| Night of rage on Pennsylvania Avenue as protesters clash with Secret Service in front of the White House Posted: 30 May 2020 12:00 PM PDT  Hundreds of protesters marched through the nation's capital and engaged in hours of violent clashes with Secret Service officers.
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| Letters to the Editor: Stacey Abrams lost in Georgia, but she could lift Biden as his VP. Posted: 31 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Even with alleged voter suppression, Stacey Abrams came very close to winning in Georgia. She would make a great VP pick for Biden.
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| Philippine police arrest 90 Chinese for illegal gambling Posted: 31 May 2020 12:41 AM PDT  Philippine police have arrested 90 Chinese for allegedly running an online gambling hub without permits and for violating quarantine restrictions, officials said Sunday.
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| The coronavirus has killed over 100,000 people in the US in just 4 months. This chart shows how that compares to other common causes of death. Posted: 31 May 2020 10:29 AM PDT  Heart disease typically kills about 200,000 Americans between February and May each year, but COVID-19 has been deadlier than other common causes.
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| Russia denies U.S. claim that Libyan banknotes seized in Malta are counterfeit Posted: 30 May 2020 09:45 AM PDT |
| 'If you say you can't breathe, you're breathing': A Mississippi mayor defended the officer who stood on George Floyd's neck Posted: 30 May 2020 12:37 PM PDT  Petal, Mississippi, Mayor Hal Marx tweeted Floyd likely "died of overdose or heart attack" and that Minneapolis police are being "crucified."
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| Coronavirus: Brazil now fourth-highest nation in Covid-19 deaths Posted: 31 May 2020 07:33 AM PDT  Brazil records almost 1,000 deaths in a day, taking its overall number of fatalities past France.
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| Labour whip resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet married boyfriend Posted: 31 May 2020 06:58 AM PDT  A Labour MP has stepped down from her front bench position as whip after admitting she broke lockdown rules to meet her married lover. Rosie Duffield met her boyfriend for a long walk in April, while it was still against the lockdown rules to meet people from different households, the Mail on Sunday reported. She resigned as a whip on Saturday night and said she was "attempting to navigate a difficult personal situation". Ms Duffield, 48, was living separately from married father-of-three James Routh, pictured below, a TV director, when they went for a long walk in her constituency and he visited her home, it was reported. The MP for Canterbury told the Mail on Sunday the pair observed the two-metre social distancing rules, but these incidents were before meetings between people from different households were allowed.
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| Former top Justice Department official warns Trump may 'not cede power' Posted: 29 May 2020 06:05 PM PDT  A former top Justice Department official told Yahoo News she is deeply worried that President Trump could "delegitimize a lawful election" this November "and not cede power."
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| Venezuela raises fuel prices after arrival of Iranian oil tankers Posted: 30 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Venezuela will increase fuel prices in June, the president said, putting a limit on state subsidies that for decades had allowed citizens to fill their gas tanks virtually for free. Although the country has huge oil reserves, production has collapsed and Venezuelans are facing dire shortages -- exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. Beyond that, individuals will be required to pay international prices.
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| AOC slams Bill de Blasio for 'unacceptable' comments after mayor says police showed 'tremendous restraint' amid protests Posted: 31 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D—NY) slammed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over "unacceptable" remarks in which he defended the city's police department and said it showed "restraint" when responding to protests that erupted during the weekend.The progressive freshman Democrat issued a statement criticising the mayor's comments after videos posted online Saturday showed NYPD vehicles driving through a crowd of demonstrators taking part in the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old unarmed black man was killed after pleading for air as a white officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, according to charging documents.
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| Boy Scout victims' choice: Sue rashly, or wait and risk loss Posted: 31 May 2020 06:08 AM PDT |
| Louisville police appear to shoot pepper rounds at reporters Posted: 29 May 2020 08:02 PM PDT  Footage from Wave 3 local news in Louisville, Ky., appears to show police shooting pepper rounds directly at news crew.
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| Bosnian court rejects request to detain regional PM over ventilators deal Posted: 31 May 2020 10:55 AM PDT |
| This high-tech Embraer private jet design seamlessly blends sustainability and technology. Take a look at Praeterra. Posted: 31 May 2020 05:26 AM PDT  The design is featured on the Praetor 600, the newest super-midsize private jet from Embraer that boasts a range of over 4,000 nautical miles.
