| Coronavirus bungling by White House is now 'too late to be fixed,' Obama's Ebola czar says Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Ron Klain, who was the Obama administration's Ebola response coordinator, said he expects that the shortage of tests in the United States will be one of the most enduring legacies of the crisis.
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| Nearly 30% of US coronavirus cases have been among people 20-44 years old, the CDC says — showing that young people are getting sick, too Posted: 19 Mar 2020 11:49 AM PDT  While older age groups have higher death rates, the CDC's numbers show that younger people are far from immune to COVID-19.
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| State Department will reportedly tell Americans abroad to immediately return home Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:17 AM PDT  The State Department reportedly wants every American out of the country to return home.As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world and the U.S., the State Department is preparing to issue the strongest travel advisory it can, two individuals familiar with the decision told Politico Thursday. It'll tell Americans abroad to either return to the states or prepare to shelter in place — a Level 4 advisory, those sources said.China and Mongolia are currently the only countries subject to a State Department level 4 travel advisory due to spread of the new coronavirus. The rest of the world is under a level 3 global health advisory, which suggests travelers reconsider their plans. The escalated level would instruct Americans to halt all travel out of the country; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has approved the measure, Politico reported.A State Department official confirmed the forthcoming announcement, but the department's press office didn't respond to Politico's request for comment.More stories from theweek.com America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses FDA clarifies that no drugs are approved to treat COVID-19 after Trump names 2 contenders Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans
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| ‘Perhaps that’s been the story of life’: Trump on why professional athletes are getting tested for coronavirus and others aren’t Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  At a Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House, President Trump was asked if it's right for professional athletes and other well-connected people to get tested for the coronavirus while others can't. Trump said, "No, I wouldn't say so, but perhaps that's been the story of life. That does happen on occasion."
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| Brazil coronavirus cases top 600, diplomatic spat with China bubbles Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:38 AM PDT  Confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil surged past 600 on Thursday, more than doubling in two days, as a diplomatic spat over the disease's origins between President Jair Bolsonaro's son and the Chinese ambassador threatened relations with Brazil's top trading partner. The president sidestepped this and other controversies in his weekly Facebook broadcast on Thursday evening, saying that the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil should peak in three to four months, and the country will return to normal in six to seven months. After blaming the global spread of the virus on China, the son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, attempted to defuse the situation on Thursday, saying he stood by his criticism of the government in Beijing but did not intend to offend the Chinese people.
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| India hangs 4 men convicted for fatal New Delhi gang rape Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:06 AM PDT  Case drew global attention and prompted lawmakers to stiffen penalties, part of a wave of changes as India confronted its appalling treatment of women.
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| Iran furloughs imprisoned US Navy vet amid virus concerns Posted: 19 Mar 2020 04:20 PM PDT  Iran has granted a medical furlough to a U.S. Navy veteran who has been imprisoned in for more than a year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday. Michael White of Imperial Beach, California, is now in the custody of the Swiss Embassy and must remain in Iran as a condition of his furlough, which was granted as the Islamic republic works to curb the spread of coronavirus. The U.S. government will seek his full release, Pompeo said, as he called on Iran to free other Americans who remain jailed there.
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| Hawley, Romney Criticize GOP’s Coronavirus Cash Payment Plan: ‘Lower-Income Families Shouldn’t Be Penalized’ Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:06 AM PDT  Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) spoke out against the Senate GOP's plan for direct payments to Americans as part of its phase-three coronavirus relief package, calling it "regressive" and saying the structure of the plan "needs to be fixed.""Relief to families in this emergency shouldn't be regressive. Lower-income families shouldn't be penalized," Hawley tweeted Thursday night after Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R., Ky.) dropped the plan.> Relief to families in this emergency shouldn't be regressive. Lower-income families shouldn't be penalized> > -- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 19, 2020The Missouri Republican clarified that he was speaking directly about the bill in a later tweet, adding that it "needs to be fixed."> I mean the GOP bill that just got introduced in the Senate needs to be fixed https://t.co/yzEvgaXYtd> > -- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 19, 2020The plan, which McConnell said Thursday creates "money for people, from the middle class down, period," includes direct payments of $1,200 per person and $2,400 for couples to help offset economic losses amid the growing pandemic. But the provision that Hawley labeled "regressive" states that size of the checks will be halved for Americans with no federal income tax liability. While the Senate Finance Committee said the bill "ensures relief gets to low-income seniors and disabled veterans," the plan will also affect poor Americans.Earlier this week, Hawley released his own plan targeted at all single parents making less than $50,000, and all married parents making less than $100,000, to assist working families with cash payments — a proposal enthusiastically endorsed by Quinton Lucas, Democratic mayor of Kansas City, Missouri."Let's not overthink this. These families need relief — now — to pay bills that are coming due, make those emergency grocery runs, and get ready for potential medical bills. Let's get it to them," Hawley said in a press release announcing the plan.Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah), who released his own proposal for a one-time $1,000 payment to every American, also criticized the final plan's payment structure."The current bill has promise but it shouldn't give lower earners smaller checks —that's directly contrary to my proposal. We need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal payments," Romney tweeted on Thursday night.> Americans urgently need cash to meet immediate needs, that's been my goal from the start. The current bill has promise but it shouldn't give lower earners smaller checks —that's directly contrary to my proposal. We need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal payments.> > -- Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) March 20, 2020
