| Trump: People in Pennsylvania 'want their freedom now,' but Democrats delay reopening to hurt him Posted: 11 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT  President Trump on Monday accused Democratic governors without evidence of moving to reopen their states too slowly amid the coronavirus pandemic to hurt his chances of reelection.
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| Iran warship accidentally 'hit by missile' during exercises Posted: 10 May 2020 11:31 PM PDT  An Iranian warship was accidentally hit by a missile during exercises in the Gulf of Oman, killing at least one, state television said Monday, amid tensions with the US in the waterway. One report said the vessel had sunk after being hit by a missile fired by another Iranian warship. "The vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target," state television said on its website.
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| Nearly one-third of Americans believe a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld, survey finds Posted: 12 May 2020 07:18 AM PDT  The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project found some misinformation about the coronavirus is more widespread that you might think.
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| Coronavirus: California rodeo attracts thousands despite social distancing orders Posted: 11 May 2020 03:58 AM PDT  Thousands attended a rodeo in California despite state orders against public gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, it has been reported.Crowds could be seen packed tightly in the stands at Sunday's annual Cottonwood Rodeo in rural Shasta County, after local police said they would not enforce the state's lockdown orders.
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| 'We did our time': Colorado restaurant defies state order, reopens to packed crowds Posted: 11 May 2020 01:49 PM PDT  As states prepare to lift restrictions on businesses such as bars and restaurants, scenes that played out in several states on Mother's Day weekend shows how doing so safely amid the coronavirus pandemic may prove to be challenging.
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| China cuts Australian beef imports after warning against virus probe Posted: 12 May 2020 02:50 AM PDT  China suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers Tuesday, just weeks after Beijing's ambassador warned of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra's push to probe the origins of the coronavirus. Analysts said the move raised concerns of a possible standoff between Australia and its most important trading partner that could spill over into other crucial sectors as it struggles to navigate the disease-induced economic crisis. Federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said shipments of meat from four abattoirs had been suspended over "minor technical" breaches related to Chinese health and labelling certificate requirements.
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| 1 of these 7 women will likely be Joe Biden's running mate Posted: 12 May 2020 02:55 AM PDT  If you're like me, you sometimes wake up and remember to your horror that we are in fact going to have a presidential election in November. The Democratic National Convention, in whatever form it is eventually held, is still months away. But sooner or later, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is going to have to announce his running mate. Barring an extraordinary about-face, we can assume that Biden is going to select a woman. Given the concerns about Biden's age and health, I think it's fair to say that she will be someone a plurality of Democrats would be happy to see at the top of the ticket as well.Here are seven candidates whose names are currently being discussed, with varying degrees of seriousness.7\. Stacey AbramsAs far as I can tell, the name of the woman who lost the governor's race in Georgia in 2018 is being floated mostly because she really wants the job. This is not a good reason for considering her a serious candidate. Never mind her bizarre long-standing refusal to acknowledge that her former opponent, Brian Kemp, is in fact Georgia's duly elected governor: her relatively thin résumé (she has never held national or statewide office) makes Abrams a long shot at best. I would not, however, be surprised to see her nominated for a cabinet position in a Biden administration.6\. Susan RiceBiden selecting Barack Obama's former national security adviser would mean (my fingers are shaking with an admixture of hilarity and fear as I type this) making Benghazi a live issue again. If this is not itself enough of an argument against her selection, consider the fact that Rice is otherwise best known for her involvement in Obama's ill-fated intervention in Libya, arguably the proximate cause of the worst refugee crisis in modern history and has virtually no experience of running for office. Instead, she strikes me as someone else likely to find a cabinet position, perhaps as secretary of state, if Biden wins in November.5\. Gov. Gretchen WhitmerMichigan's Democratic governor has become a media darling in spite or perhaps because of her limited interest in solving the problems of her home state. The best argument in favor of nominating her is that it could help tip the scales in a state Democrats very much need to retake this fall. But the logistics (to say nothing of the optics) of governing while serving as one half of a presidential ticket during and after a pandemic are pretty shaky. Besides, Whitmer's policies (including a pointless and swiftly retracted ban on the sale of paint and garden gnomes) have made her a divisive figure in Michigan. The potential for reward with Whitmer is high, but so are the risks.4\. Sen. Elizabeth WarrenFor all the animosity Warren showed toward Bernie Sanders during the later stages of the primary campaign, the two are still ideological