections board in New York, concluded Sanders' suspension "ended the real context for the primary election." "Joe Biden is the only candidate and therefore he is effectively the winner of the New York primary," Kellner said, so holding the primary would be "unnecessary and frivolous" during the coronavirus pandemic.New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) had already pushed some special elections that would coincide with the June primary until the general election in November. He'd also arranged to mail absentee ballot applications to all state residents. Still, New York's 27th district contest to fill the seat left behind by former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) remains on June 23, and local reporters say a contest between Sanders and Biden surely would've boosted its turnout. More stories from theweek.com Everybody Loves Raymond creator highlights the people who stand behind Trump, literally and awkwardly Oxford researchers have reportedly received promising news about their coronavirus vaccine American optimism is becoming a problem
|
| Nigeria to ease lockdown for millions in key cities Posted: 27 Apr 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Nigeria will start easing a coronavirus lockdown covering its largest city Lagos and capital Abuja from May 4, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday. "I have approved a phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures," Buhari said in a televised broadcast. More than 25 million residents in Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state have been under federal lockdown since March 30 and other states have introduced their own restrictions.
|
| 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.
|
| Coronavirus impact: Meat processing plants weigh risks of prosecution if they're blamed for spreading infection Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:54 AM PDT  Tyson Foods recently suspended production at its Waterloo, Iowa, pork processing plant due to a growing coronavirus outbreak among employees. The plant was Tyson's largest, employing some 2,800 workers and processing 19,500 pigs a day. At least 180 confirmed infections originated from the plant, about half of all cases in the county.It's not the first meat processing plant to close. In the U.S., at least eight have halted in recent weeks, affecting over 15% of the nation's pork processing capacity. As a result, pig farmers have begun euthanizing hundreds and potentially tens of thousands of animals that can't be processed – raising fears of a meat shortage on grocery shelves. Managers at essential companies like Tyson considering plant shutdowns over coronavirus are weighing a variety of factors, from worker safety and profits to keeping afloat a US$230 billion segment of the U.S. economy that supplies food for hundreds of millions of Americans.As a corporate and white-collar crime scholar, I believe there's another variable they're weighing: criminal liability. Coronavirus crimePut simply, executives at food companies like Tyson face a heightened risk of criminal prosecution for the decisions they make. This is due to a quirk in American law, known as the "responsible corporate officer doctrine," that allows senior executives in certain industries to be held criminally responsible for wrongdoing at their companies – even if they've never set foot in a plant or factory.In the case of the coronavirus pandemic, potential criminal liability stems from a meatpacking facility sending out a contaminated product and knowing there was an outbreak among employees. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not found evidence that COVID-19 has been transmitted through meat or poultry, public health officials have said that coronavirus strains can live at low and freezing temperatures and on food packaging. And so much about the risks of COVID-19 are uncertain and evolving that companies need to be on their toes. In addition, there's the danger that if plants stay in operation without enough workers, there's a greater risk for other types of food contamination, like of E. coli or salmonella. And the Food and Drug Administration has reduced the number of inspections during the outbreak, which doesn't limit the criminal liability of executives if tainted food reaches a consumer. This means food safety procedures are paramount to keeping the public safe. Executives that don't take steps to ensure those procedures are in place – for example, by keeping processing lines going as usual while employee infections spike – are at risk of ignoring their legal duties and becoming a "responsible corporate officer."Normally, criminal law insists that a defendant must be aware that he's doing something wrong to be held liable. But courts have decided that this element of intent can be ignored in limited situations where the public's health and welfare are at stake – namely, in the making of drugs and in food production. 