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| Trump’s China Hawk Is Trying to Commandeer the Coronavirus Stimulus and Others in the White House Are Alarmed Posted: 19 Mar 2020 01:47 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has seized on negotiations over how to handle the economic fallout of the coronavirus to push President Trump to use the crisis to bolster his "Buy American" agenda—starting with domestic production of key medical goods and equipment. His role, as described to The Daily Beast by several officials, has been aggressive enough to prompt serious pushback from other senior Trump officials, who are worried that Trump will be won over by the Buy American pitch, which will, in turn, have damaging consequences during the nation's worst public-health and economic crises in years. The order being pushed by Navarro, a draft of which was obtained by The Daily Beast, lays out a slew of policies that would ultimately curb the importing of foreign goods and create conditions that would allow for the increased production of American medicines, raw materials, and vaccines. The order is similar in language and tone to Trump's April 2017 executive order "Buy American Hire American."In an interagency meeting last week, representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other trade officials voiced their objections to Navarro, saying the executive order could create more harm than good by restricting the flow of medicines and other supplies needed to treat coronavirus patients, according to two individuals familiar with the conversation, including one with direct knowledge. Navarro is an infamous China hawk who has long appealed to Trump's America-first instinct on trade policy. And according to two administration officials, he has been working on drafting his order with the president's explicit sign-off, having personally pitched the idea to the president in recent weeks, according to two administration officials. "The president warmly received it and told Peter to get to work on it," said one of these officials—who stressed that they were not on Navarro's side in this policy fight. "[Navarro] is not freelancing this... This is something the president [repeatedly] said he wanted done."That Navarro has found himself playing an integral role in response to a massive global pandemic illustrates the degree to which economic concerns have guided the president's response to the crisis. But there is hardly uniformity within the administration about what constitutes the right approach. Trump's Top Trade Adviser Peter Navarro Has a Side Project: Secretly Hunting for 'Anonymous'Other high-ranking Trump lieutenants, such as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and the president's top White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, have also voiced internal opposition to Navarro's plan, arguing that if Trump were to do this during a pandemic and economic crisis, it could risk making problems worse, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.Navarro's initiative has also run into expected objections from industry executives, as well as Republican veterans of past administrations. Tony Fratto, a White House and Treasury official during the George W. Bush presidency, knocked the proposed policy as "a mistake," posting to Twitter that "pandemics are global" and that "we need greater cooperation, not keeping critical supplies in walled gardens."White House spokespeople, Kudlow, and Navarro did not respond to requests for comment by press time Wednesday. The departments of State and Treasury and the FDA did not provide comment either. * * *The internal administration dissent comes at a time when Trump's coronavirus task force is struggling to handle the growing requests for medical supplies. While the federal government has begun distributions, governors across the country have said publicly they are in need of tens of thousands of additional masks, gowns, and gloves. Officials working on bolstering the supply chain tell The Daily Beast that further impeding the flow of goods by cutting down foreign supplies could make matters worse. "The crisis has revealed there are lots of vulnerabilities in, specifically, medical supply chains, and thinking through what the U.S. policy should be is a good thing," said Geoffrey Gertz, a fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. "The question is how best to do this in a crisis. If there isn't an ability to ramp up productions of those goods, then it doesn't really work. You can't instantly flip the switch and have factories start pumping out these goods. At the moment where there is huge demand from medical goods. You want to source them from as wide a range of suppliers as you can."Navarro's executive order, titled "Combat Public Health Emergencies and Strengthen the National Defense by Ensuring Made in America Essential Medicines and Medical Countermeasures," is designed to lure companies to the U.S. and to incentivize more domestic production in the long term. One section allows for any executive agency or department to procure essential medicines and other supplies from "any sources during the COVID-19 outbreak." But in the next several lines, the order says officials have to "take all possible measures" to "maximize domestic procurement of essential medicines" over the long term. The order says it is the policy of the U.S. to "protect our citizens… against the outbreak of dangerous infectious diseases" and "restore the capabilities of our Public Health Industrial Base that are essential for the national defense and the development of production capabilities." The draft executive order goes on to lay out U.S. policy as it relates to the supply chain of medical supplies, stating that the U.S. should "ensure sufficient, stable and reliable long term demand for essential medicines and medical countermeasures through domestic procurement policies." In doing so, under the executive order, the U.S. would accelerate the regulatory approval times for medicines and increase enforcement of FDA regulations outside the U.S. to the same level that is enforced in the U.S.The heads of the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services would also be given 90 days to procure American-made medicines and "promote price competition by dividing production requirements among two or more domestic