allies who have far more in common with one another than either has with Biden and the party's centrist establishment. A sitting senator endorsing her party's presidential nominee is one thing. Walking back an entire platform, including unambiguous support for single-payer health care, is probably a bridge too far. Selecting Warren as Biden's number two would not placate hardcore Sanders supporters, but it would give Trump a chance to remind the world of Warren's embarrassing DNA test fiasco at a time when many Democrats would like to see a racially balanced presidential ticket. Probably the only reason to consider her is that it is easy to imagine her tearing Vice President Pence a new one in a debate.3\. Sen. Catherine Cortez MastoThis brings us to the junior senator from Nevada. Here is a chance to nominate a woman of color and a prominent Democrat who did not take part in this year's contentious primaries. It remains unclear, however, whether Cortez Masto is actually interested in the position. It is also not obvious that the party would be willing to risk losing Cortez Masto's Senate seat to a Republican in 2022. Nor is it easy to imagine that the average DNC bigwig sees her as someone capable of filling Biden's shoes if he were forced to step aside for health or other reasons.2\. Sen. Amy KlobucharKlobuchar is a nearly perfect match for Biden ideologically. Their talking points during the primary campaign were nearly identical — indeed Klobuchar was a far more eloquent defender of Biden's positions than the man himself. She is also a senator from the Midwest and an ideal person to have on the (perhaps this year entirely metaphorical) campaign trail in states like Wisconsin and Michigan. The fact that her home state has fared better than many of its neighbors in the pandemic, while having virtually nothing to do with Klobuchar, would make an excellent talking point. The only thing I can imagine standing in the way here is a desire to give Biden a non-white running mate.1\. Sen Kamala HarrisStrange as it might seem less than a year after their bitter exchanges about Biden's past opposition to busing, Harris is easily the favorite to be his running mate. Unlike Warren, Harris has no real ideological conflict with the nominee; she balances the ticket racially in addition to fulfilling Biden's promise to select a woman; her leaving the Senate would not endanger Democratic control of her seat; she is well liked by the party establishment. Also her fierce debate performances suggest that she would make an ideal candidate for facing off against Pence. There is a reason Vegas is backing her.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com How Trump lost his Electoral College edge to Biden Progressives may block Democrats' coronavirus bill after it leaves out payroll funding for small businesses The dark decade ahead
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| Venezuela detains 40 suspects after failed Maduro 'kidnap attempt' Posted: 12 May 2020 07:49 AM PDT  * Three captured west of Caracas are latest 'terrorists' arrested * Advisers to opposition leader Juan Guaidó linked to raid resign Nicolás Maduro's security forces have continued their roundup of alleged participants in last week's botched attempt to capture him, with the arrest of three Venezuelan men just west of the capital.The trio was reportedly seized in Carayaca, 35 miles from Caracas in the early hours of Monday, taking the number of detentions to more than 40. The official Twitter account of Venezuela's Bolivarian national guard claimed the men were "terrorists who entered the country intending to provoke violence".On Sunday the army chief, Remigio Ceballos, announced the capture of another eight "enemies of the fatherland" who were pictured kneeling down before a cluster of rifle-toting troops.Eight people were reportedly killed when a group of about 60 mercenaries, including two United States citizens, launched their botched sea raid on 2 May.One of the captured American attackers, Airan Berry, last week claimed, possibly under duress, that the group had been tasked with raiding Maduro's presidential palace and seizing a local airport in order to spirit him out of the country. Many of the group are reportedly being held in El Helicoide, Venezuela's most notorious political prison.The failed raid has proved a propaganda boon for Maduro, who has long claimed he was the subject of an imperialist, US-sponsored assassination plot.Maduro has spent the last 16 months fighting off a challenge from the young opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who more than 50 foreign governments recognize as Venezuela's legitimate interim leader.For Guaidó, who for a time last year looked poised to topple Maduro, recent events threaten to permanently derail his push for political change.Guaidó has denied any involvement in the failed mission to capture Maduro. But two of his advisers, the Miami-based strategist Juan José Rendón and the opposition lawmaker Sergio Vergara, are alleged to have signed a $212m contract with Jordan Goudreau, the former Green Beret behind the raid.Vergara and Rendón – who has admitted meeting Goudreau last year and paying him $50,000 in expenses – resigned from Guaidó's team on Monday.In his first interview since the incident, Guaidó tried to put on a brave face, insisting his campaign continued. "What happened last weekend," Guaidó said, "was regrettable."But some suspect the opposition leader, from whom support has been gradually draining away, is running out of steam."I'm sure Maduro and his people are quite thrilled about the way this turned out. This really works for them," said David Smilde, a Venezuela specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America."It just adds into this continual erosion of people's perception of Guaidó as an effective leader, and they are thinking: 'Well, maybe Maduro is not actually as much of a rube as we thought.'"
