| Mitch McConnell could yet pay price for 'tone deaf' coronavirus response Posted: 04 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT  The Senate majority leader oversaw a huge handout to big business and drew bipartisan ire for suggesting struggling states should go bankrupt * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageIt was, New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo observed, "one of the really dumb ideas of all time". Larry Hogan, his counterpart in Maryland, called it "complete nonsense". Congressman Pete King of New York said it was the work of the "Marie Antoinette of the Senate".It would be an understatement to say Mitch McConnell's suggestion that state and local governments should declare bankruptcy rather than seek more federal funding went down like a lead balloon. It was a rare instance of the Senate majority leader overplaying his hand.It also showed that Donald Trump is not the only figure embodying liberal nightmares in the time of coronavirus. When historians contemplate a death toll in the tens of thousands and an economy fallen off a cliff, they will pay close attention to the president's most important ally."I think Mitch McConnell is the guy to be watching and focusing on in terms of what's going on," said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. "His messaging around the coronavirus has been tone deaf."It's not just the fact that McConnell was remarkably brutal in pairing Americans into red and blue states at a time of national crisis – that is pretty shameless – but I think it was also politically inept because he's got his colleagues in tough races in blue states."McConnell's role in the pandemic drama has been criticised. On 12 March, just before Trump declared a national emergency, the senator flew back to Kentucky for a celebration for Justin Walker, a young rightwing judge nominated to America's second highest court. The ill-timed absence was noted. "WheresMitch?" trended on Twitter.With the economy in a tailspin, Senate Republicans came up with emergency funding. But it was skewed in favour of corporate executives and shareholders. Democrats refused it. A New York Times editorial was headlined: "The Coronavirus Bailout Stalled. And It's Mitch McConnell's Fault."Democrats forced concessions in a record $2.2tn bill that increased support to workers and reduced handouts to business, though these still amounted to what critics called a $500bn "corporate slush fund".Trump was earning global opprobrium for his bungling of the pandemic, but it was apparently too late for McConnell to untether himself from the president, even if he so desired. Instead, he blamed Democrats for impeaching Trump."[The coronavirus] came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial," McConnell told the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. "And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment."Opponents saw that as a feeble attempt to excuse the inexcusable.Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Joe Biden, said: "Almost any good Mitch McConnell did by cooperating and collaborating on the legislative side is undone by his enabling of the president at a time when he could have been a real leader and called out the president on his lack of responsiveness and leadership."It's disappointing because he had the chance to redeem himself from all the negative and enabling and divisiveness of the past several years as the majority leader and he didn't take it.Vela, a board director of TransparentBusiness, added: "Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are battling for who is the greatest hypocrite in our nation – it's like they're competing for the hypocrisy trophy. It's not about unity, it's not about bringing the American people together at a time of crisis. For McConnell and Trump, it's all about politics and power."Last week McConnell retreated from his much-derided position on "blue state bailouts" and bankruptcy, indicating he would consider funds in the next relief bill for state and local governments struggling to pay police and firefighters."There's no question all governors, regardless of party, would like to have more money, I'm open to discussing that," he said on Fox News Radio.But he sailed into fresh controversy by insisting that senators, unlike their counterparts in the House, return to work on Monday. Washington DC remains a virus hotspot. At least one senator, eight Capitol police officers and 11 workers have tested positive. Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland warned that "without effective safeguards in place, Mitch McConnell is endangering the lives of the staff".Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, condemned McConnell for priorities that include confirming Walker and demanded oversight hearings into the White House's "dreadful response to this public health crisis".Schumer said: "The American people are demanding answers and solutions – Senator McConnell ought to focus the Senate's work on the crises caused by Covid-19, not rightwing judges or fulfilling his 'pre-existing partisan wishlist' of protecting big business from any harm done to the American people."Another confrontation is looming, over the next stimulus package. McConnell is insisting on protections for businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits as states reopen. Democrats warn workers' health could be jeopardised.Public Citizen, a corporate and government watchdog, tweeted: "McConnell is now refusing to pass ANY stimulus bill that doesn't include TOTAL LEGAL IMMUNITY for corporations that get people sick [with] the coronavirus. It's abhorrent. It's also totally impractical. How can we reopen the economy if companies have no incentive to keep us safe?"Trump and McConnell appear bound together. Should the president lose in November, he could bring down Senate Republicans – perhaps even McConnell in Kentucky. Challenger Amy McGrath, a fighter pilot, outraised McConnell in the first three months of this year.Defeat would be an ignominious end to a divisive career. Kurt Bardella, a former senior adviser for the House oversight committee, said: "History will not look back on Mitch McConnell kindly. He has been the most effective enabler of Donald Trump."Everything Trump has inflicted on the American people has been done with the blessing of McConnell. Through this entire coronavirus pandemic, McConnell has displayed he is a soulless person who is willing to let people suffer so he can continue to wield power."
