| 'It is an existential threat': As coronavirus spreads to Africa, health experts warn of catastrophe Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:31 PM PDT  So far, African countries have been spared the high death tolls seen in Italy, Spain, and the U.S., but officials are bracing for the worst in the coming weeks.
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| Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different' Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:45 PM PDT  A reporter at Tuesday's White House coronavirus press briefing raised the question many, many parents want answered: How soon will the kids be going back to school? This school year is probably out in most of the country, but what about summer school? In the fall?Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the lectern, thanked America's teachers for adjusting to remote learning. The coronavirus task force will work on "guidance going forward, whether it be summer school or whether it be returning to school next fall," he said, "but the most important thing we can do is put this epidemic behind us as quickly as possible."Pence turned the stage over to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Well, my daughter is a school teacher, so she asked me the same question," Fauci said. "I fully expect -- though I'm humble enough to know that I can't accurately predict -- that by the time we get to the fall, that we will have this under control enough that it certainly will not be the way it is now, where people are shutting schools. My optimistic side tells me that we'll be able to renew, to a certain extent -- but it's going to be different, remember now, because this is not going to disappear."Assuming the U.S. has the ability to widely test for the disease, determine how many people have built up antibodies after surviving the virus, and trace the contacts of newly infected people, U.S. health officials will have a much better grasp of the situation in the fall, Fauci said. "All of these things are going to go into the decision of just how much back to the original way we'd like it to be in the fall. Bottom line is no absolute prediction, but I think we're going to be in good shape." More stories from theweek.com The coming backlash against the public health experts Linda Tripp, Clinton investigation whistleblower, dies at 70 Trump grants ventilators to Colorado 'at the request' of its GOP senator — a week after its Democratic governor begged for them
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| Azul Rojas Marín: Peru found responsible for torture of LGBT person Posted: 08 Apr 2020 05:40 AM PDT  Azul Rojas Marín was beaten and raped in custody in Peru, a top human rights court rules.
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| Photos show thousands packing into cars, planes, and trains in a rush to get out of Wuhan as China lifts the coronavirus lockdown Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:12 PM PDT  China ended the near-11-week lockdown of the city of Wuhan at midnight on Wednesday, sending floods of people out of the city.
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| Ethiopia and Liberia declare states of emergency to curb coronavirus Posted: 08 Apr 2020 02:39 AM PDT  Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, and Liberia declared states of emergency on Wednesday to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus, a day after cases on the continent surged past 10,000. Various African governments have announced lockdowns or curfews in response to the virus, which was slow to reach many African countries but is now growing exponentially, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As of Wednesday afternoon, Africa had over 10,900 confirmed infections and 550 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally based on government statements and WHO data.
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| Bernie drops out, as Democrats pick pragmatism over consistency Posted: 08 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT  In many ways, Bernie Sanders is the anti-Trump. And, in important ways, he ran his campaign as the anti-Biden.Sanders bowed out of the Democratic nomination race on April 8, repeating his runner-up status from four years earlier. His two runs at the White House have cemented his legacy as a consistent standard-bearer for progressive policies. The veteran democratic socialist possessed a rare quality for a political candidate in this age of Trumpian fickleness. He is a politician whose actions and beliefs have remained steadfast over time and across campaigns. But in the current political moment, it appears the Democratic electorate longs less for a politician who is consistent from day to day than one who can provide pragmatic leadership to unseat the vacillating Trump. Same ol' SandersSanders ran his campaign as the antithesis of a political showman, who says one thing today and another tomorrow with little regard for facts and consistency. He has exhibited throughout his career what anthropologist Alessandro Duranti calls "existential coherence" – he is a political figure "whose past, present, and future actions, beliefs, and evaluations follow some clear basic principles, none of which contradicts another." As a linguistic anthropologist who studies language and politics, I know that traditionally, candidates have worried about how to project a consistent political persona, and they have often gone to great pains to do so. But Trump shattered that expectation, excelling in self-contradictions and inconsistencies – often within a single sitting.Sanders, instead, has put forth a consistent vision that has remained more or less the same since his early days in politics as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Rather than moving toward the electorate and shifting positions based on perceptions of what the electorate desired, the electorate has moved toward Sanders to join his vision for universal health care and other progressive causes. A CNBC survey in 2019 found that a majority of Americans supported progressive policies, including a higher minimum wage and Medicare for All – key issues that Sanders has been advocating throughout his decades-long political career. In an episode of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last year, host Trevor Noah unearthed footage from 1987 of Sanders discussing politics on a local public access channel in his hometown of Burlington. The Bernie Sanders of 1987 talked of the unfair tax system that placed a large burden on working people and the need for universal health care. "We are one of two nations in the industrialized world that does not have a national health care system," declared Sanders in 1987. Three decades later, in both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, Sanders continued with that theme. In 2016, he released his Medicare for All plan by declaring, "It is time for our country to join every other major industrialized nation on Earth and guarantee health care to all citizens as a right, not a privilege." His 2020 campaign website further echoed this sentiment, stating that "the United States will join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people as a right." A consistent candidate often comes across as a more authentic candidate – someone who is staying true to his core self rather than pandering to the latest polling data or saying whatever will attract the most dramatic news coverage. Sanders' authenticity as a candidate who has fought for working people and progressive ideals his entire life made him appealing to many liberals. He attracted an unshakable following of core supporters because of it. 