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| Putin's spokesman becomes fifth senior Russian official to get coronavirus Posted: 12 May 2020 01:58 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as a new surge in infections gave Russia the third highest number of reported cases in the world after the United States. Peskov, the fifth senior official to contract the virus, said he had last met Putin in person more than a month ago, the TASS news agency reported. Putin, who has been working remotely from his residence outside Moscow and holding many meetings via video conference, held a face-to-face meeting earlier on Tuesday with Igor Sechin, the head of oil giant Rosneft .
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| Packed United flight leaves passengers 'scared,' 'shocked' amid fears of the coronavirus Posted: 10 May 2020 06:27 PM PDT  Physician tweets photo of full plane despite airlines' assurances of open middle seats. On this cross-country flight, there appeared to be no empties.
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| Chevy's new Tahoe police cars include beefed-up off-road capabilities and wider doors to fit handcuffed passengers Posted: 12 May 2020 12:45 PM PDT  The 2021 Tahoe-based police cars can tow, are better-suited for off-roading, and have more cargo room.
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| India's prime minister announces huge virus relief package Posted: 12 May 2020 08:12 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Tuesday that the government will spend more than $260 billion, the equivalent of nearly 10% of the country's GDP, on a coronavirus economic relief package designed to make the world's second most populous nation more self-reliant. "The package's main aim is to build a self-reliant India," Modi said in a televised speech, adding that it will help the country compete globally. India entered its sixth week of a stringent nationwide lockdown on Tuesday, pushing an economy already enfeebled before the pandemic to the brink of collapse.
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| 2,000 former DOJ, FBI officials call on Barr to resign over Michael Flynn case Posted: 11 May 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Barr is using the Justice Department to further Trump's personal and political interests, the letter said.
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| China plans to test the entire city of Wuhan in just 10 days after new COVID-19 cases Posted: 12 May 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million where the COVID-19 pandemic originated, reported six new cases over the weekend, its first new infections in 35 days. None of the new cases were imported, and China plans to get to the bottom of this cluster, announcing a plan to test the entire city in 10 days, CNN reports. Wuhan authorities plan to use nucleic acid tests, which are more effective and complicated to perform than tests that look for a body's immune response.If all 11 million people in Wuhan are tested, that would require producing and processing tests for a population greater than the entire country of Greece — in 10 days. The U.S. has conducted 9.4 million tests during the entire pandemic, the COVID Tracking Project reported Monday.China's official coronavirus figures have always had an asterisk by them, and a large number of positive results from a city-wide testing program would reflect poorly on Wuhan's previously reported data, CNN notes. The head official of Wuhan's Changqing area, where the new cases were found, was already removed from his post for failing to prevent the outbreak, China Daily reported Monday.South Korea and Germany have also reported setbacks in their largely successful efforts to beat back the coronavirus, highlighting the tenacity of the new virus and the risks of relaxing mitigation efforts.More stories from theweek.com 1 of these 7 women will likely be Joe Biden's running mate How Trump lost his Electoral College edge to Biden Progressives may block Democrats' coronavirus bill after it leaves out payroll funding for small businesses
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| WHO Says It Cannot Invite Taiwan to Annual Summit after China Says Participation Would ‘Severely Violate the One-China Principle’ Posted: 11 May 2020 02:15 PM PDT  The World Health Organization said it could not invite Taiwan to an upcoming international health summit, despite pleas from the U.S. and its allies, due to "divergent views," after China said it "deplores and opposes" efforts to include Taipei in the gathering.WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon explained to reporters on Monday that the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom could not invite Taiwan — which is not a member of the WHO — to participate in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) if members of the international body disagreed."To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when it's clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so," Solomon explained. "Today however, the situation is not the same. Instead of clear support, there are divergent views among member states and no basis there for — no mandate — for the DG to extend an invitation."Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Tedros should include Taiwan in the upcoming WHA meeting, saying "he has the power to do, and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions." The proposal was supported by New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Germany, but China disparaged the claim, saying that those supporting it "severely violate the one-China principle."Last month, Tedros himself accused Taiwan of racist "attacks" over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an allegation that Taiwan denied as "unprovoked and untrue." Tedros's claim came after Taiwan said in March that the organization had ignored its December warnings that human-to-human transmission of coronavirus was possible. The WHO tweeted on January 14 that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission."