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| NYC Police Union Claims ‘City Will Fall Apart’ Unless Cops Taken Off Social Distancing Enforcement Posted: 04 May 2020 11:08 AM PDT  The New York City Police Benevolent Association, the city's largest police union, released a statement Monday arguing that officers should not be tasked with enforcing social distancing ordinances."The NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether," PBA president Patrick Lynch said in a statement. "As the weather heats up & the pandemic continues to unravel our social fabric, police officers should be allowed to focus on our core public safety mission. If we don't, the city will fall apart before our eyes."The city's police force has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with over 4,000 officers testing positive for the illness and 30 dead over the course of the outbreak. In early April, almost 20 percent of the entire 36,000-strong police force was on sick leave for coronavirus or other illnesses.Enforcing social distancing in the city is made exceedingly difficult by the city's density and residents' reliance on public transport. NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday that police issued about 70 summonses over the weekend for violations of social distancing regulations."This is a great experiment we're living through here," Shea told reporters at a press conference. "Really never seen this before in a city of 8.6 million people trying to keep everyone inside."The NYPD on Saturday arrested three people in a group violating social distancing measures, and video of the altercation was shared in local media. The force also faced criticism after allowing mourners to gather at the funeral of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Brooklyn. After more mourners gathered than were initially predicted, police were forced to break up the funeral.
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| Ministers 'fully aware' China was covering up extent of coronavirus outbreak in early weeks of crisis Posted: 03 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Ministers were made "fully aware" by intelligence agencies that China had covered up the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak, it was claimed on Sunday night, raising questions over Britain's decision to delay the lockdown. The UK Government was told "not to believe Beijing's claims" from the outset and to treat information coming out of China with scepticism, The Telegraph understands. A senior former MI6 official said the intelligence agencies knew what was "really happening" in China and passed that information to ministers. Doubts are also being expressed over China's insistence that the outbreak began in a so-called "wet market" in Wuhan, where live animals were being sold. The spotlight is being turned on the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology amid claims that lax biosecurity may have allowed the disease, being examined in the lab, to somehow escape. A Chinese television news report dating from two years ago shows scientists in the institute's "emerging viruses group" wearing only lab coats and latex gloves but no other form of protective personal equipment. The latest studies suggest the true number of people infected in China in the first wave, dating back to mid-February, was close to a quarter of a million – four times higher than the official figure. China has also since revised its death toll up by 50 per cent. Downing Street continued to use China's official figures in comparative graphs on the scale of the outbreak until just over a week ago, but then dropped the country from the charts over concerns about the accuracy of the data.
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| Russia is rapidly becoming one of the world's coronavirus hotspots, and it just reported a record 10,000 new cases in a day Posted: 03 May 2020 08:40 AM PDT  A total of 134,687 people are now confirmed to have had coronavirus in Russia, making it the seventh most-infected country on the planet.
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| The Chinese government is worried global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since Tiananmen Square Posted: 04 May 2020 02:33 PM PDT  The mounting global backlash against China stemming from the country's handling the early days of the coronavirus pandemic has apparently registered with Beijing's political leaders, Reuters reports.An internal report drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary International found that anti-China sentiment around the world is at its highest point since 1989 following the Tiananmen Square student demonstrations, which Beijing cracked down on by declaring martial law and sending the military to occupy parts of the capital.The think tank's research was reportedly presented in early April to top Chinese Communist Party officials, including President Xi Jinping. Reuters' report is based off sources who have direct knowledge of the findings, though the news outlet has not seen the briefing itself. If reports of its contents are accurate, it would at least confirm Beijing is taking the backlash seriously, though Reuters notes it's unclear if those concerns will ultimately influence policy.The paper reportedly concluded the rising anti-China sentiment is in part a result of American efforts to undermine public confidence in Beijing amid the crisis. Relations between the two super powers are fragile at the moment, and the White House has been ramping up its criticism of China's coronavirus response, accusing the CCP of covering up information about the virus' severity and origin. Read more at Reuters.More stories from theweek.com How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Trump was the disaster we should have seen coming Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like
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| Italy baffled by unexplained surge in deaths during virus crisis Posted: 04 May 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Italy recorded almost 50 percent more fatalities in March than usual, according to new official data showing that the real coronavirus death toll could be far higher than the 29,000 reported. The data were released on the day Italy eased nine weeks of confinement. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hopes a drop in infections and a gradual return to business can help the economy start recovering from what might be its worst downturn since the 1930s.
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| Nigerians cautious as coronavirus lockdown eased Posted: 04 May 2020 03:57 AM PDT  Businesses in key areas reopen but some are reluctant to return to work over health fears.
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| Iran approves plan to cut four zeros from falling currency -report Posted: 04 May 2020 12:13 AM PDT |
| Some in Tennessee could be without power for weeks after strong storms hit Posted: 04 May 2020 11:30 AM PDT  Nashville Electric said in a statement that some people could be without power for a week or two, as challenges related to coronavirus complicated crews' responses and more storms were expected.
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| Trump news: White House pushes back on projection of 100,000 coronavirus deaths as president promotes murder conspiracy theory Posted: 04 May 2020 06:37 AM PDT  The White House has pushed back on a Trump administration projection from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that would see the daily death toll increase to 3,000 per day by 1 June.The latest projection, first obtained by The New York Times, was confirmed as authentic, but the White House has denied the veracity of the report despite the CDC's role in its drafting.