'Results, not revolution'Biden's pragmatic approach, however, trumped Sanders' often dogmatic consistency. In their debates, Sanders hammered Biden over what he saw as shifting stances on Social Security, Medicare and veterans' programs. And then there was Biden's 2003 vote for the Iraq war before he turned against it.But this is not the 2004 presidential election, where accusations of flip-flopping can sink a candidate, like it did John Kerry in his race against George W. Bush. Perhaps Donald Trump's fickleness has changed what voters look for in a candidate. Maybe it's simply that nobody cares about Biden's apparent lack of judgment in 2003, which occurred well before he spent eight years as vice president in arguably one of the most popular Democratic administrations in U.S. history.Biden easily parried Sanders' accusations of inconsistency by pointing to an underlying consistency of principles that have guided his varying positions over time. Voters ultimately decided to support someone who exhibits a practical sense of how to govern in a way that gets things done. As Biden said in his last debate with Sanders, "People are looking for results, not revolution."On health care, one might have expected Sanders to have an advantage with his Medicare for All proposal, a consistent theme across his time as mayor, congressman, senator and presidential candidate. Polling done by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that for the first time a majority of Americans began to support a single government plan for health care in 2016, corresponding to the Sanders campaign push for Medicare for All.But in the same Kaiser poll, more Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they would prefer a candidate who would build on the Affordable Care Act rather than replace it. Biden's campaign argued precisely for this more pragmatic approach, and he positioned himself as the right person to get the job done in a contentious political environment. An overtureAfter sweeping the primaries in Florida, Illinois and Arizona in March – putting the wheels in motion for the eventual withdrawal of Sanders from the race – Biden then struck the right chord in his speech after the Florida primary by making an appeal to Sanders voters. "I hear you," he said. "I know what's at stake. I know what we have to do. Our goal as a campaign and my goal as a candidate for president is to unify this party and then to unify the nation." Biden's appeal to Sanders voters suggests he may be willing to absorb some of the best ideas from Sanders – and other candidates. It's a pragmatic approach, rather than a dogmatic consistency, that may bring along their supporters, too. That may be exactly what he will need to do to beat Trump in November.[You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to The Conversation's newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Biden's big night with moderates, African Americans and baby boomers * Biden's resurrection was unprecedented – and well-timedAdam Hodges 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.
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| Putin Urges Russians to Stick to Self-Isolation, Offers More Aid Posted: 08 Apr 2020 07:47 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin offered more aid to beleaguered Russians and businesses as he urged them to maintain a shutdown and warned the country is nearing a critical point in the coronavirus epidemic."The next 2-3 weeks will be key" to reining in Covid-19, Putin said Wednesday in a televised address to the nation during a meeting of the government's task force for managing the health crisis. "For most, being constantly confined by four walls is the definition of dreary and nauseating. But there is no choice now."He announced new measures to assist those affected by the shutdown to stop the spread of the infection, including a monthly payment of 3,000 rubles ($40) per child to families whose breadwinners have lost their jobs. He also promised state aid to companies which refrain from lay-offs, and pledged government support to those who do lose their jobs.Authorities in Moscow on March 30 required the capital's almost 13 million inhabitants to stay at home apart from essential workers. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin quickly told other Russian regions to follow suit. Putin last week extended an order for most Russians to observe a non-working period until April 30, though on Tuesday he asked his scientific advisers whether he could shorten its length.The assistance Putin has announced to date pales in comparison to some spending packages around the globe, with ING Bank estimating that his support measures only amount to about 2% of gross domestic product. Sergei Guriev, the former chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said Russia should be spending around 10% of GDP.Russia on Wednesday recorded 1,175 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 8,672, with 63 fatalities, according to official data. While the numbers of those infected are far below the worst-afflicted countries, such as the U.S., France, Italy and Spain, Covid-19 continues to spread rapidly."Self-isolation is a test that we must withstand," Putin told Russians in his address. "Achieving the turning point in our fight against the infection depends on our discipline and responsibility, and we must succeed."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran says US oil production must be known before OPEC+ call Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:21 AM PDT  Iran demanded on Wednesday that U.S. oil production levels must be known before an upcoming OPEC meeting with Russia and others seeking to boost global energy prices. The meeting of the so-called OPEC+ is scheduled to be held Thursday after officials delayed it following Saudi Arabia criticizing Russia over its comments about the price collapse. A meeting in March saw OPEC and other nations led by Russia fail to agree to a production cut as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has drastically cut demand for oil.
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| As coronavirus spreads, mentally ill Americans are left scrambling for options Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  The rapid spread of the coronavirus has dramatically affected the one in five Americans who deal with mental health in any given year, as well as those who work tirelessly to keep those individuals well.
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| Dr. Birx reacts to Trump accusations against WHO Posted: 08 Apr 2020 08:57 AM PDT  President Trump criticized the World Health Organization in a Tuesday task force briefing, blaming the agency for not providing better warnings ahead of the pandemic
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| Fauci once dismissed concerns about 'silent carriers' of coronavirus. Not anymore. Posted: 07 Apr 2020 09:17 AM PDT  The nation's top infectious disease expert says half of the people spreading coronavirus may never feel sick. That's more than anyone thought.
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| India's financial hub Mumbai set to extend coronavirus lockdown: sources Posted: 08 Apr 2020 02:10 AM PDT  India's financial hub Mumbai is set to extend lockdown measures until at least April 30 as authorities race to expand testing to stem the spread of coronavirus cases in the city, three senior officials said. A 21-day nationwide lockdown that Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared in late March to fight the epidemic is officially set to end on April 14. The Mumbai municipal authority and the state government in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, both declined to comment.
