| Flight attendants see a very different future for airplane travel in the age of coronavirus Posted: 09 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  "Recognize that there are going to be social distancing practices at the airport. So there's no running to the gate at the last minute," said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in an interview with Yahoo News.
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| Amazon whistleblowers call Bezos 'out of touch,' say they were fired for trying to protect warehouse workers from coronavirus Posted: 09 May 2020 08:53 AM PDT  Two web designers say they were fired by Amazon for organizing a virtual town hall to hear from the company's low-paid warehouse staff.
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| A senior Trump adviser said White House employees are going to work in a 'relatively cramped' West Wing out of love for their country: 'We've all been exposing ourselves to risks' Posted: 10 May 2020 09:17 AM PDT  At least a dozen people with potential access to the president and vice president tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
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| U.S. unemployment rate will get worse, Treasury's Mnuchin says Posted: 10 May 2020 07:25 AM PDT  The staggering U.S. unemployment rate reported by the government on Friday amid coronavirus lockdowns may get even worse, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday. "The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better," Mnuchin told the Fox News Sunday program. The unemployment rate surged to 14.7% in April, the Department of Labor reported.
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| 'Fear kills:' WWII vets recall war, reject panic over virus Posted: 08 May 2020 11:39 PM PDT  On the 75th anniversary of the allied victory in the World War II, The Associated Press spoke to veterans in ex-Soviet countries and discovered that lessons they learned during the war are helping them cope with a new major challenge — the coronavirus pandemic. As they recalled the horrors of the war, they also talked about how strength and tenacity were key to survival both then and now. For Russian World War II veteran Valentina Efremova, the coronavirus pandemic is like going through the war all over again.
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| Armed 'mob' allegedly tried to enter black family's North Carolina home, white deputy charged Posted: 10 May 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Among the people demanding to enter the home was a person carrying an assault weapon and another with a shotgun, according to local reports.
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| South Dakota governor demands tribes remove travel checkpoints on Indian reservations Posted: 09 May 2020 02:34 PM PDT  South Dakota Indian tribes have set up checkpoints on reservations restricting travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Indian and Chinese troops 'clash on border' in Sikkim Posted: 10 May 2020 04:41 AM PDT  Four Indian soldiers and seven Chinese soldiers are reportedly injured in a border fist fight.
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| Rise in German virus infections spurs concern Posted: 10 May 2020 05:29 PM PDT  Germany's coronavirus spread appears to be picking up speed again, official data showed Sunday, just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country could gradually return to normal. The Robert Koch Institute for public health said Germany's closely watched reproduction rate (R0) had climbed to 1.1, meaning 10 people with COVID-19 infect on average 11 others. The RKI has warned that for the infection rate to be deemed under control and slowing down, the R0 has to stay below one.
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| Outcry in Afghanistan after Iran border guards accused of forcing drowned migrants into river Posted: 10 May 2020 09:08 AM PDT  The drowning of at least 18 young Afghans allegedly forced at gunpoint into a river by Iranian border guards has caused a diplomatic strain between Kabul and Tehran and international calls for an investigation. Hanif Atmar, Afghan foreign minister, has pledged to use "all diplomatic affords to bring justice and investigate this unforgivable crime" and said he had held "tense" meetings with Iranian officials. Accounts of the incident and video of the bodies laid out in desert have provoked outcry across Afghanistan. The US State department said: "Iran's cruel treatment and abuse of Afghan migrants alleged in these reports is horrifying. We support calls for a thorough investigation. Those found guilty of such abuse must be held accountable." Tehran has denied its border guards had any involvement in the deaths, but has agreed to cooperate in any investigation. Survivors told the Telegraph that a party of more than 50 young men were caught north of the Western city of Herat as they tried to smuggle themselves into Iran earlier this month. Iranian guards beat them, then forced them into the Harirod river.
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| Colombian airline Avianca files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US Posted: 10 May 2020 02:10 PM PDT  Avianca, the second-largest airline in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Sunday to reorganize its debt "due to the unpredictable impact" of the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement issued in Bogota, Avianca said that along with "some of its subsidiaries and affiliates," it had asked to "voluntarily file for Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code" in a New York court. The airline's operations "have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," as well as federal air travel restrictions.