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| Secretary of Senate Says Office Cannot Comply with Biden’s Request to Release Tara Reade Files Posted: 04 May 2020 08:50 AM PDT  The Secretary of the Senate on Monday said that her office cannot comply with Joe Biden's request to disclose records pertaining to a complaint allegedly filed by former staffer Tara Reade."Based on the law's strict confidentiality requirements…and the Senate's own direction that disclosure of Senate records is not authorized if prohibited by law…Senate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden's letter of May 1," the office of the Senate Secretary said in a statement.Biden has stated that the only possible place where Reade's alleged complaint could be found is in Senate personnel archives. Reade, who accuses Biden of sexually assaulting her in Spring 1993, said she filed a complaint against Biden in which she alleged that the former Delaware senator engaged in inappropriate behavior, but didn't mention the assault.Biden denied the assault allegation on Friday."I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren't true. This never happened," Biden said in a statement. During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Biden also denied that a search of his personal archives held by the University of Delaware would turn up any mention of Reade, saying that those records contain private conversations with world leaders that could be used as "campaign fodder."Reade's account of the alleged assault has been corroborated in some aspects by testimony from friends and a former neighbor.The University of Delaware has refused to make the contents of Biden's archives available for research. The archives are under the direct control of the university's Board of Trustees, many of whose members have ties to Biden and have donated to his presidential campaign.
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| Venezuela: anti-Maduro battle isn't over as ex-US soldier says he launched raid Posted: 04 May 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Jordan Goudreau, who was linked to plot to topple Maduro, said his troops are still in action as government said it foiled 'invasion' A former US special forces soldier linked to a murky and apparently bungled attempt to topple Venezuela's leader, Nicolás Maduro, has insisted his troops are still in action after launching "a daring amphibious raid" into the country.In a video released late on Sunday – hours after Maduro's government claimed it had foiled a United States-backed sea "invasion" near Venezuela's main international airport – Jordan Goudreau claimed the battle was not over."Our men are continuing to fight right now," claimed the 43-year-old American citizen, who was last week linked to what was described as an audacious but half-baked plot to invade Venezuela and remove its leader. "Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela."The former US special forces medic, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, offered no evidence for those claims and it was unclear where the video had been recorded. There were no reports of fighting in the capital, Caracas.But earlier on Sunday Venezuela's leaders claimed they had frustrated what they called a US-backed assault near the port city of La Guaira, 20 miles north of Caracas, killing eight alleged assailants.Venezuela's interior minister, Néstor Reverol, claimed a platoon of "terrorist mercenaries" had tried to make landfall using speedboats but been repelled by security forces."Some were shot down and others detained," Reverol said in a televised statement, accusing the group of plotting to assassinate the leaders of Venezuela's "revolutionary government".Reverol said "a meticulous land, sea and air search" was under way to capture any remaining invaders, vowing: "We will remain in permanent state of alert and resistance."In a telephone interview with the Washington Post on Sunday night, Goudreau claimed the operation had involved "60 troops", including two former US special forces members, who had arrived in Venezuela by land and sea.Speaking to the Associated Press on Monday, Goudreau claimed 52 of those fighters – including two US veterans – had infiltrated Venezuelan territory and were "in the first stage of a mission to recruit members of the security forces to join their cause"."I don't care about politics," he said. "I care about my men on the ground right now who are in the most dangerous phase of the operation."Venezuela's defense minister, who was last year accused of plotting against Maduro, appeared on state television flanked by armoured vehicles and heavily armed troops clutching assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade."A group of mercenaries has attempted to trample our sacred soils and has received an emphatic response from our the weapons of our republic," Vladimir Padrino López said, denouncing what he called a "crass" imperialist incursion. Padrino López said Maduro had ordered troops to scour the country's Caribbean coastline for accomplices.The commotion comes almost a year to the day after a botched attempt to remove Hugo Chávez's authoritarian successor from power.On 30 April 2019 opposition leader Juan Guaidó – who dozens of countries, including the US and UK, recognize as Venezuela's legitimate interim leader – sought to spark a pre-dawn military uprising dubbed "Operation Freedom".But those efforts fizzled and Maduro remains in power, albeit facing massive challenges as a result of Venezuela's continued social and economic meltdown and now, the Covid-19 crisis, which doctors fear could bring the country's crippled health system to its knees.Guaidó denied any involvement in the alleged invasion on Monday although Goudreau provided a Miami-based journalist with an eight-page services contract supposedly signed by Guaidó and two political advisers in October for $213m.Sunday's supposed invasion is the latest chapter in the bizarre and shady tale of an apparently ongoing plot to overthrow Maduro that is being partly led by Goudreau, a sharpshooting, muscle-bound mixed martial arts enthusiast from Florida.In a lengthy report on Goudreau's travails last week, the Associated Press claimed he had founded a private security company called Silvercorp USA in 2018 and last year decided to capitalize on Donald Trump's obsession with overthrowing Maduro.The report said Goudreau subsequently came into contact with Clíver Alcalá, a retired Venezuelan army major general who has admitted to plotting against Maduro and handed himself over to US authorities in late March after being indicted in the US on drug trafficking charges.Alcalá reportedly told Goudreau he had three camps of willing combatants waiting near Colombia's border with Venezuela and the American offered to train them for "a rapid-strike operation" to take out Maduro.Goudreau reportedly boasted of high-level contacts in the Trump administration but the news agency said it had found no evidence of US support for his actions.
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| A New York City police officer was filmed punching a bystander during arrests while enforcing social distancing measures Posted: 04 May 2020 10:03 AM PDT  An NYPD officer identified as Francisco Garcia was filmed violently punching a man named Donni Wright on Saturday.