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| Chinese Official Tries to Walk Back Claim U.S. Military Brought Virus to Wuhan Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:59 PM PDT  China Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian held his first press conference in several weeks on Tuesday, attempting to walk back his earlier claim that the U.S. military had brought the novel coronavirus to the city of Wuhan."The virus [is] a scientific question that requires scientific opinions," Zhao told reporters. He was then asked if he stood behind a March 12 tweet in which he wrote that, "It might be the U.S. Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.""The questions raised on my personal Twitter account are a response to U.S. politicians' stigmatization of China, which also reflects the righteous anger of many Chinese people over these stigmatizing acts," Zhao responded.China blocks Twitter within its borders, although certain citizens and companies may use the app with government approval. Twitter has said that using the platform to claim that the U.S. brought coronavirus to Wuhan does not violate its rules and terms of service.The Chinese government and state-owned media outlets have repeatedly tried to portray President Trump's use of the term "Chinese virus" as stigmatizing. On March 17, Trump was asked during a White House press conference whether he thought calling the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" created a "stigma.""No, I don't think so. I think saying that our military gave it to them creates a stigma," Trump replied.The coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan has now claimed over 81,000 lives and seen 1,400,000 people infected.
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| Outcry over racial data grows as virus slams black Americans Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:54 PM PDT  As the coronavirus tightens its grip across the country, it is cutting a particularly devastating swath through an already vulnerable population — black Americans. Democratic lawmakers and community leaders in cities hard-hit by the pandemic have been sounding the alarm over what they see as a disturbing trend of the virus killing African Americans at a higher rate, along with a lack of overall information about the race of victims as the nation's death toll mounts. Among the cities where black residents have been hard-hit: New York, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago and Milwaukee.
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| One chart shows how long the coronavirus lives on surfaces like cardboard, plastic, wood, and steel Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Recent research shows that the coronavirus lives longest on glass, paper money, and the outside of surgical masks.
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| Trump’s Fox News Cabinet Tells Him the Coronavirus Crisis Is Over Posted: 08 Apr 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump's decisions and stances have seemingly been influenced by the unofficial advisers he treasures most: Fox News primetime hosts.After downplaying for weeks the threat of the virus, just as many on Fox News did the same, the president began taking it seriously last month after Tucker Carlson personally confronted him before delivering an on-air monologue calling for action. Elsewhere, Fox stars have been the primary driving force behind Trump's incessant promotion of an unproven anti-malarial drug as the miracle COVID-19 cure.And in recent days, it seems, the president has been receiving his newest coronavirus intel briefing from Fox News. This time, they say, the pandemic is over and it's time to move on.Throughout Tuesday night's primetime stretch, Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham were in lockstep in telegraphing to Trump a message that the pandemic's threat has been overstated, death counts have been inflated, and the U.S. is already on the downside of the curve.Carlson, who received mainstream plaudits for his "admirable" early coronavirus coverage, kicked off his show by declaring that the crisis "may have passed," noting that health-care systems across the country haven't come close to collapsing—"except in a handful of places.""Patients are not dying alone in the hallways of emergency rooms with physicians too overwhelmed to treat them," he asserted. "That was the concern. It happens in other countries, it's not happening here. Thank God for that."There have been numerous reports and testimonials from health-care workers expressing horror over the conditions of overcrowded hospitals and the stress it has placed on both medical staffers and patients. Much reporting has also been done on how many patients are dying alone and away from family members and friends from the disease.But despite nearly 13,000 U.S. deaths and at least 400,000 confirmed cases, with portions of the country having yet to suffer the worst effects of the outbreak, Carlson called for a quick reversal of social-distancing restrictions in order to jumpstart the economy, citing downward revisions of coronavirus models as the key reason."Before we go ahead and alter our lives and our country forever, it is fair to ask about the numbers, their numbers, the ones we acted on the first time, that turned out to be completely wrong," the Fox star fumed. "How did they screw that up so thoroughly? That is a fair question."Adjustments of expected death tolls in some models—which, weeks ago, showed as many as 240,000 American deaths—have largely occurred due to the widespread adoption of social-distancing guidelines and the assumption that school and business closures will stay in place through the summer. Even factoring all that in, the models still project roughly 80,000 deaths.Nevertheless, over the past few days, Carlson has been pushing the president to ignore medical expertise and quickly move forward with economic activity. "Is there a single person who sincerely expects the coronavirus itself will hurt more people in the end than the damage we're causing in our response to it? Probably not," he said on Monday night. "Mass unemployment is almost certain to cause far more harm, including physical harm, to the average family than this disease."Carlson has also railed against top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has urged Americans to embrace social distancing in order to flatten the curve. Calling it "bewildering" that the U.S. is allowing medical "experts" to make policy decisions, Carlson claimed last week that Fauci is proposing "national suicide" by pushing aggressive social distancing. "We should never let someone like that run this country," he said.Fox News senior analyst Brit Hume, who has recently been at the forefront of right-wing media's questioning of coronavirus deaths, has also joined the chorus of Fox stars agitating against medical expertise. The official COVID-19 death count has been inflated, he declared Carlson on Tuesday evening."Dr. Birx said tonight during the briefing at the White House that all deaths from anyone who died with coronavirus is counted as if the person died from coronavirus," Hume said. "Now, we all know that isn't true.""And if everybody is being automatically classified, if they're found to have COVID-19, as a COVID-19 death, we're going to get a very large number of deaths that way and we're probably not going to have an accurate count of what the real death total is," he added.Besides the fact that flu deaths—which Trump and Fox figures have constantly used as a comparison point to downplay the pandemic—are tracked the exact same way, and coronavirus disproportionately impacts people with pre-conditions, it is actually far more likely that the COVID-19 death count has been understated so far.Hannity, meanwhile, kicked off his Tuesday evening broadcast by claiming there is a "ton of good news" surrounding the pandemic, touting revised downward estimates of the death count to suggest that regular economic activity should restart very soon.In a phone interview with the president, Hannity—who has served as an unofficial Trump adviser and confidant—noted that the "cure can't be worse than the problem" and nudged the