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| U.S. diplomat’s wife accused of killing British teen ‘wanted internationally’ Posted: 11 May 2020 10:08 AM PDT  Anne Sacoolas left the UK shortly after fatal crash and claimed diplomatic immunity.
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| Russia examines ventilator type sent to U.S. after fires kill six Posted: 11 May 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Moscow has begun investigating the safety of a Russian-made medical ventilator, some of which have been sent to the United States though not used, after six people died in hospital fires reported to involve two such machines. Five people died at Saint George's Hospital in St Petersburg on Tuesday, including four in a coronavirus intensive care unit, according to a local lawyer. A source told the TASS news agency that the blaze erupted after a ventilator, used to help severely ill COVID-19 patients breathe, burst into flames in the ward.
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| Suspect arrested in 30 year old apparent homophobic cold case death of American man in Sydney Posted: 12 May 2020 07:31 AM PDT  An arrest has been made in a cold case killing of a gay man in Australia, more than 30 years after it occurred.American Mathematician Scott Johnson, 27, died in Sydney, Australia, in 1988 after falling off a cliff in what was categorised at the time as a suicide.
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| Boeing CEO predicts coronavirus pandemic will claim a major U.S. airline. He didn't name names Posted: 12 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun tells "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie that low traffic will put pressure on airlines and that one likely won't survive.
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| Video shows food executives being told to remove their masks before discussing coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants with Mike Pence Posted: 11 May 2020 01:41 PM PDT  The vice president also did not wear a mask, though he had already known for several hours that his press secretary tested positive for COVID-19.
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| Biggest US solar project approved in Nevada despite critics Posted: 11 May 2020 03:57 PM PDT  The Trump administration announced final approval Monday of the largest solar energy project in the U.S. and one of the biggest in the world despite objections from conservationists who say it will destroy thousands of acres of habitat critical to the survival of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise in Nevada. The $1 billion Gemini solar and battery storage project about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas is expected to produce 690 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 260,000 households — and annually offset greenhouse emissions of about 83,000 cars. It will create about 2,000 direct and indirect jobs and inject an estimated $712.5 million in the economy as the nation tries to recover from the downturn brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said.