'Strict liability'Although the responsible corporate officer doctrine is an anomaly in the criminal law, it has a lengthy history. In 1943, the Supreme Court in United States v. Dotterweich found that the president and general manager of a pharmaceutical company was liable for the misbranding of the company's drugs that were later distributed across state lines. In upholding his conviction under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the court stated that there need not be a showing that Joseph Dotterweich knew of the illegal activity. The court reasoned that Congress had balanced the relative hardships that came from imposing "strict liability" on corporate executives who had a "responsible share" in the illegal conduct and those imposed on the innocent public "who are wholly helpless." Dotterweich was found guilty by a jury and had to pay a small fine. Thirty years later, in United States v. Park, the Supreme Court again considered the responsible corporate officer doctrine, this time specific to food distribution. John Park, president and CEO of a national food chain, was charged with violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for allowing food to be shipped from company warehouses infested with rats.Although the contamination occurred in locations Park did not personally oversee, the court found him responsible. The court held that the food act imposes not only a positive duty to seek out and remedy violations but also a duty to "implement measures that will insure that violations will not occur." While this standard is demanding, the court conceded, the public has a right to expect executives to assume such a standard when taking positions of authority that affect the health and well-being of the public. He was required to pay a small fine. While the penalties in responsible corporate officer cases have mostly been minor, some have involved months of jail time. For example, in 2016, the Eighth Circuit not only upheld the conviction of two executive owners of a large Iowa egg production company for not preventing a salmonella outbreak, but also their three-month jail sentences. Relying on the previous Supreme Court rulings, the court in United States v. DeCoster brushed aside arguments that jailing the the owner and his son for a strict liability crime violated the Constitution. The punishment was proportionate and reasonable, the court found, for those overseeing "egregious" safety and sanitation procedures that allowed salmonella-contaminated eggs to enter the market and sicken consumers. Executive dutiesSo what does this mean for executives at American food companies today? While it would be easy for those executives with responsibility over our nation's food supply to defer to others, such as governors or the president, that thinking ignores their own duties – legal and ethical – as well as their own criminal risk.The law is clear that even if an executive is not involved in the day-to-day operations of production, he or she could be held criminally responsible for the distribution of contaminated food. That's one more risk to weigh in the decision to keep the plant doors open. Let's see if it tips the balance. [Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]
Este artículo se vuelve a publicar de The Conversation, un medio digital sin fines de lucro dedicado a la diseminación de la experticia académica. Lee mas:
Todd Haugh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
|
| White House adviser Navarro lashes out at China over 'fake' test kits Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:57 PM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday accused China of sending low-quality and even counterfeit coronavirus antibody testing kits to the United States and of "profiteering" from the pandemic. Navarro, an outspoken critic of Beijing who President Donald Trump has appointed to work on supply-line issues relating to the health crisis, said more testing both for the virus and antibodies was vital to getting Americans currently in lockdown back to work. "There's a lot of these antibody tests coming in from China now that are low quality, false readings and things like that."
|
| 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).
|
| if you're making a mask at home use a combination of two fabrics for better protection says study Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:09 AM PDT  A new US study has found that if you're masking masks at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, then using a combination of two different fabrics and ensuring a good fit could offer the most effective protection. Carried out by researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, the new study set out to investigate which fabrics are best for filtering the tiny respiratory droplets that are released when a person coughs, sneezes, speaks or breathes and which are thought to spread COVID-19. The researchers looked at a variety of everyday fabrics easily found around the house including cotton, silk, flannel and polyester-spandex chiffon, which is a sheer, synthetic fabric often used for items such as evening gowns.
|
| Donald Trump backs health secretary and lashes out at media over 'fake news' Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:37 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed reports he was considering sacking health secretary Alex Azar as criticism mounts over the US response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Trump, who risks losing public support ahead of the November election due to the climbing death toll, lashed out over stories on CNN and other media outlets. "Reports that H.H.S. Secretary Alex Azar is going to be 'fired' by me are Fake News," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. "They are desperate to create the perception of chaos & havoc in the minds of the public." Mr Trump renewed his attacks on Fox News, which he targets when its generally supportive broadcasting veers into criticism.
|
| A top public health expert says US coronavirus pandemic is 'near the end of the beginning' as states are set to reopen Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:51 AM PDT  Despite promising indicators of new cases and deaths from the virus, Tom Inglesby said that the US is "not out of the woods by any means."
|
| 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.
|
| Supreme Court rules Congress must pay Obamacare insurers Posted: 27 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The government had insisted it had no obligation to pay — which one lawyer said was "a massive government bait and switch."