president to reveal when he'd roll back social-distancing policies."I'd love to open with a big bang, one beautiful country and just open," Trump declared, adding, "We're looking at two concepts. We're looking at the concept where you open up sections and we're also looking at the concept where you open up everything."In a Wednesday morning tweet, Trump further hinted that he is looking to end restrictions "sooner rather than later," adding that the "horror" of coronavirus "must be quickly forgotten" and predicting that the economy "will BOOM" going forward.Laura Ingraham, however, may have been the most aggressive among her primetime colleagues in openly pushing Trump to view the pandemic threat as completely neutralized.Claiming the experts were "wrong" with their modeling and that it caused undue panic for Americans, Ingraham echoed Carlson by railing against medical officials, claiming this pandemic should "make us less willing to rely on the same experts to help determine when and how we should reopen our economy.""We didn't vote for doctors," exclaimed Ingraham, who recently sat with the president to tout the unproven coronavirus cure hydroxychloroquine. "We voted for political leadership that sees the big picture. That means the whole picture of America."She continued to hammer away at that message Wednesday on her Twitter account.Tucker Carlson Wants to Have It Both Ways on Coronavirus"At some point, the president is going to have to look at Drs. Fauci and Birx and say, we're opening on May 1," she wrote on Wednesday morning. "Give me your best guidance on protocols, but we cannot deny our people their basic freedoms any longer.""America must get back to work," Ingraham blared in another tweet. "'Experts' were wrong on fatalities by a factor of 30 now want to dictate when we reopen."While Trump's Fox News cabinet is declaring the crisis over, the network's brass is still taking the pandemic seriously, implementing strict social-distancing policies for its employees. In a memo sent last week, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott announced the company would distribute thermometers to all essential workers and suggested the use of face masks for anyone who had to come into one of Fox's offices. Additionally, Scott said that Fox was targeting May 4 as a possible return date for employees currently telecommuting.And as Fox News' biggest stars tried to convince the president to ditch social distancing altogether, one of Trump's own health officials rebuked the network's faux-populist manipulation of the expert data and projections."Physical distancing is incredibly important—remember the projections," Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said Wednesday on Fox & Friends. "I have seen people twist that like this was not going to be that bad after all and we didn't need to do it. That's a complete misinterpretation. The estimate of deaths going down is the result of the fact that we have listened to the president and vice president and task force.""I do want to emphasize the point, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but don't keep your foot—don't take your foot off the gas," Giroir continued. "Because we really need to continue these efforts because we could see another peak, a second peak, a third peak if people don't do the physical distancing or they think it's all over."It's not over yet."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Korean Air puts 70 percent of staff on leave Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:17 PM PDT  Korean Air is the flagship of the Hanjin group, one of the multifaceted, family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea and played a key part in its rise to become the world's 12th-largest economy. Most of its staff will go on leave from April 16 for six months in response to "deteriorating business circumstances", Korean Air said in a statement. Korean Air's labour union agreed to participate as part of a "burden-sharing" initiative, the company said -- executives have also agreed to take pay cuts.
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| Bernie Sanders reportedly spoke to Biden and Obama before ending his 2020 run Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:57 PM PDT  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had made a few phone calls to the last administration before making his big dropout decision.Sanders suspended his 2020 run on Wednesday, saying his "path toward victory is virtually impossible" but pledging to stay on primary ballots through the Democratic National Convention to gain influence in the party. And shortly after making that announcement, Sanders reportedly made a call to Joe Biden, who he left as the presumptive Democratic nominee, CBS News reports.> Former Vice President @JoeBiden and Sen. @BernieSanders spoke around midday today about the senator's decision to suspend his campaign, a source familiar with the call tells me. This was one of several calls between the two opponents in recent weeks.> > -- Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 8, 2020Sanders also consulted former President Barack Obama "several times" before making his decision, NBC News reports. Obama reportedly still isn't ready to hop into the 2020 fray just yet, but Sanders' suspension surely makes it easier for him to do so.> Source close to @BarackObama tells me: "When the moment is right and when he feels he can have maximum impact, the country will be hearing more from him." Source notes Obama has spoken to @SenSanders "several times" over the past few weeks.> > -- Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) April 8, 2020Hillary Clinton, 2016's Democratic nominee, meanwhile had no comment on Sanders' exit. > Not too shocking: Hillary Clinton has no comment on Bernie Sanders suspending his presidential campaign, per a Clinton spokesman. > > Remember, Clinton had this to say of Sanders in a Hulu docuseries that aired earlier this year: "Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him."> > -- Monica Alba (@albamonica) April 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different' The coming backlash against the public health experts Linda Tripp, Clinton investigation whistleblower, dies at 70
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| Obesity is major COVID-19 risk factor, says French chief epidemiologist Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:15 AM PDT  Being overweight is a major risk for people infected with the new coronavirus and the United States is particularly vulnerable because of high obesity levels there, France's chief epidemiologist said on Wednesday. Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the epidemic, said as many as 17 million of France's 67 million citizens were seriously at risk from the coronavirus because of age, pre-existing illness or obesity. "That is why we're worried about our friends in America, where the problem of obesity is well known and where they will probably have the most problems because of obesity."
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| The Army Plans to Issue 'Black or Camouflage' Face Masks to Soldiers Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:48 AM PDT  The U.S. Army's top enlisted soldier said Tuesday that the service plans to issue some type of non-surgical mask to troops.
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| In El Salvador, gangs are enforcing the coronavirus lockdown with baseball bats Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:38 PM PDT  Street gangs in El Salvador have turned from extortion and killing to enforcing social distancing restrictions, often with threats and baseball bats.
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| 27 dead on Solomon Islands ferry: Did it follow virus order? Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:08 AM PDT  The leader of the remote Solomon Islands said Wednesday that 27 people had died after being washed overboard from a crowded ferry last week and the government is conducting a criminal investigation. The ship MV Taimareho left Honiara on the evening of April 2 as a tropical cyclone was approaching. In the Solomon Islands, crews recovered seven bodies of those washed overboard.