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| The US Navy sent surface ships deep into the Arctic, and close to Russia, for the first time in over 30 years Posted: 04 May 2020 04:09 AM PDT  The Barents Sea is above northwest Russia, and the US-British operation there comes amid heightened tensions between NATO and Moscow.
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| India coronavirus lockdown: Official denies asking migrants to pay train fares home Posted: 04 May 2020 08:58 AM PDT  The reported move prompted the main opposition party to say it would foot the bill for the tickets.
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| The Best Outdoor Patio Furniture for Every Budget Posted: 04 May 2020 03:04 PM PDT |
| Greeks rush to hairdressers, florists, beaches, as virus lockdown eases Posted: 04 May 2020 02:14 AM PDT  Greeks were finally allowed to get their hair cut, buy books and flowers and even venture back onto the beaches on Monday as part of a gradual easing of lockdown restrictions imposed six weeks ago to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Police conducted inspections on buses, in metro stations and shops to make sure people were wearing the mandatory protective masks and respecting social distancing rules. Greeks no longer need a form stating a valid reason - such as shopping for food or medicine, or taking physical exercise - for permission to leave their homes.
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| Chaos outside liquor stores as India eases virus lockdown Posted: 04 May 2020 05:07 PM PDT  Police swung batons on Monday to beat back thirsty Indians jostling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days as the government eased further the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown. The Delhi government said late Monday that it would slap a 70 percent "special corona fee" on liquor sales from Tuesday to boost revenue badly hit by the pandemic, local media reported.
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| Chinese State Media Labels Pompeo ‘Evil’ in Response to Claims that Coronavirus Leaked from Wuhan Lab Posted: 04 May 2020 03:19 PM PDT  Chinese state media slammed U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Monday after Pompeo repeated allegations that the coronavirus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan.Pompeo is "one of the worst secretaries of the state in American history," the Xinhua state news agency said in a translation by the Wall Street Journal. The similarly state-run Global Times wrote in an editorial, "Pompeo is indulging in a solo performance that has failed to adhere to the professional standards expected of a chief diplomat. His claims are not supported by scientists or reliable intelligence."China's state broadcaster CCTV broadcast a commentary segment entitled "Evil Pompeo is wantonly spewing poison and spreading lies.""The so-called 'virus leaked from a Wuhan lab' hype is a complete and utter lie," CCTV stated in a translation by Qatari government-owned Al Jazeera. "American politicians are rushing to shift the blame, cheat votes and suppress China when their own domestic anti-epidemic efforts are a mess."Chinese state media have repeatedly criticized Pompeo, who took a hard line against China even before the coronavirus pandemic."I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that [the coronavirus] came from that laboratory in Wuhan," Pompeo said in a Sunday appearance on ABC's This Week. Pompeo was referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studies coronaviruses.World Health Organization adviser Jamie Metzl told National Review in an interview that it was "likely" that the coronavirus did indeed escape from a lab in Wuhan, although the allegation has not yet been confirmed. China has so far refused to allow WHO representatives to participate in an investigation of the coronavirus's origins.U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that China attempted to cover up the spread of coronavirus during the initial stages of the pandemic, in order to stock up on medical supplies before other nations.
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| Trump national security official says U.S. not considering ‘punitive measures’ against China Posted: 04 May 2020 08:13 AM PDT |
| Security guard, father of 9, shot and killed in Michigan after telling customer to put on face mask Posted: 04 May 2020 03:41 PM PDT  Calvin James Munerlyn was fatally shot after an argument with a customer who refused to put a face mask on her daughter before entering the store.
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| A New York City landlord made a viral TikTok about taking her tenant's packages 'until they pay up' in rent Posted: 04 May 2020 12:26 PM PDT  The landlord said the video was a joke, but told Buzzfeed, "I wished I could do this to them because they were blatantly ignoring me."
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| A mother and daughter shared a hospital room, fighting coronavirus until the end Posted: 03 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A woman faces the "bittersweet blessing" of being hospitalized with their mother when they both fell ill with COVID-19.
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| Ten times more people may be immune to coronavirus in Germany than predicted Posted: 04 May 2020 08:55 AM PDT  Ten times more people than previously thought may have already acquired immunity to the coronavirus, according to a groundbreaking study in Germany. Scientists from the University of Bonn on Monday claimed their findings show that 1.8m people across Germany have already been infected with the virus. That is more than ten times as many as have tested positive so far, and would mean more than 1.6m may have been infected and recovered without knowing it. The findings are based on the first comprehensive study of the effects of the virus on a single community in Gangelt, the town at the epicentre of Germany's first major outbreak. As reported by the Telegraph, the study's initial findings last month suggested the fatality rate in Gangelt was much lower than previously thought, at just 0.37 per cent. The study's authors now believe this is the general fatality rate for the virus and that it can be used to extrapolate the total number of undetected infections from the death toll. "Because our research allows us to determine exactly how many individuals are infected, we can also determine the percentage of deaths among all those infected with great accuracy," Prof Hendrik Streeck, the study's leader, said as he announced the study's final findings on Monday. "The infection fatality rate is a property of the virus. It can to a degree be applied to all of Germany — corrected for demography, of course."