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| Burkina Faso gunmen 'kill dozens' at cattle market in Kompienga Posted: 31 May 2020 08:22 AM PDT  The gunmen arrived on motorbikes, shooting into the crowded market, reports say.
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| Airlines schedule major increase in flights in July as pressure mounts on ministers to ease quarantine Posted: 30 May 2020 11:44 AM PDT  Airlines have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that Governments will lift travel restrictions for holidaymakers and save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The companies which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers are banking on a "V-shaped" recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5 million seats for July, just eight per cent down on last year's July timetables. The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites like Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid June or at least by July 1. It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK's quarantine - to be introduced on June 8 - could be replaced with "air bridges" to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29. One senior industry source claimed: "The sense is that they might quietly do a U-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury are against it, Beis is against it and DCMS hate it." The exclusive data, from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, shows how the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry as it tore across the world. Scheduled passengers were 22.5 million in February, 10 per cent up on last year before it slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. It has risen in June to 38.5 per cent down on last year, as the Far East has opened up, and rises to just minus eight per cent in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking. June and July are "scheduled" rather than actual flights, which will depend on quarantines easing in June and July. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1. France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15 except with countries that impose quarantine on a "reciprocal" basis, namely the UK. Greece has excluded the UK from a "white list" of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine although it will open up to more countries after it reviews their infection rates at the end of June. British Airways says it is aiming for a "meaningful return" to flying in July, RyanAir plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and EasyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September. Paul Charles, chief executive of PC Consultancy, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain's quarantine risked "killing" the economy. "Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don't get them in June, they will go under," he said. The Airport Operators' Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first "air bridges" to "low risk" destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. The Department for Transport will shortly publish new guidelines for "safe" travel which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel including for check-ins and payments. An AOA spokesman said: "Once these guidelines are agreed and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries." The Home Office which has led the moves to introduce quarantine has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus. A Department for Transport source said: "There is certainly a willingness in Government to do as much for this Summer as is safe." Post-coronavirus air travel: No travel if you have symptoms If ill, no cost re-booking or refunds up to six hours before flying Face masks or coverings from arrival at airport to leaving terminal at destination Only passengers in the terminal, no tearful goodbyes at departure gates Contact-less electronic check-in and boarding Social distancing and one-way systems for waiting and queuing passengers Airports' association pressing for temperature checks Exemption from two-metre rule on plane No on-board duty free, reduced food and drink service, pre-packaged food and cashless payments
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| Brazil virus death toll hits 28,834, surpassing hard-hit France Posted: 30 May 2020 04:32 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Brazil on Saturday reached 28,834 coronavirus fatalities, authorities said, surpassing hard-hit France and becoming the country with the world's fourth-highest death toll. At the epicenter of South America's coronavirus outbreak, Brazil also saw an increase of 33,274 cases in the past 24 hours -- a new daily record, the Health Ministry said. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro remain the hardest-hit states in Brazil in terms of sheer numbers, while per capita rates are higher in the country's impoverished north and northeast, where health facilities are reaching capacity.
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| 'You're not going to out-concern me and out-care me': Atlanta's mayor makes a powerful plea against violence and destruction in George Floyd protests Posted: 30 May 2020 04:33 PM PDT  "This is not a protest," Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said. "This is chaos. A protest has purpose."
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| Long-haul carrier Emirates says it fires staff amid virus Posted: 31 May 2020 09:14 AM PDT |
| 'They didn't start the situation': NYC mayor defends police after NYPD trucks drive into protesters Posted: 31 May 2020 09:43 AM PDT  "If a police officer is in that situation, they have to get out of that situation," di Blasio said.
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| Authorities suspect white supremacists and far-left extremists are behind violence at protests Posted: 30 May 2020 03:51 PM PDT  Federal and local authorities suspect some of the violent clashes during recent protests were instigated by white supremacist groups and far-left extremists. Protests have erupted across the country following the death of George Floyd. Jeff Pegues reports.
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| Saudi Arabia reopens mosques with strict regulations for worshippers Posted: 31 May 2020 02:26 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia's mosques opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday for the first time in more than two months as the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, eased restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus. "It is great to feel the mercy of God and once again call people for prayers at mosques instead of at their homes," said Abdulmajeed Al Mohaisen, who issues the call to prayer at Al Rajhi Mosque, one of the largest in the capital Riyadh.