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| 'F--- Elon Musk': California assemblywoman responds to Tesla CEO's threats to move the company's main factory Posted: 10 May 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The comment comes after Musk announced that he would file a lawsuit against Almeda County, which has ordered Tesla's main factory to remain closed.
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| Two special elections are latest test of voting amid coronavirus Posted: 09 May 2020 03:15 PM PDT  The two special elections on May 12 will be held in California and Wisconsin.
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| Shutdown of tribal casinos deals blow to Indian Country Posted: 10 May 2020 08:11 AM PDT  When the Kalispel Tribe of Indians closed its casino as the coronavirus took hold in Washington state, it essentially shut down its economy. "We can't fund any programs without the casino" — no health care, education, law enforcement or fire protection, said Phil Haugen, chief operating officer of the Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority. Its Northern Quest Casino near Spokane closed for nearly two months, costing the tribe millions of dollars.
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| Historic unemployment rate damages Trump's reelection bid Posted: 09 May 2020 09:43 AM PDT  The record unemployment rate reported Friday showed that tens of millions of jobs vanished, devastating the economy and forcing President Trump to overcome historic headwinds to win a second term.
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| Brother of Lori Vallow died of natural causes, medical examiner says Posted: 09 May 2020 01:25 PM PDT  An attorney for Vallow's niece said the medical examiner's report proves Alex Cox's death "had no sinister aspect."
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| South Dakota Governor Demands Tribe Leaders Remove Checkpoints Set Up to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 Posted: 09 May 2020 03:07 PM PDT  One leader says there's only one positive case of coronavirus on his reservation because of the checkpoints
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| Venezuela says troops seize abandoned Colombian combat boats, weapons Posted: 09 May 2020 11:08 AM PDT  Venezuela's military said it seized three abandoned Colombian light combat vessels that soldiers found on Saturday while patrolling the Orinoco river, several days after the government accused its neighbor of aiding a failed invasion. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the boats were equipped with machine guns and ammunition, but had no crew, adding they were discovered as part of a nationwide operation to guarantee Venezuela's "freedom and sovereignty." According to a preliminary investigation the boats were dragged away by strong river currents, Colombia's Navy said in a statement.
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| India to 'gradually' restart rail operations in lockdown easing Posted: 10 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  One of the world's largest train networks will "gradually" restart operations from Tuesday as India eases its coronavirus lockdown, as the number of cases passed 60,000 with more than 2,000 deaths. "Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12th May, 2020... Thereafter, Indian Railways shall start more special services on new routes," the railways ministry added in a statement. The vast train network, which had carried more than 20 million passengers daily, was halted in late March as India imposed a strict lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.
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| Italian aid worker kidnapped in Kenya in 2018 returns home Posted: 10 May 2020 09:38 AM PDT  Silvia Romano, 25, was freed on Saturday in Somalia, in an operation by Italy's secret services.
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| ‘Selfish, tribal and divided’: Barack Obama warns of changes to American way of life in leaked audio slamming Trump administration Posted: 09 May 2020 04:22 AM PDT  Barack Obama said the "rule of law is at risk" following the justice department's decision to drop charges against former Trump advisor Mike Flynn, as he issued a stark warning about the long-term impact on the American way of life by his successor.
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| NYC hospital staff gifted free vacations Posted: 10 May 2020 02:02 PM PDT  The hospital's workers, from doctors and nurses to the facilities and food service teams, will receive round trip flights and three-night hotel stays.
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| Airline middle seats won't stay empty forever in the name of social distancing. Here's why Posted: 10 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Permanently blocking middle seats and limiting the number of passengers per flight is a costly move for airlines and would increase ticket prices.