|
| Nearly one-third of Americans believe a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld, survey finds Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:52 AM PDT  The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project found some misinformation about the coronavirus is more widespread that you might think.
|
| 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.
|
| Maduro taps US fugitive to revamp Venezuela oil industry Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:44 PM PDT  President Nicolás Maduro on Monday named a powerful ally sanctioned by the U.S. as a drug kingpin, along with a cousin of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez, to revamp Venezuela's oil industry amid massive gasoline shortages. Tareck El Aissami was appointed oil minister and Asdrúbal Chávez tapped to head of state-run oil giant PDVSA.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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"
|
| Under-fire Israeli health minister says wants new cabinet post Posted: 26 Apr 2020 07:55 AM PDT  Israel's Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, whose handling of the coronavirus crisis within his own religious community has been criticised, said Sunday he wanted a different cabinet post in the next government. Litzman, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community hit disproportionately hard by the virus in Israel, informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he had "decided not to return to the health ministry," Litzman's office said in a statement. Israeli ministerial portfolios are being divided up days after Netanyahu agreed to form a unity government with his election rival, ex-military chief Benny Gantz, ending an unprecedented year-long political stalemate.
|
| Small businesses say they need more than 2 months of help to survive coronavirus crisis Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  Strict restrictions on federal assistance could hinder their bid for long-term survival.
|
| How an F-16 Fighter Jet Accidentally Bombed Japan Posted: 26 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT  Luckily, the inert laser-guided bomb fell...unexplosively...onto private property.
|
| Sunak Announces U.K. Micro-Loan Plan for Small Firms in Crisis Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:38 AM PDT |
| U.S. faces tough U.N. battle if it pushes plan to extend Iran arms embargo Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:22 PM PDT  The United States faces a tough, messy battle if it uses a threat to trigger a return of all United Nations sanctions on Iran as leverage to get the 15-member Security Council to extend and strengthen an arms embargo on Tehran, diplomats said. Washington has shared its strategy, confirmed by a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity, with Britain, France and Germany, who are council members and parties to the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.
|
| Bill Gates Dismisses Chinese Coronavirus Coverup: ‘It’s Not Even Time for That Discussion’ Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:16 AM PDT  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates called allegations that China cost the world valuable time by covering up the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus a "distraction" in an interview Sunday, adding that "China did a lot of things right at the beginning."Speaking to CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Gates pushed back on criticism of Beijing's initial response, saying "I don't think that's a timely thing, because it doesn't affect how we act today.""It's not time to talk about that, this is the time to take the great science we have, the fact that we're in this together, fix testing, treatments, and get that vaccine, and minimize the trillions of dollars and many things that you can't even dimensionalize in economic terms that are awful, about the situation that we're in," Gates stated. "So that's a distraction, I think there's a lot of incorrect and unfair things said, but it's not even time for that discussion."> The challenges of fighting Covid-19 in developing countries, how China and the WHO have handled this crisis, and what to make of wild coronavirus conspiracy theories. Pt. 3 of my GPS interview w/ @BillGates: pic.twitter.com/QJJuAR52SM> > -- Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) April 26, 2020A detailed timeline of Beijing's response to the virus's origins in Wuhan shows that the government gagged the spread of information about the virus for weeks after it had first been noticed, with health officials being warned privately of "a major public health event" nearly a week before the public was alerted to the threat.U.S. intelligence believes that China purposefully misled the global community on the extent of its coronavirus outbreak, with one study finding that the government could have prevented 95 percent of coronavirus infections if it had acted sooner to stem the initial outbreak. Last week, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention admitted to state media that the government "knew there must be human-to-human transmission" of the novel virus, despite his organization saying January 15 that "the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low."When asked about the World Health Organization's culpability on Sunday, Gates said "basically no," pushing back on President Trump's claim that the organization is "very China-centric.""In the retrospective, we'll see things the WHO could have done better, just like every actor in this whole picture, but the WHO has a strong connection with one country. That country is the United States," Gates stated. He went on to call the WHO a "phenomenal organization that we're more dependent on today, to drive things, than we ever have been."
|