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| #JusticeForUwa trends in Nigeria after student murdered in church Posted: 31 May 2020 08:42 AM PDT  The hashtag JusticeForUwa is trending after the killing of the 22-year-old woman.
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| Fire, pestilence and a country at war with itself: the Trump presidency is over Posted: 30 May 2020 10:00 PM PDT  A pandemic unabated, an economy in meltdown, cities in chaos over police killings. All our supposed leader does is tweetYou'd be forgiven if you hadn't noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He's golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting.How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?Trump called the protesters "thugs" and threatened to have them shot. "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.On Saturday, he gloated about "the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons" awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. > In reality, Donald Trump doesn't run the government of the United States. He doesn't manage anythingTrump's response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a "Democratic hoax" and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when and where to reopen their economies.Trump has claimed "no responsibility at all" for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new "plan" places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.Trump is also awol in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.What is Trump's response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said "the worst is behind us" as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3tn relief package on 15 May. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival. What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell's inbox. Trump doesn't seem to be aware of any of them.There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that's pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.Trump's tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.When he's not fomenting violence against black protesters, he's accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician's weight and the House speaker's looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to "liberate" their states from lockdown restrictions.He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, "overruling" governors who don't allow places of worship to reopen "right away", and punishing Twitter for factchecking him.And he lies incessantly.In reality, Donald Trump doesn't run the government of the United States. He doesn't manage anything. He doesn't organize anyone. He doesn't administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn't read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. His advisers aren't truth-tellers. They're toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn't shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.Trump's nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US
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| Tropical storm Amanda leaves 9 dead in El Salvador: officials Posted: 31 May 2020 12:59 PM PDT  Tropical storm Amanda, the first named storm of the season in the Pacific, lashed El Salvador and Guatemala on Sunday, leaving nine people dead amid flooding and power outages. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, announcing it on his Twitter account. "We have nine dead," Salvadoran Interior Minister Mario Duran said, adding that the toll could rise.
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| Derek Chauvin, officer arrested in George Floyd's death, has a record of shootings and complaints Posted: 29 May 2020 07:45 PM PDT  The Minneapolis officer fired after George Floyd's death was involved in police shootings during his 19-year career.
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| Louisville PD apologizes for targeting news crew at protest Posted: 30 May 2020 12:43 AM PDT  Kentucky's governor on Saturday called in the National Guard to "help keep the peace" in Louisville after a second night of protests sparked by the police shooting of a black woman led to widespread damage. Gov. Andy Beshear said he didn't want to silence protesters but decided to activate the Guard to quell the actions of "outside groups" that are "trying to create violence." Police said six people were arrested during Friday's protest, which began peacefully but grew more destructive as the night went on.
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| How Germany tackled the coronavirus: 9 people tell us they are thankful for good leadership and a robust health system Posted: 30 May 2020 01:58 AM PDT  Germany's Chancellor Merkel, a former scientist, instilled confidence. A national tendency to follow rules also helped mute the effects of COVID-19.
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| New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says Posted: 31 May 2020 11:43 AM PDT  The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. "In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy," said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy's coronavirus contagion. Italy has the third highest death toll in the world from COVID-19, with 33,415 people dying since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21.
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| Family of Grand Princess passenger who died of coronavirus files suit against Carnival Posted: 31 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  The family of a California cruise ship passenger who died of coronavirus has sued Princess Cruises and its parent company Carnival in federal court.