contractors." Sometimes when federal agencies buy foreign products, they're able to do so by obtaining waivers from the administration. But Navarro's executive order would eliminate some of those waivers."This seems like they're running ahead with policy without understanding the real source of risk," Gertz said.Navarro's attempt to bolster domestic manufacturers as a component of the medical-supply chain comes at a time when others inside the administration are still trying to get a good grasp on how the medical-supply chain is currently functioning. In particular, trade officials were alarmed by a component of the draft executive order that designates so-called APIs ["active pharmaceutical ingredients"] as "critical technology" that are "essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States." API is any substance or mixture of substances intended to be used in the manufacturing of a medicinal product that, "when used in the production of a drug becomes a drug product, becomes an active ingredient of the drug product," according to the executive order. In an interagency call last Friday, officials from departments including Commerce, State, FEMA, and the National Security Council talked about the impact of the coronavirus on the global supply chain.Two officials with knowledge of the call said representatives of the NSC acknowledged that they were following shortages of hand sanitizer through press reports. FEMA officials said they did not have insight into global inputs to the supply chains. Officials on the call seemed to be confused about which agency was in charge of tracking that information. Part of the disorganization in conversations about the supply chain was related to the lack of communication with the White House and the task force, those sources said.Asked for comment, a spokesperson for FEMA said that it was the Department of Health and Human Services that was responsible for "planning and assessing needs for personal protective equipment."The NSC did not respond to a request for comment.* * *Beyond being an adviser on trade policy, Navarro has fashioned himself as a staunch, pugilistic Trump loyalist in the administration, going as far as to secretly hunt for "Anonymous," The New York Times bestselling author and op-ed writer who emerged as a nameless, Trump-bashing "senior administration official."For years, he has become accustomed to being surrounded by personal and ideological enemies within the Trump administration, hanging on in part because the president has such personal affection for him. President Trump has been known to call Navarro "my Peter."But his proximity to Trump and the dogmatism of his views has also earned him his fair share of enemies. Navarro and Mnuchin have feuded in the Trump era before, including during a profanity-laced, face-to-face dispute—characterized at the time by administration officials as a "screaming match"—during a high-profile official trip to China in May 2018.Peter Navarro Snaps When CNN Anchor Asks if Trump to Blame for Stock Losses: 'Let's Not Do That'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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| Cannabis lobby warns against smoking due to coronavirus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 05:01 PM PDT  To avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, marijuana smokers should avoid sharing joints and should favor edible products, US cannabis industry figures said Wednesday. "As long as cultures have consumed cannabis, the practice of sharing a joint amongst friends has been a common social practice," said Erik Altieri, executive director of NORML, a major US pro-cannabis lobby. "Further, because COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, some may wish to limit or avoid their exposure to combustive smoke -- as this can put undue stress and strain on the lungs," the statement said.
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| WHO walks back advice on ibuprofen, having told people with coronavirus symptoms to avoid it and take paracetamol instead Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:27 AM PDT  The World Health Organization changed its stance after first agreeing with France's health minister who said ibuprofen could "aggravate" an infection.
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| Nearly half of U.S. coronavirus patients in intensive care are under 65, CDC reports Posted: 18 Mar 2020 11:34 PM PDT  Older Americans are still at greater risk of death from the new COVID-19 coronavirus, but 38 percent of the U.S. patients known to have been hospitalized for COVID-19 were between age 20 and 54, and nearly half of those admitted to the intensive care unit were adults under 65, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. The report looked at 508 of the first 2,449 coronavirus patients in the U.S. The high rate of hospitalization for younger adults matches the statistics reported from France and Italy.The report showed that adults of all ages are at risk of getting sick from the coronavirus — of the 2,449 patients examined, 6 percent were 85 and older, 25 percent were 65 to 84, 29 percent were 20 to 44, and 5 percent were 19 and younger, the CDC said. People 20 to 44 — the millennial generation — accounted for 20 percent of those hospitalized and 12 percent of ICU patients."I think everyone should be paying attention to this," Columbia University epidemiologist Stephen S. Morse tells The New York Times. "It's not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they're young and healthy." And it's not just the health of younger people that has experts worried, adds Dr. Christopher Carlsten, the head of respiratory medicine at the University of British Columbia. "If that many younger people are being hospitalized, that means that there are a lot of young people in the community that are walking around with the infection," putting older and sicker people at risk.More stories from theweek.com Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans FDA clarifies that no drugs are approved to treat COVID-19 after Trump names 2 contenders Trump administration asks states to delay releasing unemployment numbers
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| California Announces Statewide 'Stay at Home' Order to Stop Coronavirus. Here's What That Means Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:26 PM PDT  California is the most populous state and the country's largest state economy
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| South Korea discusses coronavirus with China, Japan; plans to quarantine Europe entries Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:29 PM PDT  The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan held a video conference on Friday to discuss cooperation on the coronavirus pandemic amid growing concern over the number of infected people arriving in their countries from overseas. The number of cases in Japan has been far smaller, but Tokyo has the extra worry of whether to press ahead with hosting the Olympics this summer.