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| For a Georgia Police Force, a Bungled Shooting Case Follows a Trail of Woes Posted: 09 May 2020 07:44 AM PDT  BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- When the Glynn County Police Department arrived at the scene of a fatal shooting in February in southeastern Georgia, officers encountered a former colleague with the victim's blood on his hands.They took down his version of events and let him and his adult son, who had fired the shots, go home.Later that day, Wanda Cooper, the mother of the 25-year-old victim, Ahmaud Arbery, received a call from a police investigator. She recounted later that the investigator said her son had been involved in a burglary and was killed by "the homeowner," an inaccurate version of what had happened.More than two months after that fatal confrontation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which took over the case this week, arrested the former officer, Gregory McMichael, and his son, Travis McMichael, on charges of murder and aggravated assault.The charges -- which came after the release of a graphic video showing the killing as the two white men confront Arbery, who was African American -- made clear the depths of the local department's bungling of the case, which was just the latest in a series of troubling episodes involving its officers.And it was one element of the broader potential breakdown of the justice system in South Georgia. Attorney General Chris Carr, through a spokeswoman, said Friday that he planned to start a review of all of the relevant players in that system.Carr's office has already determined that George E. Barnhill, a district attorney who was assigned the case in February but recused himself late last month, should have never taken it on. Among his many conflicts: His son once worked alongside one of the suspects at the local prosecutor's office.S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Arbery's family, has called for a federal civil rights investigation focused not only on the men who pursued Arbery but also the broader justice system."It's small-town America," Merritt said in an interview Thursday. "Those counties, the law enforcement community there, they know each other well; they recycle officers in between themselves -- it's a very tight-knit community."Over the years, Glynn County police officers have been accused of covering up allegations of misconduct, tampering with a crime scene, interfering in an investigation of a police shooting and retaliating against fellow officers who cooperated with outside investigators.The police chief was indicted days after Arbery's killing on charges related to an alleged cover-up of an officer's sexual relationship with an informant. The chief, John Powell, had been hired to clean up the department, which the Glynn County manager described last fall as suffering from poor training, outdated policies and "a culture of cronyism."The Glynn County force was the sort of department where disciplinary records went missing and where evidence room standards were not maintained, leading the state to strip it of its accreditation.Arbery was killed after the McMichaels confronted him while he was running in the Satilla Shores neighborhood just outside of Brunswick, the Glynn County seat. But neither of the McMichaels was arrested immediately after the slaying, which occurred Feb. 23 about 1 p.m.According to a police report, Gregory McMichael said that he saw Arbery running through his neighborhood and thought that he looked like the suspect in a rash of recent break-ins. McMichael, 64, told authorities that he and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, armed themselves and began chasing him in a truck.Gregory McMichael had been a Glynn County police officer from 1982 to 1989 and later worked as an investigator in the local prosecutor's office, before retiring last year.Darren W. Penn, a lawyer and a department critic, said the Ahmaud Arbery case was "another symptom or sign of a police department that appears willing to protect those that they know."Penn is representing a woman who is suing the department over claims that it failed to intervene with her estranged son-in-law, a Glynn County officer, who killed her daughter, a friend and himself in 2018.County officials and a police spokesman could not be reached Friday for comment.From the start, McMichael's connections to the police department and the prosecutor's office presented other challenges.The first district attorney assigned to the case, Jackie Johnson, recused herself because she had worked with McMichael. The second prosecutor, Barnhill, advised Glynn County police that there was "insufficient probable cause" to issue arrest warrants, according to an internal document.Finally, the case moved to Tom Durden, the district attorney in Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit in Hinesville, who this week formally asked the state bureau of investigation to get involved, according to a GBI statement. A Justice Department spokesperson said this week that the FBI was assisting in the investigation.Bob Coleman, a county commissioner at large, was critical of Johnson, saying she should have given the case to the state attorney general, not Barnhill. After the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made arrests this week, Coleman said, "That's what should have happened a long time ago before the sun went down. They killed a person in the bright sunlight."Glynn County is a marshy coastal corner of Georgia about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta with about 85,000 residents, and is known mostly for its mellow barrier islands and its rich African American coastal culture.Like many Southern communities, its history is studded with racial violence, including three late 19th-century lynchings. Today, the county is about 70% white and 27% black, according to census figures.On Friday, hundreds gathered under the moss-draped trees outside the Glynn County courthouse to protest, arguing that the handling of the case had been