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| California eases Covid-19 restrictions, allowing some businesses to reopen Posted: 04 May 2020 04:48 PM PDT  Shops selling anything that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able operate again, with modifications * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageSome California retailers will be allowed to reopen their businesses starting on Friday, the state's governor said on Monday.More than six weeks after Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order, shops selling books, clothing, sporting goods, flowers or anything else that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able to open again, if they implement certain modifications."We are entering into the next phase this week," Newsom said. "End of the week, with modifications, we will allow retail to start operating across the spectrum.""This is a very positive sign and it has only happened for one reason: the data says it can happen," he added.The easing in restrictions came after groups of protesters had gathered across the state in defiance of the lockdown last week. Demonstrations took place from the capital, Sacramento, to San Francisco and San Diego. Large crowds turned out in Orange county's Huntington Beach, a recent flashpoint after the governor had ordered beaches there to close over the weekend.Newsom acknowledged that some California regions would still require stricter guidelines than the state guidelines in the weeks to come.The six Bay Area counties that were the first in the country to issue a stay-at-home order, for example, have experienced a much higher rate of infection than more rural areas of the state, with more than 8,100 cases. Los Angeles, meanwhile, has seen more than 26,000 cases.Last week, rural Yuba and Sutter counties, located north of Sacramento, issued a measure that defied the state's order and reopened businesses starting Monday. Modoc county, located on the Nevada border, was the first to begin pushing for a reopening. "Our rural lifestyle and the fact that many of our residents have been abiding by the guidelines has kept us at zero," said Tex Dowdy, the Modoc county sheriff, in a statement. "We are the perfect choice to pilot a reopening in the state."As of Monday, California was reporting 53,616 positive cases and 2,215 deaths. Newsom has been adamant that any modification to the stay-at-home order be based on science and the state meeting certain criteria such as having capacity to meet a surge in healthcare needs, having enough personal protective equipment and having testing and trace-contacting capacity.Nearly 3,000 protested at Huntington Beach in southern California after Newsom closed the beaches in Orange county following a weekend heatwave that packed the coastline.Thousands more still flocked to the beaches this past weekend, some in protest and some for fun. In Carlsbad in San Diego county, where a red tide algae bloom is creating its annual blue bioluminescence at night, more than 1,000 people crowded along the coastline – even though the beaches were closed, said Bryan Hargett, a Carlsbad police lieutenant. Police stopped and reminded the nighttime beachgoers of the rules, and issued parking citations for those who didn't listen – around 20 to 30 total, Hargett said."We get it, we understand people probably want to get outside and enjoy the beaches and see this, but we're all trying to follow the rules and do the right thing to get us back to normal," he said.In Newport Beach, where seven miles of beaches are closed by state order, about 8,500 people still took to the shore on Saturday, and 4,500 on Sunday, said John Pope, a city spokesman. "It sounds like a big number, but it's a small fraction of what we would typically see on weekends when the beaches were still open," he said.The beachgoers came even as officials worked to abide by the governor's order, conducting sweeps during the busiest parts of the days and clearing people off the beaches, using announcements from a police helicopter and bullhorns as well as talking directly to individuals."Some of them said they hadn't heard [about the beach closures] and in some cases, they were being deliberately defiant," Pope said. "Some said they were coming down to the beach to stage a protest."Pope said the city was "cautiously optimistic" that Newsom's announcement on businesses meant there may soon be movement on beaches. The city has filed a plan with the state on how to reopen the beaches safely, Pope said, and "we're confident we can manage the beaches effectively, maintain social distancing and minimize the public health risks".Newsom acknowledged the Orange county beach plan in his briefing on Monday, which he called an "outstanding plan" that he "enthusiastically embraced". "Those beaches will be reopened," he said."That's the spirit of the moment, the spirit of the time," Newsom said. "A sense of cooperation, recognizing the frustration that we all have and recognizing that we are all in this together and go a lot further together in that collaborative spirit."
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| Italy's coronavirus death toll far higher than reported: stats office Posted: 04 May 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Italy's coronavirus death toll is much higher than reported, statistics bureau ISTAT said on Monday in an analysis pointing to thousands of fatalities that have never been officially attributed to COVID-19. In its first report of the epidemic's impact on Italy's mortality rate, covering 86% of the population, ISTAT said that from Feb. 21, when the first COVID-19 deaths occurred, until March 31, nationwide deaths were up 39% compared with the average of the previous five years. Of the 25,354 "excess deaths", the coronavirus was registered by the Civil Protection Agency as the official cause for 13,710, leaving around 11,600 deaths unaccounted for.
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| Forty years ago, Yugoslavia's leader Tito died Posted: 04 May 2020 12:34 AM PDT  The leader of communist Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, died after a long illness on May 4, 1980, just days before his 88th birthday. There was an outpouring of emotion over the death of Tito, who refused to let his Balkan country come under the Soviet thumb and kept a federation of different ethnicities and religions together. On Sunday, May 4, Tito is described as being in a "very grave" and "critical" condition in the latest of the bulletins which reported updates on his health since he was admitted to hospital in Ljubljana nearly four months earlier.
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| AP wins feature photography Pulitzer for Kashmir coverage Posted: 04 May 2020 12:42 PM PDT  The story of India's crackdown on Kashmir last August was difficult to show to the world. Now, their work has been honored with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. Snaking around roadblocks, sometimes taking cover in strangers' homes and hiding cameras in vegetable bags, the three photographers captured images of protests, police and paramilitary action and daily life — and then headed to an airport to persuade travelers to carry the photo files out with them and get them to the AP's office in New Delhi.