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| U.S. Eyes Second Coronavirus Outbreak in China Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  As the Trump administration scrambles to get a hand on the spread of the new coronavirus across the U.S., it is keeping one eye on developments in China, the country where the pandemic originated.According to two officials with knowledge of those efforts and cables reviewed by The Daily Beast, the administration is monitoring China's second wave of coronavirus cases, gathering data on the ground on the number of individuals newly infected and the reasons for the recent uptick. Over the past few days Chinese officials have noted an emergence of new cases, particularly in asymptomatic individuals. But U.S. officials say it is difficult to trust Beijing's numbers because of its history of putting out unreliable data.The push for real-time intelligence on China's new outbreak is an attempt by U.S. officials not only to study what factors can lead to a reemergence of the virus but also to get ahead of any attempt by Beijing to—yet again—put a spin on it, those same officials said. The White House is leaning on officials from across several agencies, including the State Department, Centers for Disease Control and the intel community to probe how Beijing is handling the new cases so as to better understand what the U.S. could expect later this year, when medical officials believe a second round of infections may happen as well. Grim Scenes at Chinese Hospitals as Doctors Rush to Treat Deadly CoronavirusThe effort by the U.S. to gather new data in China could rattle an already delicate detente that Washington and Beijing appear to have reached on coronavirus messaging.For weeks following the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration called out Beijing for misleading the world about the reality of the situation on the ground, claiming the lack of information and the silencing of health-care workers helped lead to the global spread of the virus. China relentlessly pushed back on that assertion and demanded that the U.S. stop referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus"—as several top Trump officials were doing. Since then, both President Trump and President Xi have toned down the tough talk and the State Department in cables has refrained from referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus". In public appearances and behind closed doors Trump has changed his tune, calling Xi his good "friend" and an "incredible guy".But officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said they worry that China could again manipulate its numbers, costing the U.S. and countries across the world valuable information needed to fight another wave of coronavirus cases. According to one State Department cable reviewed by The Daily Beast, China's National Health Commission appears to be linking the second wave with an uptick in individuals testing positive who do not show signs of symptoms. The Chinese government began reporting the number of asymptomatic cases on the mainland for the first time on April 1. As of last week China reported that 1,075 people with no signs of symptoms were "under medical observation." About 135 of those individuals had tested positive for COVID-19. "These asymptomatic infections include individuals who do not show any signs of illness but who have a positive laboratory test result for the virus that causes COVID-19," the cable reads. "Asymptomatic infections represented about one-third of current cases [in mainland China] as of March 31." White House Pushes U.S. Officials to Criticize China For Coronavirus 'Cover-Up'The fear of a second wave through asymptomatic individuals is concerning Chinese officials so much that some cities are now requiring individuals scan their QR health codes before riding public transportation. In Wuhan, the local government is reportedly considering "testing all residents to find asymptomatic persons due to fears of a second outbreak," according to that same cable.Like China, the Trump administration is increasingly worried about the spread of the coronavirus from asymptomatic or presymptomatic individuals. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control issued new guidelines advising Americans to wear cloth face covers or masks while around other people even if they did not feel sick.The administration had hesitated on issuing such guidance in part out of concern that a run on medical masks would further hamper American hospitals that are struggling to procure personal protective equipment for their workers. In order to address that shortage, President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner last week announced that he and White House adviser Peter Navarro were working with a team to help buy supplies like masks and gowns internationally, including from China. But the Chinese supplies are a subject of concern as well, after reports of faulty equipment in places such as Spain and the Netherlands.According to a State Department cable, China last week implemented a new policy to ensure all of the medical supplies it planned to export were functioning correctly."The policy regulated exports of medical supplies including detection reagents, medical masks protective clothing, ventilators, and thermometers by requiring exporters to provide documentation that shipments meet China's medical device product registration requirements," the cable reads. As the administration tries to track down accurate data in China on the new asymptomatic cases sweeping the country, it's also looking to keep Chinese disinformation at bay. In the State Department, officials have been tasked with flagging "news" stories and foreign cables that appear to propagate false information. For example, the State Department highlighted in a cable last week the statements made by Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France. "Following international media reports that the COVID-19 death toll in Wuhan had been dramatically understated (as evidenced by the social media posts, now censored, showing a large number of urns and long lines of residents at government-operated crematoriums)… Shanye told French media that official statistics in Wuhan were accurate," the cable reads. "When asked why the PRC government censored videos and pictures of the long queues of persons waiting to pick up urns, Lu said, 'if they were censored, where did you get those pictures and videos?'" The ambassador was referring to photos that spread on social media last week showing stacks of urns in Wuhan funeral homes. The photos have been deleted but their publishing raised additional questions about the true scale of the coronavirus crisis in China.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus wreaks havoc in African American neighbourhoods Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:32 PM PDT  Black Chicagoans account for 70% of coronavirus deaths, despite making up 30% of the population.
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| Thousands of scientists in Sweden are criticizing the government for not implementing a lockdown to stop the coronavirus Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:37 AM PDT  Sweden is resisting international trends by not implementing a lockdown or strict social distancing measures to fight the coronavirus.
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| Why black Americans appear to be more affected by COVID-19 Posted: 08 Apr 2020 06:35 AM PDT  African-Americans are more affected by the coronavirus than other groups, according to data emerging from some states.