botched as months went by without charges."I will never call the Glynn County police to my house!" one of Arbery's aunts said.Mario Baggs, a lifelong resident of Brunswick, said he believed that race was a factor in Arbery's killing, given the unfair treatment black men have long received."The black man is an endangered species," Baggs, 46, said. "We need justice; we need relief; we need the world to pay attention."Yet he also believed that Arbery's case fit into a larger pattern of dysfunction.Over the last decade, the Glynn County Police Department, which has 122 officers, has faced at least 17 lawsuits, including allegations of illegal search and seizure.One suit accused the department of wrongfully killing an unarmed white woman after officers fired through her car windshield. An investigation into that shooting found that Glynn County officers had tried to interfere with the inquiry to protect the officers involved.One of the officers in that shooting later killed his estranged wife and a friend. The wife's mother accused police of ignoring several alarming encounters in the months before the killings.Powell, the police chief, was arrested this year along with three other department officials after an investigation into a disbanded narcotics task force. The inquiry found that Powell had actively tried to shield wrongdoing by the task force. That led to his indictment on charges including violating the oath of office, criminal attempt to commit a felony and influencing a witness.As details of Arbery's death slowly emerged and were reported in The Brunswick News, Arbery's mother, increasingly distraught, called the department. She said that she had been told one thing but that the newspaper had reported something else entirely.Cooper's faith was shaken. "It's hard when you can't really believe what authority tells you, you know?" she said. "When you just cannot believe the people that's supposed to look out for all people. And when you question that, it's not a good feeling."Attempts to reach Gregory McMichael late last month were unsuccessful. In a brief phone conversation late last month, Travis McMichael, who runs a company that gives custom boat tours, declined to comment, citing the continuing investigation.The two men made a brief appearance in Glynn County Magistrate Court on Friday afternoon, but court officials said they did not enter a plea. No information about their lawyers was immediately available.Questions about the handling of Arbery's case extend beyond the police department and to Barnhill, the prosecutor who told police that there was insufficient probable cause to arrest the McMichaels.In an email Barnhill wrote to the state attorney general's office April 7, he asked to be taken off the case, stating that his son, an assistant district attorney in the Brunswick prosecutor's office, had handled a felony probation revocation case involving Arbery. He also said Gregory McMichael had helped with "a previous prosecution of Arbery."Court records show that Arbery was convicted of shoplifting and of violating probation in 2018; according to local news reports, he was indicted five years earlier for taking a handgun to a basketball game.Barnhill's office most recently drew attention beyond south Georgia for its prosecution of a black woman in rural Coffee County who had helped a first-time voter use a voting machine in the 2012 election. In 2018, a jury found the woman not guilty of multiple felonies. Her lawyers called the case "a racially motivated targeted prosecution."J. Peter Murphy, a Glynn County commissioner, on Friday defended the Police Department's decision to make no arrests in the shooting of Arbery. Murphy said the agency had been advised not to make arrests by both Barnhill and officials at the office of Johnson, the district attorney in Brunswick who formally asked to be taken off the case four days after the shooting. Neither prosecutor could be reached for comment."Tell me what the agency did wrong when its men and women were told several times not to arrest anyone?" Murphy said, referring to police. "What were they supposed to do? Cuff these guys and walk them into the jail and have no one prosecute them?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Putin pays a somber tribute to WWII dead as Russian coronavirus cases skyrocket Posted: 09 May 2020 07:14 AM PDT  Cancellation of the ceremony was the second blow to Putin, who was forced to call off a referendum extending his time in power.
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| Lamar Alexander warns 'not enough money' to help everyone Posted: 10 May 2020 09:23 AM PDT  "We have to let people go back to work and earn a living," the Tennessee Republican says.
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| Warning, graphic: Las Vegas man threatens to kill officers with sword before deadly shooting Posted: 10 May 2020 12:02 PM PDT  Raw video: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police released footage from a deadly shooting after a man wielding a Samurai sword approached officers and threatened to kill them.
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| Which coronavirus lockdown restrictions will be lifted first in the UK Posted: 10 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT  UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a partial lifting of the national coronavirus lockdown on Sunday, May 10.
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| Pence says he would welcome Trump ex-adviser Flynn's return: Axios Posted: 10 May 2020 11:32 AM PDT  U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday said he would welcome Michael Flynn's return to the Trump administration after the U.S. Justice Department's controversial move last week to drop criminal charges against the president's former national security adviser. In an interview with online news site Axios, Pence was asked if he would like Flynn to return to work for President Donald Trump. "For my part, I'd be happy to see Michael Flynn again," Pence said, and defended the department's action.