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| Behind the urge to stockpile: First masks, then toilet paper, now cash? Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Experts say your savings should be in an insured, well-secured bank vault, not under a mattress.
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| 90-year-old woman recovering from coronavirus Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:36 PM PDT  "I'm going to fight this for my family and make everyone proud," Geneva Wood told her daughter when she was put in isolation
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| Mexico's deadly toll of environment and land defenders catalogued in report Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  At least 83 murdered in 2012-2019, with a third of attacks targeting opponents of energy mega-projectsAt least 83 Mexican land and environment defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2019, while hundreds more were threatened, beaten and criminalized, according to a new report.Latin America is the most dangerous continent in the world to defend environmental, land and human rights, with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala ranking worst.In Mexico, this targeted violence has taken hold in the context of widespread impunity and escalating generalized violence since the ill-fated war on drugs was launched in 2006.Calderón sends in the armyMexico's "war on drugs" began in late 2006 when the president at the time, Felipe Calderón, ordered thousands of troops onto the streets in response to an explosion of horrific violence in his native state of Michoacán.Calderón hoped to smash the drug cartels with his heavily militarized onslaught but the approach was counter-productive and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico's military went on the offensive, the body count sky-rocketed to new heights and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or killed.Kingpin strategySimultaneously Calderón also began pursuing the so-called "kingpin strategy" by which authorities sought to decapitate the cartels by targeting their leaders.That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva who was gunned down by Mexican marines in 2009 – but also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe such tactics served only to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions squabbled for their piece of the pie.Under Calderón's successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most murderous mafia groups.But Calderón's policies largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Sinaloa's JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán.When "El Chapo" was arrested in early 2016, Mexico's president bragged: "Mission accomplished". But the violence went on. By the time Peña Nieto left office in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year of murders, with nearly 36,000 people slain."Hugs not bullets"The leftwing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic change in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, vowed to attack the social roots of crime, offering vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged young people at risk of being ensnared by the cartels. "It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] welfare," Amlo said, promising to slash the murder rate from an average of 89 killings per day with his "hugs not bullets" doctrine.Amlo also pledged to chair daily 6am security meetings and create a 60,000 strong "National Guard". But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mostly to hunt Central American migrants.Mexico now suffers an average of about 96 murders per day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.The situation for defenders was exacerbated by energy reforms in 2013, since when scores of renewable energy mega-projects have been imposed on rural and indigenous communities without adequate consultation or compensation.Almost one in three attacks since 2012 targeted defenders opposing energy projects, especially wind and hydroelectric power, according to the Mexican Centre for Environmental Rights (known by its Spanish acronym, Cemed)."The data shows persistent structural violence against defenders of environmental rights in our country, which prevents them having the freedom and security to exercise their right to defend human rights," said a spokesperson for Cemed, which tracks attacks against communities opposing projects threatening forests, water sources and land rights.The violence is spread across the country, but defenders in the southern state of Oaxaca have faced most attacks over the past eight years.Oaxaca, one of the country's poorest states with the highest proportion of indigenous peoples, is rich in natural resources such as minerals, rivers, forests and natural gas. The violence has been particularly marked in the biodiverse isthmus of Tehuantepec – a narrow land mass between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean where 28 mega wind farms now generate electricity.The overall number of attacks in 2019 was the lowest since 2012. Nevertheless, 15 defenders were murdered and at least 25 others were threatened, harassed or subjected to smear campaigns.This included the double murder of the indigenous Tarahumara defender Otilia MartÃnez Cruz and his son Chaparro Cruz, who were shot dead on 1 May 2019 – a year after another family member, Julián Carrillo, was killed.More than a dozen Tarahumara defenders have been killed in recent years for trying to stop the illegal deforestation of their ancestral land in the Sierra Madre, a biodiverse mountain range in northern Mexico. They include Isidro Baldenegro López, winner of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize, who was shot dead in 2017. The forests have long been targeted by illegal loggers abetted by corrupt officials and landowners.In 2019, state officials such as police officers, national guard and local prosecutors, were responsible for 40% of incidents registered by Cemed.