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| Covid-19 Is Trapping Ecuador Between Death and Debt Posted: 08 Apr 2020 07:11 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Sometime late last month the bodies began to turn up on the streets of Guayaquil. Some of the dead were abandoned in dumpsters. Others had been bundled in plastic and left on the sidewalks of this seaside Ecuadoran city, the yellow and black plastic cordon suggesting an unsolved crime scene.While most of Latin America is bracing for the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, Ecuador is already overwhelmed. The Andean nation of 17.5 million people is proportionately South America's most afflicted: Only Brazil has a higher death count, with three times the fatalities for a population 12 times larger than Ecuador's. (But as Bloomberg News reports, the continent is woefully behind in testing populations for the virus.) In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, with 70% of the nation's stricken, coffins are scarce, families wait days for funeral homes to collect their dead and morgues are overflowing, forcing city authorities to store the bodies in industrial refrigerators. This is not just a tragedy of human health. As Covid-19 claims lives, it also menaces an economy that is already failing. While emerging markets everywhere are in trouble, Ecuador comes to the pandemic with some serious co-morbidities: a huge foreign debt, sinking oil prices, deepening poverty and political fratricide. The only question is whether public health or the economy is in a more precarious state.The slump in oil prices has gutted winnings from Ecuador's signature commodity even as public debt has risen to nearly 52% of gross domestic product, well over the nationally stipulated maximum of 40%. That level of red ink can be hard for many countries to handle. For dollarized Ecuador, the surging greenback makes its signature non-oil exports even less competitive and forces the country to pile on even more debt, default on its loans or slash spending even as it battles the pandemic.Ecuador's plight is in part the product of collective responses to prior emergencies. One reason Ecuador proved to be so accommodating to coronavirus was its diaspora. Propelled by political instability and a banking crisis in the late 1990s and early 2000s, up to 1 million Ecuadorans have migrated. More than 400,000 settled in Spain, becoming Latin America's largest expatriate community there, while another 100,000 moved to Italy. Just as these global Ecuadorans nurtured their native economy with remittances, the returnees and frequent fliers have helped spread the contagion back home. Ecuador's patient zero reportedly was an elderly Ecuadoran who returned to Guayaquil in February and may have infected up to 180 patients. By the time national lockdown orders were in place in March, the virus was already loose.Dollarization is another two-edged sword. Runaway prices and a banking crisis forced Ecuador to jettison the worthless national currency for the greenback in early 2000. Dollarization stabilized the economy and shielded Ecuadorans from inflation and the economic fallout from political turmoil which routinely ravaged neighboring economies. However, the stronger dollar not only makes Ecuador's exports less competitive, but ties the nation's hands in a crisis. Since the central bank cannot print dollars, government can't monetize its swollen public deficit. With plunging oil prices (crude oil is 29% of exports), Ecuador's gross financing needs this year are on track to hit an "unmanageable" $8.1 billion this year, according to Oxford Economics. Unless multilateral lenders come to the rescue, the government will have to raise taxes or double down on austerity, a strategy that nearly unseated President Lenin Moreno last year.While some Latin American leaders have stepped up during the outbreak and seen their approval ratings climb, Moreno has struggled. Once heralded as a reformer, he has seen his credibility shattered by partisan caviling, aggravated by his own well-intentioned bumbling. Nationwide protests late last October forced him to roll back fiscal measures, including a cut in fuel subsidies, prescribed by the International Monetary Fund, whose largesse his government needs even more today. The economy is likely to contract by 6% this year, said Norman McKay of the Economist Intelligence Unit.Now he faces the country's worst crisis in memory with approval ratings below 20% (compared with 77% when he first took office in 2017), junk-rated sovereign debt and little fiscal firepower. "Moreno was already isolated and has little national support and little cash to buy political support," Andres Mejia Acosta, a lecturer in political economy at Kings College London, told me. A weak central government is a cue for opportunists to weaponize the pandemic for political ends. "We are likely to see Moreno's political problems escalate because his government has no national support."An emergency fund in the works will offer a modicum of relief to some of the most vulnerable families. However under fiscal constraints Ecuador revised its registry of cash transfer recipients in 2014, restricting eligibility to all but those in extreme poverty (eliminating 600,000 recipients) and leaving out many more potential beneficiaries who are now in harm's way. "If you are part of the population at risk, but didn't make the official registry, you are invisible to the state," said Mejia Acosta.For those who toil in Ecuador's vast shadow economy and live by peddling their wares and services day by day, sheltering is penury. The state has no plan for them, nor refrigerators for their rising body count.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Mac Margolis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin and South America. He was a reporter for Newsweek and is the author of "The Last New World: The Conquest of the Amazon Frontier."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New York state reports more coronavirus cases than any country except the U.S.: Reuters tally Posted: 08 Apr 2020 10:44 AM PDT  The U.S. state has 149,316 reported cases compared with Spain at 146,690. Italy is now in third place with 139,422 cases reported on Wednesday. In total, the United States has recorded over 417,000 cases and 14,100 deaths, according to the Reuters tally.
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| Don't worry about a grocery delivery slot, Instacart will pair you with a real-time shopper Posted: 08 Apr 2020 06:11 AM PDT  For weeks, customers in many markets had a hard time finding a delivery slot as the coronavirus crisis drove more people to stay indoors.
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| Texas teen accused of threatening to spread coronavirus is charged Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Maradiaga claimed in a series of Snapchat videos to have tested positive and threatened to willfully spread COVID-19, according to police.
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| VP talk could intensify with Harris fundraising moves Posted: 08 Apr 2020 09:28 AM PDT  California Sen. Kamala Harris made two notable fundraising moves Wednesday that are sure to fuel speculation about her prospects to be Joe Biden's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris, who dropped out of the White House race in December, set up a joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee, an arrangement that is typically reserved for nominees trying to attract large donations from the party's biggest boosters. Hours later, she made a surprise appearance on a virtual fundraiser, introducing Biden to donors.
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| Will we ever take cruise holidays again? Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:10 PM PDT  The cruise line industry faces a long journey back from the coronavirus pandemic.
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| A New York nurse laments his coronavirus patient's last words before intubation: 'Who's going to pay for it?' Posted: 08 Apr 2020 11:23 AM PDT  "I've never seen what I've been seeing lately with the speed, intensity, and spread of the virus itself," Derrick Smith said.