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| Emirates predicts 18-month lull in air demand Posted: 10 May 2020 01:43 AM PDT  Gulf aviation giant Emirates said Sunday it would take at least 18 months for travel demand to return to "a semblance of normality", despite reporting bumper pre-pandemic profits. The Dubai carrier, the largest in the Middle East, posted 1.1 billion dirhams ($288 million) in net profit for the financial year ending March, up from $237 million the previous year. Emirates Group chief Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said the airline had performed strongly in the first 11 months of the fiscal year.
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| Challenges abound for students forced to take classes remotely Posted: 10 May 2020 06:34 AM PDT  How are educators, students and their families adjusting to the current reality of online classes and distance learning, and is it compromising personal, one-on-one instruction, especially for students who are struggling?
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| 2 arrested in slaying of Michigan guard over face mask order Posted: 08 May 2020 08:19 PM PDT  Two men were arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store. Genesee County authorities said Ramonyea Bishop, 23, was taken into custody at an apartment in Bay City. The men and Sharmel Teague, the wife of Larry Teague, are charged with first degree murder in the May 1 shooting of Calvin Munerlyn at a Family Dollar store in Flint.
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| California surfer dies in shark attack Posted: 09 May 2020 08:45 PM PDT |
| Up to 43m Americans could lose health insurance amid pandemic, report says Posted: 10 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Prior to pandemic, 160 million got insurance through their job – but up to 7 million are unlikely to find new plans, say researchers * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updatesAs many as 43 million Americans could lose their health insurance in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.Prior to the pandemic, 160 million Americans, or roughly half the population, received their medical insurance through their job. The tidal wave of layoffs triggered by quarantine measures now threatens that coverage for millions.Up to 7 million of those people are unlikely to find new insurance as poor economic conditions drag on, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation thinktanks predict.Such enormous insurance losses could dramatically alter America's healthcare landscape, and will probably result in more deaths as people avoid unaffordable healthcare."The status quo is incredibly inefficient, it's incredibly unfair, it's tied to employment for no real reason," said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "This problem exposes a lot of the inadequacies in our system."If the pandemic results in a 20% unemployment rate, as some analysts expect, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) predict anywhere from 25 to 43 million people could lose health insurance. Many will use social safety nets to obtain insurance, including Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income people. However, eligibility criteria varies from state to state, with more restrictions in Republican-led states."It's incredibly segmented and every state has a different story," said Hempstead. "There's 50 different experiences."Christine Mohn, 51, lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and worked as a physical therapist. She lost her job of 18 years when her company was bought out in November 2019."You walk in the door one day, and they said: 'Your job is not here and neither is your health insurance – bye,'" Mohn said.For several months, Mohn, her husband and college-age daughter relied on a program called Cobra, which allows Americans to continue the benefits they once received from a job. But the benefits came at a steep cost. Mohn paid $1,700 a month for insurance using a line of credit on her mortgage until April 2020, when she finally got a new job.Mohn only worked two weeks before the job indefinitely furloughed its workers because the pandemic closed down all non-urgent health services.The company that furloughed Mohn allowed her to keep her health insurance, even though it is under no obligation to do so. The insurance costs Mohn $400 a month, and after four weeks she still has not received her first unemployment check. When she finally does go back to work, she said: "I can get to paying off my line of credit I've been living off."Of those who lose employer-based insurance, an estimated 7 million Americans will remain uninsured, and will lack access to healthcare during the worst pandemic in a century, RWJF predicted. Another 30 million people lacked insurance even before the pandemic, according to the Urban Institute. "You have people who think they have an infectious disease, but they don't want to come forward to get tested or get treatment because they're so worried about what kind of financial liabilities they will have," said Hempstead. "This problem exposes, really, a lot of the inadequacies in our system."Emily Jones, 22, is one of them. She lives with her mother and sister in Flushing, Michigan, and is a cancer survivor. People's Action, an advocacy group, said her insurance lapsed when she missed renewal paperwork just as the pandemic set in. Now, she is without insurance even as her mother is an essential worker.Estimating the number of people who lack insurance is a complicated task. America's fragmented health system lacks a single metric for how many people are shut out. Some researchers believe insurance losses will be low relative to job losses, because many lacked insurance despite working."The American healthcare financing system was not built to withstand the combined impact of a pandemic and a recession," said Dr Adam Gaffney, the president of Physicians for a National Health Program. PNHP advocates for a single-payer health system in the US, similar to the NHS. "It's inevitable that people will die because they can't get the care they need, because of the looming recession."