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| 'It's all rigged': Trump foreshadows how he could undermine presidential election Posted: 12 May 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Trump accusations shed light on how he could use the Covid-19 pandemic to undermine the results of the November electionDonald Trump falsely accused Democrats of trying to "steal" Tuesday's special election in California amid the Covid-19 pandemic by adding a polling place in one of the most diverse sections of a district.But the county actually added the polling location at the request of the area's Republican mayor.In a move that could foreshadow his approach to November's presidential election, Trump said Democrats were deliberately adding one of the few polling locations over the weekend in Lancaster, a city North of Los Angeles, where it was likely to benefit Democratic voters. "They are trying to steal another election. It's all rigged out there. These votes must not count. SCAM!," he tweeted.> Dems are trying to steal the Mike Garcia Congressional Race in California. Republicans, get out and VOTE for your terrific candidate, ASAP!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020The election is expected to take place largely by mail, common in California, and the state mailed a ballot to all registered voters in the district. Still, there will be some opportunity for in-person voting. But though Democrats complained that the lack of a polling location in Lancaster would harm minority voters, officials added the additional location after R Rex Parris, the city's Republican mayor, requested it.Though he thinks it's dangerous to vote in person during the Covid-19 pandemic, Parris told the Guardian he made the request after realizing a nearby city had two polling locations, while his city had none. While he believes elections can be rigged and understood why it might have appeared that way to Trump, he said adding the polling location was not a Democratic power grab."I gotta take the rap. I called them up and said I want a vote center, so they gave it to me," he said.The California accusations underscore how the president could take advantage of the way voting procedures are rapidly changing in response to Covid-19 and question the legitimacy of election results in November.While Trump has long railed, without evidence, that elections are tainted by voter fraud, the increased focus on vote-by-mail amid the pandemic could offer a new thread for him to pull on to undermine confidence in elections this year. Several studies have shown voter fraud is not a widespread problem."Given that the president has been making unsubstantiated voter fraud comments for years, I expect that these comments will continue," said Richard Hasen, a professor of election law at the University of California, Irvine. "The comments are very worrisome because they increase the chances that the president's supporters would not accept the election results as legitimate should he lose in November."Hasen and other experts helped author a report last month offering guidance on how to shore up confidence in the results of the 2020 election. The recommendations include getting states to develop emergency contingency plans well in advance and educating the public that election results might not be available on election night as officials count mailed-in ballots.Democrats and Republicans are already fighting over how aggressively to expand efforts to vote by mail in November, but the fight over the availability of in-person voting is likely to continue to be an explosive issue. Faced with poll worker shortages and concerns about in-person gathering, election officials have severely cut back in-person voting. Parties and campaigns are likely to aggressively fight over which polling places close and where the new ones are placed."All of those changes allow for someone frankly who wants to undermine our faith in the election system to say 'look at what they're doing to you. This is a corrupt system,'" said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles."Certainly whenever there's a change in how we vote I think it can be unsettling for people, and they can question whether or not they can have faith in the system, and President Trump has seized that opening."
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| 'Should have kept his mouth shut': McConnell slams Obama for criticizing Trump admin Posted: 12 May 2020 04:41 AM PDT  The Senate majority leader said the former president broke with tradition by maligning his successor.
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| Coronavirus: India announces $264bn economic rescue package Posted: 12 May 2020 05:41 PM PDT  Narendra Modi announces financial support for farmers and small businesses hit by the virus shutdown.
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| Russia now has the 2nd most coronavirus cases in the world Posted: 12 May 2020 08:50 AM PDT  Russia now has the second most confirmed coronavirus infections in the world, though its 232,000-plus confirmed cases is still far fewer than the United States.The country's cases continue to rise significantly day-to-day, although the rate is mostly stable. BBC News notes that there have now been 10 consecutive days with new infections above 10,000, most of which are in Moscow, which is home to around 12 million people.Despite the high number of cases, Russia has reported only 2,116 COVID-19 fatalities, giving the country a low death rate. The Kremlin attributes that success to a mass testing program, but many people are skeptical of the figure, believing the true total to be much higher, BBC reports.There are some high profile cases within the government, including President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who is hospitalized with the virus.None of this news has deterred Putin from beginning to ease lockdown measures, however — factory and construction workers were allowed back on the job Tuesday, although the president granted regions the authority to set their own restrictions depending on their status. Read more at BBC News.More stories from theweek.com 1 of these 7 women will likely be Joe Biden's running mate How Trump lost his Electoral College edge to Biden Progressives may block Democrats' coronavirus bill after it leaves out payroll funding for small businesses
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| The Supreme Court just heard a pair of cases that could decide whether anyone will see Trump’s tax returns Posted: 12 May 2020 02:23 PM PDT  The Supreme Court on Tuesday met by teleconference to hear a pair of cases that will likely determine whether anyone sees Trump's tax returns and related financial records.