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| Race for COVID-19 vaccine heats up as researchers try to end the pandemic Posted: 04 May 2020 03:22 AM PDT  The global race to create a vaccine for the coronavirus is heating up as hundreds of researchers try to find a way to end the pandemic.
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| Secretary of the Senate says it can't release Tara Reade documents Posted: 04 May 2020 09:40 AM PDT  The secretary of the Senate will not be releasing information related to a complaint Tara Reade says she made against former Vice President Joe Biden as he requested.Biden last week after breaking his silence on the allegation from Reade, a former staffer, that he sexually assaulted her in 1993, requested that the secretary of the Senate release any documents related to a complaint she says she made. Biden, who denied the allegation, had requested a search of the National Archives but told the secretary of the Senate, "the Archives now states that the records would have remained under the control of the Senate." Biden requested the release of "not only a complaint if one exists, but any and all other documents in the records that relate to the allegation."On Monday, however, the secretary of the Senate responded to Biden's request saying the office has "no discretion to disclose" the information, Axios reports. The statement cited "strict confidentiality requirements."Reade says she filed a complaint against Biden with the Senate personnel office in the 1990s, although she says the complaint did not mention assault. Biden said in regard to the allegation last week, "It is not true. I'm saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. And it didn't. It never happened." The Biden campaign on Monday responded to the Senate secretary with several questions, including if there is anyone to whom the records could be disclosed legally.More stories from theweek.com How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Trump was the disaster we should have seen coming The Chinese government is worried global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since Tiananmen Square
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| Mississippi's governor backtracked on ending the state's lockdown after the state saw its biggest increase in coronavirus deaths and cases Posted: 03 May 2020 04:19 AM PDT  Mississippi reported 397 new cases of coronavirus and 20 new deaths Friday, both of which were the highest daily numbers in the state.
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| Off-duty Los Angeles police officer arrested, charged with attempted murder after camping trip shooting Posted: 03 May 2020 05:19 PM PDT |
| For nearly two months, Italians rarely left their homes. Now they lead Europe's reopening. Posted: 04 May 2020 07:35 AM PDT  "A new page is beginning, and we will have to write it together with faith and responsibility," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
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| Twins who got in to 5 Ivy League schools make their choice Posted: 04 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT  The Alexander sisters will be the first generation of their family to attend college.
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| Neutralizing antibody; new virus details to aid vaccine research Posted: 04 May 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Researchers on Monday said they have produced a monoclonal antibody that can "neutralize" the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes the illness COVID-19. New information reported on Monday about the structure of the novel coronavirus will aid in development of a vaccine, investigators say.
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| Uber ends Eats delivery in seven markets in strategic pullback Posted: 04 May 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Uber said Monday it would discontinue its Uber Eats restaurant delivery service in seven markets next month as part of a strategic shift for the ride-hailing service, which is struggling with a new economic landscape. Food delivery will end in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uruguay by June 4, according to a regulatory filing. The changes do not affect Uber Rides operations in those countries.
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| Kazakh president strips predecessor's daughter of key role in aftermath of exposure of assets in the UK Posted: 04 May 2020 07:58 AM PDT  The multi-millionaire daughter of Kazakhstan's ex-president has been stripped of powers that would have put her first in line for the leadership of the oil-rich Central Asian nation. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the current president, gave no reason for Dariga Nazarbayeva's surprise dismissal as senate speaker, but the decision comes shortly after a high-profile London court battle that exposed details of her vast personal fortune. Ms Nazarbayeva was made senate speaker last year when her father Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down after almost 30 years as president, handing over to his protege Mr Tokayev. The speaker automatically takes power if the president resigns or is incapacitated, leading to speculation that 56-year-old Ms Nazarbayeva was positioning to succeed her father. Mr Nazarbayev still holds outsize influence in the ex-Soviet state and took the title "Leader of the Nation" after leaving the presidency, while Kazakhstan's capital city Astana was renamed Nur-Sultan in his honour last year. Family members amassed huge fortunes over Mr Nazarbayev's decades in power, but journalists in Kazakhstan are forbidden by law from investigating this wealth. Details however came to light in a High Court battle in London in March, as Ms Nazarbayeva and her son sought to stop 'McMafia' laws being used to seize their £80-million property portfolio in the capital. The UK National Crime Agency had targeted three addresses it suspected were bought with the proceeds of crimes by Ms Nazarbayeva's late ex-husband. They included a 10-bedroom mansion in an area of Hampstead, north London, known as Billionaires' Row. The court overturned the Unexplained Wealth Orders - also known as 'McMafia' orders after the popular BBC drama - but the ruling brought attention to Ms Nazarbayeva's business empire, which spans the sugar, car, banking and media industries. Forbes magazine last estimated her wealth in 2013 at $595 million, and she was named in the Panama Papers as the owner of an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands. Ms Nazarbayeva is also an amateur opera singer who has performed on Kazakh television and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Political decision-making in Kazakhstan is opaque and it is not clear whether Mr Nazarbayev played a role in his daughter's dismissal at the weekend, or whether she will be appointed to another position. President Tokayev thanked Ms Nazarbayeva for her "active and fruitful" service in a tweet. Mr Tokayev's deputy chief of staff Maulen Ashimbayev became senate speaker in a reshuffle on Monday.