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| Gavin Newsom endorses Joe Biden for president during high-dollar fundraiser Posted: 08 May 2020 07:25 PM PDT  Gavin Newsom endorses Joe Biden for president
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| World Health Organisation denies China influence allegations Posted: 10 May 2020 08:30 AM PDT  The World Health Organization on Sunday denied allegations that the president of China asked it to delay issuing a global warning about the Covid-19 virus amid an intensifying war of words between Beijing and Washington over the handling of the pandemic. Der Speigel on Friday cited sources in Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) saying that Xi Jinping, China's head of state, had asked Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, to withhold information about human-to-human transmission and delay sounding a global alarm. The WHO said in a statement that the report was "unfounded and untrue." "Dr Tedros and President Xi did not speak on 21 January and they have never spoken by telephone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO's and the world's efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic," it said in a statement. China publicly confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 January. Der Speigel did not explain why president Xi would ask Dr Tedros to suppress information China had already released. The WHO declared the outbreak had become a pandemic on March 12. The same report said the BND believed Donald Trump had fabricated a claim that the virus escaped from a Wuhan research laboratory as a "diversion." Mr Trump and Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, have claimed to have seen intelligence and "enormous evidence" that the Wuhan lab was responsible for the pandemic. They have not made the alleged evidence public. Most scientists believe the virus jumped from bats to humans via an animal host at a food market in Wuhan. No Western intelligence agency has said there is evidence that the virus escaped from a lab, although they have expressed concern over a lack of transparency in China's response. China on Sunday issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous allegations" by some leading U.S. politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. The document included references to media reports that there were infections in America before the outbreak in Wuhan, a claim for which there is no evidence. China has also been accused of pressuring the European Union to delay and change a report that accused China or spreading disinformation about the virus. Donald Trump suspended US funding for the WHO on April 15 over what he called its "mismanagement" of the epidemic and alleged influence by China.
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| Ted Cruz says San Antonio's decision to label the term 'Chinese virus' as hate speech is 'nuts' Posted: 09 May 2020 08:33 AM PDT  The council also encouraged residents to report antisemitic and racist incidents that have been on the rise since the pandemic began.
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| Three key U.S. coronavirus officials in self-quarantine after COVID-19 exposure Posted: 08 May 2020 09:38 PM PDT  Anthony Fauci, a high-profile member of the White House coronavirus response team, is considered to be at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure, according to a representative for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, the 79-year-old director of that institute, has tested negative for COVID-19 and he will continue to be tested regularly, the official said in an emailed statement. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "will be teleworking for the next two weeks" after a "low-risk exposure" on Wednesday to a person at the White House who has the disease, the CDC said in a statement.
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| Letters to the Editor: Risking death to eat out isn't 'resistance,' it's recklessness Posted: 10 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Pictures of restaurant employees and patrons gleefully violating California's social-distancing rules do no favors to businesses that behave responsibly.
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| The man who recorded Ahmaud Arbery's death has received threats after police said they were investigating him, his lawyer said Posted: 10 May 2020 12:51 PM PDT  An attorney for William Bryan, who filmed the video, said his client did not associate with the suspects and has cooperated in the investigation.
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| Taliban say they don't have missing US contractor Posted: 09 May 2020 09:26 PM PDT  Taliban leaders searched their ranks, including in the much-feared Haqqani network, and on Sunday told The Associated Press they are not holding Mark R. Frerichs, a Navy veteran turned contractor who disappeared in Afghanistan in late January. "We don't have any information about the missing American," Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman, told the AP. A second Taliban official familiar with the talks with the United States said "formally and informally" the Taliban have notified U.S. officials they are not holding Frerichs.