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| Most renters won't receive protections under Trump proposal Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:10 PM PDT  Most Americans who rent their home, many of whom have lost their jobs in the sudden economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak, will not be eligible for eviction protections, despite what President Donald Trump said this week. Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development's plan released Wednesday, foreclosures and evictions would stop for 60 days on single-family homes with loans through the Federal Housing Administration. Only FHA homes lived in for at least a year can be rented out.
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| Progressives Call on Pelosi to Negotiate Bigger Cash Payments for Americans Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:44 PM PDT  As Congress negotiates a sweeping stimulus bill to respond to the devastating economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak, a nearly 100-member bloc of House progressives is laying down a policy marker for what they want to see in the legislation, from big cash payments for all to broadly expanded sick leave provisions.In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reviewed by The Daily Beast, the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI), outline a dozen "top priorities" that the group has for the stimulus bill. At the top of their list is progressives' benchmark on the issue of direct cash payments to Americans to help them cope with the economic slowdown—one that has broad buy-in from Democrats and Republicans but disagreement on key details. The progressives are calling for guaranteeing monthly cash payments of up to $2,000 for each adult in the U.S., and up to $1,000 more for families with children, for the next six months—with needier families able to extend for another six months. That proposal is far more generous and expansive than the $1,200 individual tax rebate—and $2,400 family rebate—that Senate Republicans proposed on Thursday for households making less than $150,000.As Republicans consider targeted relief to the industries hardest-hit by the downturn—particularly travel and hospitality—the progressives say any assistance must be conditioned on companies keeping checks flowing to workers and blocking any money from flowing to executive bonuses or stock buybacks, provisions championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in a "litmus test" she released earlier this week. The caucus also calls on Democratic leadership to consider a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, a moratorium on negative credit score reporting, and implementing debt forgiveness and loan forbearance during the crisis.As the outbreak disrupts state primaries, the list of priorities also includes implementing "nationwide no-excuse absentee voting" and proposes a $500 million grant for states to establish vote-by-mail programs.The Progressive Caucus letter comes as Pelosi and House Democratic leadership are under increased pressure from the party's left flank to consider more progressive proposals than the ones that were in the legislation the speaker negotiated with the White House last week. In particular, Pelosi has been criticized by progressives for an emphasis on tax credits as a way of getting financial assistance to struggling Americans. In an interview with The Atlantic published Thursday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), a leading progressive, criticized Pelosi, saying "The fact that the speaker's talking about refundable tax credits … Who has time to wait to do their taxes and see what they get a year from now?"The last relief bill's provision on sick leave was considered by many in the caucus as woefully inadequate; the caucus' letter notably calls to "reinstate protections for frontline workers including medical staff and domestic workers" and "provide full wage replacement for workers who are unable to work."Currently, the Senate is moving quickly to pass what could be a trillion-dollar stimulus bill, with Republicans eager to own this round of legislation after Pelosi was in the driver's seat on the last. However, any bill that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) comes up with will have to pass in the Democratic House, where progressives make up a significant bloc of the majority and could leave an influential mark on whatever legislation does pass the chamber.Trump's China Hawk Is Trying to Commandeer the Coronavirus Stimulus and Others in the White House Are AlarmedRead 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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| Italy reports 475 coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day death toll for any country since the outbreak began Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:42 AM PDT  At the peak of its outbreak, China's highest single-day death toll was 150. Iran and Spain, both hit badly, have not recorded more than 200 in a day.
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| Coronavirus: CDC advises health workers to use homemade masks or bandanas amid shortages as ‘last resort’ Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:59 PM PDT  As healthcare workers and hospitals face shortages across the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidelines for using face masks.Shortages in surgical and respirator masks started after citizens panic bought boxes in stores and online so they could wear when out. But this decision has since left hospitals short of the necessary facial guard.
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| Spring breakers vacationing in Miami are taking the coronavirus outbreak lightly, saying they won't let it 'stop me from partying' Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:12 PM PDT  "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying," one partier said in a widely viewed video.
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| Israelis ordered to stay at home to halt coronavirus spread - Netanyahu Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:47 PM PDT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday tightened a national stay-at home policy, announcing guidelines aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus would now be enforced by police under emergency orders. The measures stopped short of a total national lockdown: Netanyahu said Israelis would still be allowed to shop for food and medicine, and some workers would be exempted from the restrictions. Netanyahu had threatened on Wednesday to turn shelter in place guidelines into official orders, enabling police to fine or arrest those who ignore them, unless the public stepped up compliance.
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| Florida governor refuses to shut down beaches amid spread of coronavirus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:42 PM PDT  Gov. Ron DeSantis said it's "not uniform throughout the state that you're seeing massive crowds at beaches," despite videos of gatherings in Tampa Bay.