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| Police: Woman wanted to get close to alligator before attack Posted: 04 May 2020 11:26 AM PDT |
| Former Obama campaign advisers Axelrod and Plouffe urge Biden to 'up the tempo' Posted: 04 May 2020 11:03 AM PDT  David Axelrod, a former senior strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, and David Plouffe, Obama's 2008 campaign manager, have a message for former Vice President: "up the tempo."In an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times, Axelrod and Plouffe said that while Biden's presidential campaign "has taken impressive steps" recently, the presumptive Democratic nominee will have to continue that momentum, especially in the digital realm, if he's out to outmaneuver the Trump re-election campaign — which has fully embraced social media — before November's general election. "Online speeches from his basement won't cut it," the op-ed reads.But they don't want Biden to be simply more active in the digital sphere. The content matters, too, and they're urging him to throw out his civility playbook. "You don't defeat an incumbent by playing defense," Axelrod and Plouffe wrote.Instead, they want Biden to "behave more like an insurgent" while using "facts, humor, and mockery" to take advantage of the opportunities Trump provides. "It isn't hard to get a rise out of this thin-skinned president and knock him off his game," the Obama advisers wrote. "Be a speedboat, not a battleship. Make him react to you." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Trump was the disaster we should have seen coming The Chinese government is worried global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since Tiananmen Square
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| 'It Looked Like a Tropical Paradise.' Florida Man Arrested for Quarantining on a Private Disney Island Posted: 03 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT  Disney's private Discovery Island was previously called Treasure Island
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| Man, dog and five camels rescued from fall in Australian bush Posted: 03 May 2020 07:14 PM PDT  The convoy was pulled down a steep embankment in Australia after one of the camels slipped.
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| Coronavirus implodes family of three last month Posted: 04 May 2020 11:26 AM PDT  For most of her life, Maranda Lender, 32, has lived with her parents in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. But the family-of-three configuration imploded last month. Her mother, Becky Lender, 61, died April 4. Her father, Brad Lender, 60, died three days later. Both had tested positive for the coronavirus.
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| U.N. calls for COVID vaccine, treatment available for all Posted: 04 May 2020 06:34 AM PDT  United Nations leaders called on Monday for a global effort to develop and distribute to all at affordable prices vaccines, treatments and testing kits against COVID-19. "These new tools will help us to fully control the pandemic and must be treated as global public goods available and affordable for all," the U.N. secretary general Antonio Guterres said at the start of a global pledging conference which aims to raise at least 8 billion dollars for the fight against the coronavirus.
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| US says 'evidence' virus came from China lab as Europe eases lockdown Posted: 03 May 2020 06:08 PM PDT  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said "enormous evidence" showed the new coronavirus originated in a lab in China, further fueling tensions with Beijing over its handling of the outbreak. Pompeo's comments came as Europe and parts of the United States prepared to cautiously lift virus lockdowns as signs emerge that the deadly pandemic is ebbing and governments look to restart their battered economies. US President Donald Trump, increasingly critical of China's management of the first outbreak in the city of Wuhan in December, claims to have proof it started in a Chinese laboratory.
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| Justice Department sides with Virginia church in dispute over lockdown orders Posted: 04 May 2020 11:42 AM PDT  The Justice Department filed a statement of interest in support of Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Chincoteague Island, Virginia.
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| Unimpressed by online classes, college students seek refunds Posted: 03 May 2020 09:59 PM PDT  Now, students at more than 25 U.S. universities are filing lawsuits against their schools demanding partial refunds on tuition and campus fees, saying they're not getting the caliber of education they were promised. The suits reflect students' growing frustration with online classes that schools scrambled to create as the coronavirus forced campuses across the nation to close last month. The suits say students should pay lower rates for the portion of the term that was offered online, arguing that the quality of instruction is far below the classroom experience.