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| China calls for coronavirus vigilance, warns against complacency Posted: 12 May 2020 12:57 AM PDT  Chinese health authorities called on Tuesday called for vigilance to be maintained against the novel coronavirus as new clusters emerge, even though the peak of the epidemic has passed in the country where it first appeared. The reappearance of clusters suggested that counter-epidemic measures could not be relaxed, Mi Feng, spokesman at the National Health Commission, told a media briefing. As of Monday, mainland China had 115 current confirmed cases, while 5,470 people were under medical observation for signs of novel coronavirus infection.
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| Virus symptoms multiply as pandemic deepens Posted: 11 May 2020 06:44 AM PDT  Every week, it seems, the list of coronavirus symptoms -- ranging from disagreeable to deadly, from "COVID toes" to toxic shock -- grows longer. What began as a familiar flu-like cluster of chills, headaches and fever has rapidly expanded over the last three months into a catalogue of syndromes affecting most of the body's main organs. The new coronavirus can also push the immune system into overdrive, unleashing an indiscriminate assault on pathogens and their human hosts alike.
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| Atlanta-area DA, 3rd outside prosecutor, to take Arbery case Posted: 11 May 2020 10:04 AM PDT  Georgia's attorney general appointed a black district attorney from the Atlanta area Monday to take over the case of a white father and son charged with killing a black man, making her the third outside prosecutor in a slaying that's prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests. Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was fatally shot Feb. 23 by the men who told police they chased him because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video. Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were arrested last week, more than two months later, after video of the shooting appeared online and provoked outrage.
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| Trump's lawyer says he is 'himself a branch of government' and 'not to be treated as an ordinary citizen' in blockbuster Supreme Court case over Trump's financial records Posted: 12 May 2020 11:56 AM PDT  The Supreme Court is President Trump's last hope to stop the public from gaining access to his tax returns and financial records.
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| Pelosi Unveils $3 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill Posted: 12 May 2020 11:13 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Tuesday unveiled a $3 trillion economic relief bill that will almost certainly not be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said that the bill includes funding for state and local governments and additional direct payments to individual Americans. The bill will also provide for expanded coronavirus testing and contact tracing, student loan relief, and additional funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.Other provisions in the bill are unrelated to the coronavirus. One provision would require federal banking regulators to report to Congress annually on "the availability of access to financial services for minority-owned and women-owned cannabis-related legitimate businesses."Senator John Barrasso (R., Wy.) said the bill had no chance of success in the Senate."That will not pass. It's not going to be supported," John Barrasso told CNN. Hoyer said Democrats would press ahead with the new bill even without Republican support.Congress already passed a massive $2 trillion relief bill in March and arranged for another $500 billion funding injection for small business loans and hospitals struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Kent.) have made clear their opposition to further rounds of spending without congressional debate."You've seen the talk from both sides about acting, but my goal from the beginning of this, given the extraordinary numbers that we're racking up to the national debt, is that we need to be as cautious as we can be," McConnell told Politico in April.While negotiating the March $2 trillion relief bill, Republicans slammed Democrats for inserting legislation unrelated to the pandemic, with Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) referring to the additions as an "ideological wish-list." The additions were added following House Majority Whip James Clyburn's (D., S.C.) comments that the relief bill represented "a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision."
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| Isabel dos Santos says Angola faked evidence to freeze assets Posted: 12 May 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of Angola's ex-president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on Tuesday accused the government of resorting to forgery to freeze her assets last year. The 47-year-old tycoon and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo are accused of syphoning off more than one billion dollars from Angolan state companies. Dos Santos claimed in a statement that a copy of a fake passport -- bearing the signature of late martial arts film star Bruce Lee -- was part of the evidence submitted to the court.
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| DOT warns airlines – again – to issue refunds for canceled flights after receiving 25,000 complaints Posted: 12 May 2020 11:27 AM PDT After receiving 25,000 complaints this spring, the Department of Transportation is warning airlines they must issue refunds for canceled flights.