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| The gang-rape and murder that shocked India Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:17 PM PDT  Four men were hanged Friday, more than seven years after a gang-rape and murder that stunned India. Jyoti Singh, 23, was returning home from the cinema with a male friend when they boarded a private bus on the evening of Sunday December 16, 2012. The five adults and one juvenile were charged with 13 offences in February 2013 by a fast-track court.
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| SPLC report: Surge in white nationalism ramps up violence threat Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:32 PM PDT  A recent surge in white nationalism in the U.S. has led to a growing threat of violence by factions that embrace bloodshed and advocate for a race war, according to a report released Wednesday by an organization that tracks far-right extremists.
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| Trump Rejected Strikes on Iran-Backed Militias Due to Iran’s Coronavirus Epidemic: Report Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:14 AM PDT  President Trump last week rejected an aggressive response to attacks by Iran-backed militias on U.S. forces in Iraq, because he thought an attack on Iranian forces would look bad while the country and the world are fighting the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, NBC reported on Thursday.On March 11, Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah killed two American service members and a British military medic in a rocket attack on Camp Taji, an Iraqi military base. On Friday the U.S. responded with airstrikes on Kataib Hezbollah positions, but on Saturday the militia responded with further rocket attacks on Camp Taji, seriously wounding three American troops and two Iraqi troops. The U.S. has not struck back since."We recognize that there's an ongoing threat," a senior Trump administration official told NBC. "We don't always have to be counter-punching."Iran has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East with 18,407 confirmed cases and 1,284 deaths according to the New York Times. However, U.S. officials believe the number may be much higher, and Iranian parliament members have accused the government of hiding the true extent of the crisis.Tensions with Iran ratcheted up in early January after Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport. Before the latest attacks on Americans by Kataib Hezbollah, the U.S. began removing a limited number of troops from the Middle East, deeming the threat from Iran reduced due to the spread of coronavirus in the country.
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| A 39-year-old coronavirus patient, who could hardly breathe, posted a stark video from the ICU to warn people who think it won't happen to them Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:20 AM PDT  A 39-year-old woman, who is said to have been otherwise healthy, posted harrowing footage of what the coronavirus can do to even a young patient.
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| Medical staff can keep working after coronavirus exposure, New York City says Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:33 PM PDT  Guidelines call on staffers to monitor their health but not self-quarantine after 'high-risk' contact with patients * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverageDoctors and nurses in New York City hospitals are being advised to continue going to work even if they have had high-risk exposure to a patient with a confirmed case of coronavirus , according to the city's health department guidelines.The advice has been met with concern among some medical professionals who fear that the guidelines are helping to foster the spread of the virus in hospitals, including among the most vulnerable patients who may assume that their healthcare providers do not have the potentially lethal virus.The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said there are reports that the coronavirus can be spread by a person who has the disease but is asymptomatic.The New York City health department guidelines, which were published on 17 March and are still effective, state that a healthcare worker who has had a "known high-risk exposure to a patient(s) with confirmed COVID-19" should "take extra care to monitor your health but can keep working" and that there is "no requirement for 14 day quarantine of healthcare workers".High-risk exposure includes having an unmasked healthcare worker having "prolonged close contact" with an unmasked patient known to be positive and performing various procedures for the patients, including intubation and sputum induction.These healthcare workers are being asked to "self-monitor" at least twice daily for symptoms, including cough or a temperature of more than 100F, shortness of breath or sore throat, as well as other symptoms including muscle aches, malaise, runny nose, stuffiness or congestion."Timing of these checks should be at least 8 hours apart with one check immediately before each healthcare shift," the guidance states. "If any of these signs/symptoms develop then you MAY NOT come to work."Healthcare professionals say the guidance appears to show that New York City hospitals are already in a critical situation. The CDC's own guidance states that facilities should allow asymptomatic healthcare professionals who have had exposure to work only after "options to improve staffing have been exhausted".A spokesperson for the health department confirmed the policy was still in place."Based on the information currently available, it is believed that people who are experiencing symptoms are responsible for driving this pandemic," the spokesperson said in a statement.The spokesperson added: "We are expecting a substantial surge in patients in New York City's healthcare system and need to preserve staffing levels to best support those patients."One concerned hospital administrator who works at a New York City hospital told the Guardian the policy was putting patients and other staff at risk.The person cited one example in which a staff member had spent half an hour in close contact with a positive patient without a mask or other protective gear. The person could not be tested because of the scarcity of tests and was told to keep coming to work even though the person was in contact with other patients, including ones with compromised immune systems.While some hospitals were still following more stringent guidelines and asking exposed staff to stay at home, others have accepted the view that the disease is now so prevalent that isolation is no longer warranted and might lead to severe staffing shortages."People are being told, 'Well, everyone has it,' when that is really not the case," the person said.The response was yet another reason why prioritizing testing for medical professionals ought to be a priority.A doctor in a New York City hospital said the guidelines probably reflected a fear that the city was nervous it would not have enough medical staff to run hospitals if staff were still being advised to quarantine exposed workers. But the doctor expressed surprise at how quickly guidelines had been changed in his own hospital: from a recommended 14-day quarantine to seven-day quarantine, to now allowing exposed staff to continue working.Doctors were facing a predicament about whether to accept orders to work, or defy the rules and stay home if they believe they have been exposed."I think there are draconian ways the policies are being implemented and it does not seem grounded in theoretical understanding of disease," the doctor said. "The logic they use is that the situation is ever evolving."Esther Choo, an emergency medicine doctor and professor at Oregon Health and Science University, said it was "very telling" that the policy was emerging in New York, which was already facing a crisis."First of all, yes, that is very alarming," said Choo, "It's not ideal."Frontline workers are pointing to the case of Dr Roberto Stella, 67, the Italian physician from Lombardy hailed as a hero for continuing to treat coronavirus patients after protective equipment ran out. He later succumbed to the disease."I think that's what people are deciding right now," said Choo. "Do I keep going in?"Dr Roberta Gebhard, president of the American Medical Women's Association, a professional association of female doctors, said: "As we get stretched, we're going to drop some of our standard practices … Then we have crisis capacity."We have a fixed healthcare workforce, and we start enforcing convention capacity recommendations, we will so rapidly be incapable of meeting basic need," she said.