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| Boris Johnson blocks Corbyn’s recommendation for John Bercow peerage Posted: 31 May 2020 07:20 AM PDT  Boris Johnson has blocked Jeremy Corbyn's recommendation for John Bercow to receive a peerage over allegations of bullying by the former Speaker. Downing Street said it would not approve Labour's nomination of Mr Bercow for elevation to the upper chamber because there are outstanding concerns about his "propriety". Karie Murphy, Mr Corbyn's former chief of staff, was also blocked for appointment to the Lords over an Equalities and Human Rights Commission investigation into alleged institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. The Jewish Labour Movement said her nomination was "deeply inappropriate". Ms Murphy denies all allegations of anti-Semitism. Officials at Downing Street informed Mr Corbyn his nominations would be rejected before he stepped down as leader, The Sunday Times reported. The House of Lords Appointments Commission had concerns about both Mr Bercow and Ms Murphy's "propriety". Mr Bercow, who stood down as Speaker at the end of October, was referred to the parliamentary commissioner of standards in January over allegations of bullying, which he denies. Commons officials accused him of creating a climate of "fear and intimidation" during his time in office, and a former clerk of the Commons said he used "sexually and racially inappropriate" language. Mr Bercow said the claim was "unadulterated rubbish". His nomination by Labour, which was greeted with surprise when it was leaked in January, cannot proceed to formal approval from the Queen without the backing of the Government. The rejection comes after Boris Johnson broke with tradition by refusing to nominate Mr Bercow for a peerage himself, which is customary of a Government after a Speaker's retirement. Dawn Butler, a Labour MP who ran for the deputy leadership of her party, said Mr Johnson's refusal to nominate Mr Bercow was in itself a "form of bullying". After the commission advised against Labour's nomination, Downing Street offered Mr Corbyn the option of replacing his nominees last month, allowing him to choose "antiwar" activists instead, the Sunday Times reported. Mr Corbyn is thought to have declined that offer after some consideration. The House of Lords Appointment commission, which does not comment on individual cases, said: "Our guidelines make clear that an individual must be in good standing in general and with the public regulatory authorities in particular."
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| For Russia, SpaceX success is 'wakeup call' Posted: 31 May 2020 01:40 AM PDT  Russia has lost its long-held monopoly as the only country able to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station following the flawless manned launch by US company SpaceX. The Russian space agency congratulated the United States and Elon Musk's SpaceX on the first crewed flight ever by a private company, but experts said the launch should be a wakeup call for Roscosmos. "The success of the mission will provide us with additional opportunities that will benefit the whole international programme," cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Roscosmos executive director for crewed space programmes, said in a brief video address.
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| Coronavirus live updates: Trump says U.S. will end support for WHO, as death toll nears 103,000 Posted: 30 May 2020 01:10 AM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| China home-built aircraft carrier conducting sea trials Posted: 29 May 2020 08:56 PM PDT  China's Defense Ministry said the navy's only entirely home-built aircraft is carrying out sea trials to test weapons and equipment and enhance training of the crew.
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| Florida’s Seen a ‘Statistically Significant’ Uptick in Pneumonia Deaths. The CDC Says It’s Likely COVID. Posted: 30 May 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Since the beginning of this year, Florida has experienced an uptick in the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control. Experts and Trump administration officials responsible for keeping tabs on mortality rates across the country believe that many of those individuals had likely contracted and died from COVID-19.According to the data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, since the beginning of the year there has been a total of 1,519 deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were listed as the underlying cause. By comparison, in the same time period last year, Florida recorded 1,207 such deaths. The CDC has historically counted pneumonia and influenza deaths together. CDC officials told The Daily Beast that most of the deaths included in that category are pneumonia. Bob Anderson, the chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch in CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, told The Daily Beast that the increase of deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were the underlying cause was "statistically significant" and that those mortalities were "probably COVID cases that weren't reported as such." The coronavirus can cause lung complications such as pneumonia.The increase has sparked a conspiracy theory on the left, that Florida is deliberately trying to undercount coronavirus fatalities by labeling them as something else. There's no evidence to suggest any such underhand efforts, or that the state is unique across the country. But officials, including Anderson, do believe that a portion of the pneumonia and influenza deaths in Florida involved patients who were infected with, but never tested for, COVID-19. In such scenarios, though the virus likely contributed to the death, it may not have been recorded as the cause of death by the physician, coroner or medical examiner. "We're definitely experiencing an underreporting issue nationwide," Anderson said, pointing to the CDC's study of "excess deaths" during the coronavirus. "[In Florida] most likely what we're seeing are folks dying without having been tested and the best evidence that the doctors or whoever is filling out the death certificate had pointed to the person dying of pneumonia."Anderson added that the numbers currently reflected on the CDC's website for pneumonia and influenza deaths for 2020 are lower than reality because the death certificate reporting system lags by several weeks, especially in states that do not have digitized systems to process the papers. 