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| Stranded German fugitive spends 54 days in Indian airport after coronavirus lockdown Posted: 11 May 2020 07:52 AM PDT  A 40-year-old German fugitive has spent a remarkable 54 days in the transit area of a New Delhi airport, after becoming stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown. In scenes reminiscent of Hollywood blockbuster The Terminal, Edgard Ziebat is using the bathrooms to wash while airport security staff are providing him with food. "The person looks physically fine and psychologically he is perfect, he hasn't asked us for anything," said a bemused official from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). On March 18, Mr. Ziebat was waiting to catch a connecting flight from New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to Istanbul - where he has family - after a trip to Vietnam. India suddenly cancelled all flights to and from Turkey in the wake of the pandemic and Mr. Ziebat refused to travel to Germany on remaining commercial flights or subsequent relief flights because he is wanted there on criminal charges, according to the MEA official. "There is a lookout notice against him and as soon as he reaches there [Germany], he would be arrested," the official said. Details of his arrest warrant have not been made public. Mr. Ziebat refused offers to be flown to a third-country or to apply for a temporary entry visa for India. It is believed that the German Embassy in New Delhi has refused to accept custody of Mr. Ziebat because of his criminal record, which would make it a law enforcement matter. Officials said Mr. Ziebat has spent the last 54 days reading magazines and newspapers and catching up with family and friends outside the terminal on his mobile phone, which he is able to use through the airport wifi. He has also been interacting with airport housekeeping staff and taking regular walks around the transit area. Indians took to social media to express their amazement at the story, as the airport is hardly renowned for its cleanliness. "Is this human? Show some empathy and ensure he gets back to home," wrote one. A source within German foreign ministry circles said it was working on Mr Ziebat's situation. "The case is known to the foreign ministry, our embassy in New Delhi is in contact with the Indian authorities about this and the individual concerned has been informed about the possibilities of return to Germany," said the source. "We cannot provide further details about individual consular cases for reasons of personal rights and data protection."
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| A Coronavirus Mystery Explained: Moscow Has 1,700 Extra Deaths Posted: 11 May 2020 11:58 AM PDT  MOSCOW -- Ever since the coronavirus took hold globally, researchers have been puzzled by Russia's mortality rate of only about 13 deaths per million, far below the world average of 36 in a country with an underfunded health system.With the arrival of data for April, however, the mystery appears to be clearing up.Data released by Moscow's city government Friday shows that the number of overall registered deaths in the Russian capital in April exceeded the five-year average for the same period by more than 1,700. That total is far higher than the official COVID-19 death count of 642 -- an indication of significant underreporting by the authorities.A similar picture has been observed in many other countries. In neighboring Belarus, for example -- where the authoritarian leader Aleksandr G. Lukashenko has rejected calls for a lockdown as "frenzy and psychosis" -- the reported death rate is about 10 per million. In Mexico, officials have recorded more than three times as many deaths in the capital as the government has acknowledged."Mortality figures in Moscow seem to be much higher than average for Aprils over the last decade," said Tatiana N. Mikhailova, a senior researcher at the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow. "One thing is clear: The number of COVID-19 victims is possibly almost three times higher than the official toll," she said in an interview, adding that additional calculations needed to be made to come up with a precise number.The new figures contrast sharply with the line that has been peddled by the Kremlin.Speaking to President Vladimir Putin at the end of April, Anna Popova, the head of Russia's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog, boasted that the country's mortality rate was "among the lowest in the world." Russian state-run television channels have been relentlessly advertising the country's effort to fight the virus as superior to Western nations'.On Monday, claiming success at slowing the spread of the coronavirus despite a sharp rise in infections, Putin ordered the end of a nationwide "non-working period" in force since late March.Putin, speaking on state television shortly after health authorities reported the biggest one-day rise in infections, acknowledged that the pandemic had not yet been defeated but said it was now up regional governors to decide whether to lift or strengthen restrictions in their territories.While the official number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus in Russia stood at 1,124 for Moscow and 2,009 nationwide as of Monday, arriving at a more accurate estimate will be highly complicated.Thousands of people have left Moscow since the city government declared a lockdown in March, an exodus that would lower the number of deaths in the city. And many people could have died of other causes as at least 37 Moscow hospitals have been converted to treat only coronavirus patients.Overall, about 70% of coronavirus-related deaths have not been reported in Moscow and about 80% in the country's regions, said Aleksei I. Raksha, an independent demographer in