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| 25 Best Cleaning Products and Supplies to Keep Your Home Clean As Can Be Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:00 PM PDT |
| Senate Republican proposal rejects grants for U.S. airlines, could get equity Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:14 AM PDT  A Republican proposal introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would grant up to $58 billion in secured loans to help passenger and cargo airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis, but bar cash grants and could result in the government getting equity stakes. Under the proposal, the U.S. Treasury Department could receive warrants, stock options, or stock as a condition of government assistance in order for the government to participate in gains and be compensated for risks. "We are not bailing out the airlines or other industries – period," said Senator Richard Shelby, who chairs the appropriations committee.
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| Italy Set to Tighten Its Lockdown as Fatalities Top China Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:14 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government is set to reinforce and extend the near-total lockdown on Italy as it struggles to contain the coronavirus, after overtaking China as the country with the highest recorded number of deaths.Conte is weighing extending the current ban on non-essential activities until at least early May, according to officials who asked not to be named discussing confidential deliberations. The decision depends on factors including the spread of infections and the fact that many Italians aren't respecting the rules, the officials said.The government may call in the army to help enforce the restrictions and schools may not reopen before the summer break, the officials added. The further tightening may also include a ban on outdoor sports and on Italians' "passeggiate," or strolls, with citizens allowed to leave their homes only for work or health reasons, or for emergencies.Italy on Thursday surpassed China as the country with the highest recorded death toll from the coronavirus. The number of Italian fatalities reached 3,405, civil protection officials said Thursday, with the pandemic also gathering pace in Spain and France as European governments struggle to prevent the disease from spreading. The virus claimed 235 lives in Spain over the past 24 hours as the death toll surged almost a week into a nationwide lockdown. The total number of deaths rose 31% to 1,002, the health ministry said Friday. Despite their confinement, Italians were together in song at 11 a.m. Friday, when all radio networks united to broadcast the national anthem followed by the songs Azzurro, La Canzone del Sole and Nel blu dipinto di blu.Officials in northern Italy have been calling on Conte to get tougher in extending and enforcing the lockdown, even at the risk of further straining the economy in an area that accounts for the lion's share of Italy's gross domestic product. The Lombardy region around Milan could move to further restrict the types of businesses allowed to operate, newspaper La Stampa reported.Conte is expected to announce new measures before the current restrictions expire on March 25. Soldiers have already been deployed in the southern regions of Sicily and Calabria. Italian newspapers reported on possible new restrictions earlier Friday.Police performed checks on more than 1 million people between March 11 and March 17, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said Thursday, citing almost 50,000 for failing to respect the rules. Italy's lockdown includes travel restrictions and a virtual ban on all shops except for groceries, pharmacies and gas stations.The current school session, which was set to resume April 3, would still be considered complete, Italian media reported, with students graduating and moving on to the next year as normal.Conte has also called for action from the European Stability Mechanism, the euro-area firewall established after the sovereign debt crisis. "The route to follow is to open ESM credit lines to all member states to help them fight the consequences of the Covid epidemic, under the condition of full accountability by each member state on the way resources are spent," Conte told the Financial Times.Ministers and policy makers across the continent have again ramped up efforts to counter the outbreak and mitigate the devastating effects on societies and economies with millions of people forced to stay home.The U.K. and Greece were among those announcing new financial initiatives, while France urged workers to maintain food supplies. Leaders made it more apparent they don't expect the fight against Covid-19 to end soon even as new cases have slowed to a trickle in China, the original epicenter.Macron's MessageThe death toll, though, rose more rapidly elsewhere. In Spain, the number shot up 28% to 767, while France reported a 41% increase to 372. French President Emmanuel Macron said it was unclear how many virus waves the world could be facing, and that efforts to arrest the outbreak will likely be implemented again in the future.In the meantime, he urged people to strike a balance between staying home and keeping the country running as the coronavirus rips into one of Europe's biggest economies.(Updates with Spain in fifth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Calls grow for ICE to release immigrants to avoid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:52 PM PDT  "Can you imagine if you get an outbreak in these detention facilities? It's going to spread like wildfire," a former head of ICE told CBS News.