'F*cking Dangerous': Dems in Pennsylvania Lose It After GOP Kept Virus Diagnosis a SecretThough other states are experiencing a similar phenomenon, there has been notable scrutiny placed on Florida, due to Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) handling of the coronavirus response and his decision to move to quickly reopen the state. DeSantis allowed some Florida beaches to reopen in the middle of April, even as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continued to rise across the state. The governor has since criticized members of the press for rushing to warn that Florida would experience a spike in COVID-19 cases, and calling his actions cavalier. Conservative and Trump supportive commentators have pointed to the absence of a notable uptick as evidence that fears of a hasty reopening were overblown. DeSantis' office did not return a request for comment. But the actual story, like much related to the pandemic, appears to be more complicated. And it underscores how much of the public's understanding of, and opinions about, the pandemic are affected by bureaucratic decisions and accounting formulas related to categorizing fatalities. As The Daily Beast previously reported, President Trump and members of his coronavirus task force have pressed the CDC to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths, arguing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being attributed to the disease. The administration has also moved to allow nursing homes the ability to only report coronavirus deaths that occurred after May 6—well after facilities across the country experienced a massive uptick in coronavirus-related deaths. States, as well, have different methods of collecting relevant data and calculating COVID-19 death counts and that, in turn, has sowed speculation about political motivations. On that front, few governors have been as closely watched as DeSantis. Part of that is because of his close relationship with the president. Part of that is because of decisions he has made. Earlier this month the DeSantis administration fired Rebekah Jones, the data manager for the Florida Department of Health who worked on the state's coronavirus online dashboard. In a statement posted to her website, Jones said she was removed from her position because she pushed back when officials in the health department asked her to "manipulate and delete data in late April as work for the state's reopening plan started to take off." The DeSantis administration has since said Jones was fired for insubordination.FL Gov. Overrides County Officials to Allow Church During Coronavirus LockdownWith Florida already under a national microscope, news of the state's pneumonia fatalities circulated on social media this week as liberals accused DeSantis and members of his administration of manipulating data and deliberately downplaying the number of coronavirus deaths. Howard Dean, the former Democrat governor from Vermont, commented on Florida's statistics Thursday, going so far as to accuse Florida of "cooking the books on COVID-19 deaths." Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said while Florida appears to have the coronavirus under control, it was experiencing an "unprecedented 'pneumonia' crisis."But Anderson said it is unlikely that a physician with a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus would have marked anything other than COVID-19 as the underlying cause on the death certificate. If individuals die, for example, in their homes or in nursing facilities without having been tested, a medical examiner or coroner could hypothetically mark the individual as having died of pneumonia. That scenario would have likely played out in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak when testing was difficult to access and when physicians were still learning how the coronavirus presented itself, Anderson said. According to a report by the Miami Herald, officials inside the DeSantis administration kept the Florida public in the dark in February for about two weeks as they scrambled to come up with a plan on how to respond to the state's outbreak. A similar phenomenon took place in Flint after a switch in water supply exposed thousands of people to lead poisoning and caused one of the largest outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in U.S. history. Last year, a team of reporters at PBS Frontline found that there may have been about 70 more deaths from Legionnaires' during the outbreak than the 12 that were officially recorded. But because the government was not forthcoming about the crisis, doctors were not alerted to it and therefore did not know to look or test for the disease. Many people who died of Legionnaires' disease were originally reported as having died from other causes, such as pneumonia. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting Andrew Cuomo and Sucking Up to Ron DeSantisCurrently, health officials and statisticians are researching how many of the states' "excess deaths" over the last several months should be attributed to the coronavirus. One study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published earlier this month said that there were thousands of "excess deaths" in the city from March 11 to May 2. About 18,879 of those deaths were explicitly tied to the coronavirus. But the study said there were also an additional 5,200 deaths that were not identified as either laboratory-confirmed or probable COVID-19-associated cases, but could have been tied to the virus in some other way. At the CDC, officials found 1,500 individuals who were mistakenly overlooked in the first few weeks the agency was calculating the coronavirus death count, and Anderson's team is now going back and correcting those calculations to produce a more accurate death toll.The CDC relies largely on the state department of health systems and a reporting system that is more than 100 years old to calculate the annual death toll in the U.S.. When an individual dies, a doctor, coroner or medical examiner records on the death certificate a sequence of events that contributed to that person's demise and what ultimately caused it. The certificate then goes to the state's registrar, or sometimes a funeral director, who examines the certificate and determines whether to send it back to the physician, coroner or medical examiner for more information. Once the state registrar is satisfied with the certificate, he or she sends it on to the state's department of health. Then, the state sends portions of data from the death certificate onto the CDC. Anderson's team is charged with using that death certificate data, along with data from a national digital coding system, to tabulate causes of death per state each year. The emergence of the coronavirus strained the reporting system in a way that has led to a significant national undercounting, Anderson said, adding that the death-certificate count usually lags anywhere from two to eight weeks. "We've never experienced anything like this before," Anderson said. "We're still learning new things about this virus every day. The reporting will only get better."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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| Protests spread across NYC Saturday, more arrests after night of violence in Brooklyn Posted: 30 May 2020 07:52 PM PDT  For the third night in a row, protesters are coursing through the streets of New York City, with over 100 arrests, injuries to police officers and attacks on police vehicles, echoes of the violence that convulsed Brooklyn the night before.