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| Italy commune bans mixed-sex shopping to stem virus Posted: 08 Apr 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Canonica d'Adda (Italie) (AFP) - Men and women have the same rights in the small municipality of Canonica d'Adda in Italy's north - except when it comes to shopping for food. To lower the number of people in supermarkets and reduce the risk of coronavirus contagion, the mayor has decreed that men and women will not shop together. Canonica d'Adda is not far from Bergamo, considered the most affected area in the region of Lombardy, where more than 9,000 people have died of coronavirus -- more than half of the total deaths in the country.
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| Japan to Fund Firms to Shift Production Out of China Posted: 08 Apr 2020 05:07 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Japan has earmarked $2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China as the coronavirus disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners.The extra budget, compiled to try to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic, includes 220 billion yen ($2 billion) for companies shifting production back to Japan and 23.5 billion yen for those seeking to move production to other countries, according to details of the plan posted online.The move coincides with what should have been a celebration of friendlier ties between the two countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to be on a state visit to Japan early this month. But what would have been the first visit of its sort in a decade was postponed a month ago amid the spread of the virus and no new date has been set.China is Japan's biggest trading partner under normal circumstances, but imports from China slumped by almost half in February as the disease shuttered factories, in turn starving Japanese manufacturers of necessary components.That has renewed talk of Japanese firms reducing their reliance on China as a manufacturing base. The government's panel on future investment last month discussed the need for manufacturing of high-added value products to be shifted back to Japan, and for production of other goods to be diversified across Southeast Asia."There will be something of a shift," said Shinichi Seki, an economist at the Japan Research Institute, adding that some Japanese companies manufacturing goods in China for export were already considering moving out. "Having this in the budget will definitely provide an impetus." Companies, such as car makers, that are manufacturing for the Chinese domestic market, will likely stay put, he said.Testing TimesJapan exports a far larger share of parts and partially finished goods to China than other major industrial nations, according to data compiled for the panel. A February survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. found 37% of the more than 2,600 companies that responded were diversifying procurement to places other than China amid the coronavirus crisis.It remains to be seen how the policy will affect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's years-long effort to restore relations with China."We are doing our best to resume economic development," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a briefing Wednesday in Beijing, when asked about the move. "In this process, we hope other countries will act like China and take proper measures to ensure the world economy will be impacted as little as possible and to ensure that supply chains are impacted as little as possible."The initial stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in China appeared to warm the often chilly ties between the two countries. Japan provided aid in the form of masks and protective gear -- and in one case a shipment was accompanied by a fragment of ancient Chinese poetry. In return, it received praise from Beijing.In another step welcomed in Japan, China declared Avigan, an anti-viral produced by Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp. to be an effective treatment for the coronavirus, even though it has yet to be approved for that use by the Japanese.Yet many in Japan are inclined to blame China for mishandling the early stages of the outbreak and Abe for not blocking visitors from China sooner.Meanwhile, other issues that have deeply divided the neighbors -- including a territorial dispute over East China Sea islands that brought them close to a military clash in 2012-13 -- are no nearer resolution.Chinese government ships have continued their patrols around the Japanese-administered islands throughout the crisis, with Japan saying four Chinese ships on Wednesday entered what it sees as its territorial waters.(Updates with comment from economist in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| U.S. to seize exports of masks and gloves amid coronavirus crisis Posted: 08 Apr 2020 12:07 PM PDT  The United States will seize exports of key protective medical gear until it determines whether the equipment should be kept in the country to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, two federal agencies announced on Wednesday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold exports of respirators, surgical masks and surgical gloves, according to a joint announcement made with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will then determine if the equipment should be returned for use in the United States, purchased by the U.S. government or exported.
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| Kushner Considering Using Personal Patient Data to Create National Coronavirus Surveillance System Posted: 08 Apr 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is leading an effort to develop a national coronavirus surveillance system in order to track patient data almost in real time, Politico reported on Tuesday based on conversations with four people involved in the ongoing effort.The system would allow the federal government to monitor where and for what patients are seeking treatment. Ideally, this would provide government officials with the data needed to determine which areas of the country should implement coronavirus mitigation measures and which can safely lift those measures to open up businesses."It allows you to be much more targeted and precise in how you engage," a person familiar with the development process told Politico. "They need data to make the policy decisions, and so that's what we and others now have been asked to do."Three people working on the project said the data would be handled in such a way as to protect patient privacy. However, the project has sparked civil liberties concerns, especially following criticism of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act."We dealt with similar issues in 9/11," said Jessica Rich, former director of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection bureau. "One reason that the government doesn't have all of this data is there's a lot of concern about big brother maintaining large databases on every consumer on sensitive issues like health, and for good reason."White House spokesman Avi Berkowitz denied that a coronavirus surveillance system was under discussion."This story makes no sense and is completely false," Berkowitz said. "The White House gets many unsolicited random proposals on a variety of topics, but Jared has no knowledge of this proposal or the people mentioned in this article who may have submitted it."The coronavirus pandemic has seen over 1,400,000 infected patients worldwide, with over 80,000 deaths. Medical officials in the U.S. have at times struggled to track the scope of the outbreak, in part due to a lack of testing in the outbreak's early stages.The U.S. has also criticized China's apparent unwillingness to provide a more complete picture of that country's coronavirus outbreak, which Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force said contributed to the U.S.'s slow initial response.
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| The Marine Corps Wants to Transform JLTVs into Aircraft-Killing Trucks Posted: 08 Apr 2020 01:54 PM PDT  Marine Corps Systems Command recently invited defense firms to submit ideas for creating the Direct Fire Defeat System.