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| Brazil may have more coronavirus cases than the U.S., study suggests Posted: 04 May 2020 09:51 AM PDT  Brazil, not the United States, may have the most coronavirus cases in the world, a University of São Paolo study suggests, per The Wall Street Journal.The study concluded that, through May 3, the number of infections since the pandemic began in Brazil could be as high as 1.6 million, more than the U.S.'s officially world-leading 1.1 million-plus cases. "Brazil is already the global epicenter of the coronavirus," said Dr. Domingo Alves from Ribeirão Preto Medical School, who worked on the study.The research points to minimal testing in the country as the reason the recorded figures aren't nearly that high — Johns Hopkins University has Brazil's official cases count just under 102,000. But the most populous country in the Southern hemisphere has tested only about 1,600 per million people. The U.S., which many experts believe is not testing nearly enough, administers 20,200 per million, while some European countries are conducting 30,000.Of course, those countries are also likely missing cases, but the testing gap is significant, either way. Subsequently concerns are growing for the country, especially as its President Jair Bolsonaro remains a coronavirus skeptic. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com How George W. Bush exposed Trump's biggest failure Trump was the disaster we should have seen coming The Chinese government is worried global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since Tiananmen Square
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| Tracking the 'Murder Hornet': A Deadly Pest Has Reached North America Posted: 03 May 2020 08:35 AM PDT  BLAINE, Wash. -- In his decades of beekeeping, Ted McFall had never seen anything like it.As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Washington, in November, he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground. As he looked closer, he saw a pile of dead members of the colony in front of a hive and more carnage inside -- thousands and thousands of bees with their heads torn from their bodies and no sign of a culprit."I couldn't wrap my head around what could have done that," McFall said.Only later did he come to suspect that the killer was what some researchers simply call the "murder hornet."With queens that can grow to 2 inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet's potent venom and stinger -- long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit -- make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.McFall still is not certain that Asian giant hornets were responsible for the plunder of his hive. But two of the predatory insects were discovered last fall in the northwest corner of Washington state, a few miles north of his property -- the first sightings in the United States.Scientists have since embarked on a full-scale hunt for the hornets, worried that the invaders could decimate bee populations in the United States and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication could be lost."This is our window to keep it from establishing," said Chris Looney, an entomologist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. "If we can't do it in the next couple of years, it probably can't be done."On a cold morning in early December, 2 1/2 miles to the north of McFall's property, Jeff Kornelis stepped on his front porch with his terrier-mix dog. He looked down to a jarring sight: "It was the biggest hornet I'd ever seen."The insect was dead, and after inspecting it, Kornelis had a hunch that it might be an Asian giant hornet. It did not make much sense, given his location in the world, but he had seen an episode of the YouTube personality Coyote Peterson getting a brutal sting from one of the hornets.Beyond its size, the hornet has a distinctive look, with a cartoonishly fierce face featuring teardrop eyes like Spider-Man, orange and black stripes that extend down its body like a tiger, and broad, wispy wings like a small dragonfly.Kornelis contacted the state, which came out to confirm that it was indeed an Asian giant hornet. Soon after, they learned that a local beekeeper in the area had also found one of the hornets.Looney said it was immediately clear that the state faced a serious problem, but with only two insects in hand and winter coming on, it was nearly impossible to determine how much the hornet had already made itself at home.Over the winter, state agriculture biologists and local beekeepers got to work, preparing for the coming season. Ruthie Danielsen, a beekeeper who has helped organize her peers to combat the hornet, unfurled a map across the hood of her vehicle, noting the places across Whatcom County where beekeepers have placed traps."Most people are scared to get stung by them," Danielsen said. "We're scared that they are going to totally destroy our hives."Adding to the uncertainty -- and mystery -- were some other discoveries of the Asian giant hornet across the border in Canada.In November, a single hornet was seen in White Rock, British Columbia, perhaps 10 miles away from the discoveries in Washington state -- likely too far for the hornets to be part of the same colony. Even earlier, there had been a hive discovered on Vancouver Island, across a strait that probably was too wide for a hornet to have crossed from the mainland.Crews were able to track down the hive on Vancouver Island. Conrad Berube, a beekeeper and entomologist in the town of Nanaimo, was assigned to exterminate it.He set out at night, when the hornets would be in their nest. He put on shorts and thick sweatpants, then his bee suit. He donned Kevlar braces on his ankles and wrists.But as he approached the hive, he said, the rustling of the brush and the shine of his flashlight awakened the colony. Before he had a chance to douse the nest with carbon dioxide, he felt the first searing stabs in his leg -- through the bee suit and underlying sweatpants."It was like having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh," he said. He ended up getting stung at least seven times, some of the stings drawing blood.Jun-ichi Takahashi, a researcher at Kyoto Sangyo University in Japan, said the species had earned the "murder hornet" nickname there because its aggressive group attacks can expose victims to doses of toxic venom equivalent to that of a venomous snake; a series of stings can be fatal.The night he got stung, Berube still managed to eliminate the nest and collect samples, but the next day, his legs were aching, as if he had the flu. Of the thousands of times he has been stung in his lifetime of work, he said, the Asian giant hornet stings were the most painful.After collecting the hornet in the Blaine area, state officials took off part of a leg and shipped it to an expert in Japan. A sample from the Nanaimo nest was sent as well.A genetic examination, concluded over the past few weeks, determined that the nest in Nanaimo and the hornet near Blaine were not connected, said Telissa Wilson, a state pest biologist, meaning there had probably been at least two different introductions in the region.Looney went out on a recent day in Blaine, carrying clear jugs that had been made into makeshift traps; typical wasp and bee traps available for purchase have holes too small for the Asian giant hornet. He filled some with orange juice mixed with rice wine, others had kefir mixed with water, and a third batch was filled with some experimental lures -- all with the hope of catching a queen emerging to look for a place to build a nest.He hung them from trees, geotagging each location with his phone.In a region with extensive wooded habitats for hornets to establish homes, the task of finding and eliminating them is daunting. How to find dens that may be hidden underground? And where to look, given that one of the queens can fly many miles a day, at speeds of up to 20 mph?The miles of wooded landscapes and mild, wet climate of western Washington state make it an ideal location for the hornets to spread.In the coming months, Looney said, he and others plan to place hundreds more traps. State officials have mapped out the plan in a grid, starting in Blaine and moving outward.The buzz of activity inside a nest of Asian giant hornets can keep the inside temperature up to 86 degrees, so the trackers are also exploring using thermal imaging to examine the forest floors. Later, they may also try other advanced tools that could track the signature hum the hornets make in flight.If a hornet does get caught in a trap, Looney said, there are plans to possibly use radio-frequency identification tags to monitor where it goes -- or simply attach a small streamer and then follow the hornet as it returns to its nest.While most bees would be unable to fly with a disruptive marker attached, that is not the case with the Asian giant hornet. It is big enough to handle the extra load.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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