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| People more important than the economy, pope says about Covid crisis Posted: 31 May 2020 04:48 AM PDT  Pope Francis said on Sunday that people are more important than the economy, as countries decide how quickly to reopen their countries from coronavirus lockdowns. Francis made his comments, departing from a prepared script, at the first noon address from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square in three months as Italy's lockdown drew to an end. "Healing people, not saving (money) to help the economy (is important), healing people, who are more important than the economy," Francis said.
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| Grimes shares nickname for son with Elon Musk X Æ A-Xii Posted: 30 May 2020 01:49 AM PDT  Grimes has revealed what she calls her son, X Æ A-Xii.The singer gave birth to her first child with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk earlier this month.
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| British expat on frontline of Hong Kong protests says UK has abandoned former colony Posted: 30 May 2020 09:28 AM PDT  As pepper balls and rubber bullets rained down on the crowd of Hong Kong protesters crouched by the entrance of a carpark tunnel, protecting themselves from the riot police with flimsy umbrellas, a chill of terror swept over one young man as he dived for cover with his girlfriend. "I remember the moment when it felt like a truck hit the end of my umbrella, it was like it didn't even exist. I put my arm under [her] and said get your head down and our umbrellas were caving in," said the protester, who asked to be identified as Mark. That night in October Mark blended into the crowd of mainly black-clad protesters, most of them wearing face masks. But as one of the only British expats to join the front lines of the protests, he had a unique background. Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph as protests got back under way in Hong Kong last week he said he had taken to the streets of his adopted city because his own government had "turned its back" on the people of Hong Kong. The UK government this week offered a "path to citizenship" to almost three million Hong Kong residents as it condemned China's move to crush dissent in the former British colony. But Britain has been criticised for failing to act against the steady erosion of Hong Kong's rights and freedoms for years. It stands accused of doing too little too late to support the pro-democracy movement over the past year of civil unrest.
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| India announces major easing of coronavirus lockdown Posted: 30 May 2020 08:04 AM PDT  India said Saturday it would begin a major relaxation of the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown from early June, even as the country saw another record rise in confirmed infections. Prime Minister Narenda Modi conceded that much of the country had since "undergone tremendous suffering" in an open letter to the public on Saturday. The end of the lockdown will be staged and for now will not include some "containment zones" where high infection rates have been detected, according to the home ministry.
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| Police act like laws don't apply to them because of 'qualified immunity.' They're right. Posted: 31 May 2020 02:14 PM PDT  There's a legal obstacle that's nearly impossible to overcome when police officers and government officials violate our constitutional and civil rights.
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| Trump is reportedly insisting the Republican National Convention be held without face masks or social distancing measures Posted: 30 May 2020 07:48 AM PDT  A spokesperson for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Trump insists on a "full convention arena with no face coverings and no social distancing."
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| Christo, artist known for massive, fleeting displays, dies Posted: 31 May 2020 02:05 PM PDT  Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects died Sunday at his home in New York. Along with late wife Jeanne-Claude, the artists' careers were defined by their ambitious art projects that quickly disappeared soon after they were erectedthat andoften involved wrapping large structures in fabric. In 2005, he installed more than 7,500 saffron-colored vinyl gates in New York's Central Park.
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