Moscow. He was among the first to spot the April data, buried in an obscure government statistics website, as he has been studying mortality rates in the Russian capital and the country's regions and comparing them with official death tolls.The lower numbers, according to Raksha, can be attributed to the way that causes of death are registered in Russia."For most deaths, the registered cause will be the disease of the organ that directly caused it," he said in an interview. "This is the way the system has worked for a long time," he said, adding that he believes it is highly likely that the authorities at some level are manipulating this system to yield the result they want.Speaking to the Echo of Moscow radio station last week, Georgi A. Frank, a senior Russian coroner, acknowledged that health officials have wide leeway in registering causes of death."In a number of cases, COVID-19 might not be the main cause of death -- sometimes it can be just a background to the main disease," Frank said. "Of course, there can be some manipulations, but decent doctors never allow it."Russia reported its first coronavirus death March 19, when a 79-year-old woman died in Moscow. Shortly afterward, the death was reclassified as having resulted from a blood clot and the case was removed from the official COVID-19 death toll.More than 11,800 people died in Moscow this April, far more than during any other April since 1995, when Russia was engulfed in a post-Soviet economic crisis worse than the Great Depression. The number was posted by the Moscow government, which collects reports from the city's civil registration offices that record vital events, such as births, marriages and deaths.The death toll will be updated by the Russian State Statistics Service by the end of this month but is unlikely to change much. On average, the Russian capital has about 10,000 deaths each April.Being by far the busiest point of entry into the county, Moscow has been the first area in Russia to be hit by the coronavirus. Still, it has lagged behind most other European capitals, registering only a few deaths before the middle of April.Russian regions, in turn, have lagged behind Moscow. As of Monday morning, Moscow accounted for 52% of all reported coronavirus cases in Russia, with more than 109,000 people infected.An even clearer picture of the true coronavirus death toll is likely to be revealed in the mortality data for May, when the virus began to grip Russia in earnest, experts said. About 45 deaths and more than 5,000 new cases have been registered in Moscow daily over the past week.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Germany's coronavirus reproduction rate dips below critical threshold Posted: 12 May 2020 10:32 AM PDT  The reproduction rate for the coronavirus pandemic in Germany fell below the critical threshold of 1 to an estimated 0.94 on Tuesday after a 1.07 reading on Monday, the Robert Koch Institute for public health and disease control said. "So far, we do not expect a renewed rising trend," the RKI said in its daily report, adding the overall number of cases in Germany was diminishing, meaning local outbreaks had a greater impact on 'R' than with higher case numbers. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased over the latest 24-hour period by 933 to 170,508, RKI data showed.
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| Gentlemens' clubs, stripped of business during pandemic, are entitled to relief, judge rules Posted: 12 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  "Simply put, Congress did not pick winners and losers in the PPP," U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman wrote.
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| The White House is testing its staff for coronavirus using a device that often gives false negatives Posted: 11 May 2020 04:14 AM PDT  Abbott Laboratories has said its ID NOW test system, which gives results in 13 minutes, can wrongly say someone is virus-free when they are not.
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| Militants storm maternity clinic in Afghan capital, kill 16 Posted: 12 May 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Militants stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off an hours-long shootout with the police and killing 16 people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses, Afghan officials said. While the battle was underway, Afghan security forces struggled to evacuate the facility carrying out babies and frantic young mothers, according to images shared by the Interior Ministry. The clinic is supported by the aid group Doctors Without Borders, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency.
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| In Brazil, gyms and hair salons are 'essential' businesses Posted: 11 May 2020 07:21 PM PDT  In Brazil, exercising at the gym and getting a haircut are essential activities -- so says President Jair Bolsonaro, who claims that COVID-19 is just a weak case of flu. In a decree published in a special edition of the government gazette, Bolsonaro included gyms and hair salons on a list of "essential" businesses allowed to open in states and cities currently under lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. "Because health is life, today I put gyms, beauty salons and barbers on the list of essential activities," he told reporters late Monday.
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| China warns of countermeasures to new U.S. rule for Chinese journalists Posted: 11 May 2020 10:57 AM PDT  China warned on Monday that it will take countermeasures in response to a U.S. decision to tighten visa terms for Chinese journalists and urged the United States to immediately "correct its mistake."
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