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| Record-breaking cold and snow blast through Mother's Day weekend Posted: 09 May 2020 01:44 PM PDT  "Passing along a message from Mother Nature," the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, tweeted alongside a photo of a car covered in light snow. "Happy Mother's Day Weekend."
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| Mike Rowe: I have a front row seat to the greatest self-inflicted economic disaster in history Posted: 09 May 2020 05:45 PM PDT  TV host Mike Rowe reacts to the 'unintended consequences' of applying one safety standard to the entire country for COVID-19.
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| Germany's infection rate rises above one after they ease lockdown Posted: 10 May 2020 09:37 AM PDT  Germany's coronavirus reproduction rate – the crucial measure shows how widely the virus is spreading in the community – has risen to 1.1, giving rise to fears that a second wave of infections may be imminent. The findings come just days after the country begun the first phase of relaxing its coronavirus lockdown measures, while anti-lockdown protests have been building across the country. Germany has been lauded internationally for its coordinated response to the virus and its corresponding low death rate, with 7,549 having fallen victim to the disease there until Saturday, compared with 31,587 in the UK, which has a much smaller population. But the rise in infections suggests that the lockdown relaxations may have been premature, and is a headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel who has limits on her powers in Germany's decentralised system. Britain will be watching the developments closely as it begins to move towards easing lockdown. When she announced a relaxation of lockdown measures on Wednesday, Germany's reproduction rate was at 0.65, before rising to 0.81 on Friday and 1.1 on Saturday. A rate of 1 or more means that each carrier of the virus infects at least one more person, ensuring it continues to spread. Germany's Robert Koch Institute which compiled the figures, said it that while the rate has been increasing rapidly since Wednesday, at this stage it cannot be determined whether the relaxed lockdowns were responsible. It said: "The increase in the estimated (reproduction) value makes it necessary to watch the development very carefully over the next few days.|" The findings come from data compiled on Saturday, and show that the infection rate has now effectively doubled in the three days since the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. On Saturday, outbreaks at several meatpacking plants in North Rhine-Westphalia – the country's most populous state - prompted the state leadership to promise to test each of the estimated 18-20,000 meatworkers in the state. In the western town of Coesfeld, where 151 of 200 slaughterhouse workers tested positive for the virus, authorities decided to suspend lockdown relaxations. Despite the outbreaks, Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for the country's border with France to be reopened in order to foster European solidarity. Merkel struck a different tone when announcing the first phase of relaxations midweek, reminding the German public "we still have a long fight against the virus ahead of us". It was a rare example of contradicting sentiments between the German leader and the man favoured to succeed her as leader of the Christian Democrats when she steps down next year. Despite the continued danger posed by Covid-19, protesters took to the streets across Germany at the weekend to criticise the lockdown measures. Thousands gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and other German cities, saying their rights were being infringed and complaining that the government and medical workers were spreading panic. In Munich, more than 3,000 people – many without masks and not respecting social distancing rules - gathered in the city's central Marienplatz, with signs critical of "health fascism" and proclaiming: "We want our lives back". Although there have been consistent protests against the measures since they were first put in place in March, the weekend's demonstrations were the biggest seen so far since the outbreak of the virus. The German Press Agency reports that although the group was well over the maximum of 50 people allowed to attend demonstrations under the government's coronavirus restrictions, police decided not to break up the largely peaceful demonstration in the interests of "proportionality". Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter was heavily critical of the protesters on Sunday. Despite saying he empathised with their desire "to return to a certain normality", Reiter told German media "I have absolutely no understanding of actions or demonstrations that, due to the lack of distance and mouth / nose protection, counteract any positive developments in the infection and more likely to jeopardise further loosening than to enable it." Reiter also said he found it "absolutely unbearable" that the protests had a heavy presence from known far-right groups.
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| Trump White House adviser says unemployment rate could pass 20% during coronavirus pandemic Posted: 10 May 2020 12:46 PM PDT  White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Sunday he thinks the USA will reach the 20% unemployment mark "by next month."
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| Italy's daily coronavirus death toll and new cases fall Posted: 09 May 2020 09:34 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 194 on Saturday, against 243 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases fell to 1,083 from 1,327 on Friday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 30,395 the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.
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