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| Wisconsin Republicans' deadly power grab Posted: 07 Apr 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Monday night, there was a brief but furious political struggle over the Wisconsin election planned for Tuesday. Democratic Governor Tony Evers ordered that the election be delayed until June 9, so as to allow time for the novel coronavirus pandemic to pass, and so the state could set up universal vote-by-mail systems. Several other states have already taken similar steps.Right-wing Republican justices, who control the state Supreme Court by a 4-2 margin, including one of whom faces a liberal challenger in this very election (though he did recuse himself on this vote), immediately overturned his order. The U.S. Supreme Court also issued another 5-4 ruling on partisan lines forbidding the state from extending the deadline for mailing an absentee ballot. Many more Wisconsin voters had requested absentee ballots compared to previous elections (for obvious reasons), which led to major delays in sending them out. Now, anyone who wanted their vote counted and hadn't yet gotten a ballot was abruptly forced to go vote in person.Evers backed down, and the election did indeed proceed Tuesday. But the results cannot possibly be considered legitimate. This is a fraudulent election, a power grab forced through by a minority party whose own control of the Wisconsin legislature is the result of cheating.To begin with, no doubt tens or even hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents are rightly too frightened to vote. At time of writing turnout figures were not available, but it simply beggars belief to think that turnout would not have been higher if it weren't for the deadly pandemic that is sweeping the land. Gatherings of thousands of people all touching the same voting machines, even if social distancing and hygiene are maintained, is directly forbidden by public health guidelines. People will unquestionably get sick and die because of this. With coronavirus spreading fast in Wisconsin, the state will be lucky if only a few thousand people catch COVID-19 as a result. If they aren't, this election could easily be the mother of all super-spreader events.Also because of coronavirus, the number of polling places was slashed due to lack of staff to open them — in Milwaukee, where there's a high concentration of Democratic voters, the number was cut from 180 to 5. While many Wisconsin residents did indeed stand in line for hours to vote, the enormous wait times alone surely turned many people away. Not everyone has hours to take off work.The U.S. Supreme Court majority lamely attempted to claim their limitation on absentee voting was a narrow technical question about protecting "the integrity of the election process." In truth, it was naked voter suppression. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg noted in a dissent, under the previous ruling that ordered the state to allow more time for absentee ballots, Wisconsin residents would have been able to safely vote from home. "With the majority's stay in place, that will not be possible. Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering their own and others' safety. Or they will lose their right to vote, through no fault of their own," she wrote. Meanwhile, a second little-noticed conservative appellate ruling requires absentee ballots to have a witness signature, meaning that any already sent in without it will be tossed out.The state Supreme Court ruling, meanwhile, comes from a lawsuit from Wisconsin Republicans claiming that the governor does not have the power to unilaterally change election laws. But Republicans only control the state legislature thanks to extreme gerrymandering which makes it basically impossible for Democrats to win a majority of districts. In the 2018 election for the state Assembly, Democrats got 53 percent of the total vote — yet only 36 percent of the seats. (After Evers narrowly won in 2018, the Republican legislature promptly stripped him of most of his powers in the lame duck session.)At bottom, Republicans in both the Wisconsin legislature and the court system perceived a partisan advantage in forcing the election through, even if thousands of their own voters were killed as a result, and so they did it. They know for a fact how dangerous this pandemic is — both courts have sent as many of their employees home as possible, and sharply limited public access to legal buildings. The U.S. Supreme Court is conducting its operations entirely online.A democratic system has legitimacy if its procedures are fair — if there are basic protections for civil rights, transparent procedures, and open competition for seats in which any party can win. The state of Wisconsin is increasingly not a democracy. And that may be where the rest of the country is headed: a corrupt, authoritarian regime with a thin veneer of fake democratic procedures. Indeed, this process of endless procedural escalation and ever-more blatant cheating from conservatives has been seen before. It bears some resemblance to the early stages of Reconstruction in the 1860s, when furious ex-Confederates attempted to overthrow multi-racial democracy in the South. As Jamelle Bouie notes at The New York Times, when they eventually succeeded, the Jim Crow South was for 90 years an authoritarian system of government, enforced by terrorism, where elections were an open fraud. Thankfully we have not yet seen that kind of open violence, but then again it may not be necessary if Republicans can count on the open connivance of the federal legal system.To preserve small-r republican government, it may become necessary for Democrats to fight fire with fire — for instance, ignoring court orders to conduct fraudulent elections that kill hundreds or thousands of people. Ideally they could just mobilize against this abuse of power and win legitimately in November, but that may not be possible unless Democratic governors like Evers are willing to disregard corrupt legal opinions and hold safe, fair elections, using force if necessary.Unfortunately, there is little sign of that happening yet. The party went ahead with in-person voting in Illinois, Michigan, and Florida in mid-March. Likely presidential nominee Joe Biden insisted that the Wisconsin primary should go ahead, and said he does not support universal national vote-by-mail.It will not be a simple matter for Republicans to finish coring out the remaining democratic character of the United States. But it will be a lot easier if Democrats lie down and let themselves be steamrolled.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 Sanders' exit could bring Obama into the 2020 fold Dr. Anthony Fauci cautiously predicts kids will return to school next fall, 'but it's going to be different' Trump tries to recruit Sanders supporters over to the GOP after campaign ends
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| U.S. sees deadliest day in COVID-19 outbreak Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:48 AM PDT  After 11 weeks of lockdown, residents of China's Wuhan were allowed out, and tens of thousands prepared to leave the city.
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| UK truck driver pleads guilty in deaths of 39 Vietnamese Posted: 08 Apr 2020 07:49 AM PDT  A truck driver accused in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found inside a refrigerated container that had been hauled to England pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday. Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon in Northern Ireland, entered the plea at Central London Criminal Court.
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| China investigates party member critical of government's handling of coronavirus outbreak Posted: 08 Apr 2020 04:09 AM PDT  China is investigating a prominent Communist Party member who criticized leader Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
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