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| US military's role in response to virus outbreak is growing Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:11 PM PDT  The Pentagon's role in responding to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States began to rapidly expand Wednesday as officials announced that two Navy hospital ships and two Army field hospitals were preparing to deploy to help overburdened regions. Military hospital ships and field units are geared toward treating trauma cases. It will take as long as two weeks for the USS Comfort hospital ship to get to New York City, where the governor has been pressing for medical help.
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| Cigarette Butt Leads Cops to Killer in 1985 Slaying of Young Mom: Police Posted: 19 Mar 2020 11:29 AM PDT  For 35 years, the family of Tonya Ethridge McKinley anxiously waited for authorities to track down the man who murdered the gregarious 23-year-old, dumping her body on the side of a Florida highway.On Wednesday evening, that day finally arrived with the arrest of Daniel Leonard Wells, 57, who was tied to the young woman's 1985 slaying thanks to DNA recovered from the butt of his cigarette. His arrest marks the beginning of the end of the oldest cold case in Pensacola history."She was the best sister a girl could ask for," her older sister, Renee Ethridge, told The Daily Beast. "God is good. I can't believe this day has finally arrived."Wells was charged Wednesday evening with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery for the January 1, 1985, murder of McKinley, according to the Pensacola Police Department. He is currently being held without bond at Escambia County Jail. Police Arrest Two Louisiana Men in 39-Year-Old Cold Case Murder of TeenMcKinley was last seen alive celebrating New Year's Eve around 1:30 a.m. at Darryl's Bar & Grille in Pensacola, while her 18-month-old son was waiting for her at home. Four hours later, a family taking their dog to the vet found her body in an empty lot a block from a highway. The 23-year-old, who was found only partially clothed, had been strangled and sexually assaulted, police said. Investigators collected physical evidence at the scene and on McKinley's body—including semen and hair—but they were never able to identify a suspect or make any arrests in the case. They also failed to match DNA found at the scene with samples from a national database."Despite having a good bit of physical evidence and dozens of interviews, over time, the trail went cold," the Pensacola Police Department said in an emotional statement posted on Facebook Thursday. "In the meantime, a baby boy grew up without a mother, parents buried their daughter without knowing justice, and a killer was walking around free."Her case went cold, but Pensacola police remained committed to catching McKinley's killer, and her case was passed around to several detectives over the last 30 years.Police May Have Solved the 1999 Cold-Case Murder of Kassie Federer. And the Suspect Is Already on Death Row."It seems that every couple of years a new lead would pop up and we would drop everything to run it down. We did this time and time again," the department said in their statement. "When detectives retired, Tonya's case was passed along to the next generation again and again. As technology advanced, the case was brought back to the forefront. Detectives laid fresh eyes on all of the evidence, new theories were presented, and hopes of catching Tonya's killer were renewed."Over the last couple of years, police have been comparing DNA profiles left behind at old murder scenes with open-source genealogy databases that have become popular among families hoping to find long-lost relatives. Using a database, Pensacola authorities were able to match DNA evidence found near McKinley's body with several different people believed to be Wells' distant cousins. After the hit, authorities constructed a family tree, starting with the distant relatives to determine possible offenders. Eventually, authorities said, the tree led them to identify Wells as a suspect. The Pensacola Police Department said they followed Wells and were ultimately able to match DNA from a cigarette butt he'd discarded to the evidence they'd collected 35 years ago. 5-Year-Old A.J. Freund Died From Repeated Blows to the Head in Fatal Beating, Coroner Says"Today, the evil that took Tonya from her friends and family was arrested for her brutal murder," the department said. "The reasons why this happened, how evil crossed Tonya's path, may never be answered and in the end may not be important. What is important is that no one forgot Tonya."According to court records obtained by the Pensacola News Journal, Wells has had previous run-ins with Pensacola authorities, including a 1987 arrest for alleged battery and witness tampering. He pleaded no contest to the first charge, and the second was eventually dropped. A year later, Wells was arrested for alleged solicitation of prostitution, but it's unclear how the case ended.Timothy Davidson Jr., McKinley's 35-year-old son, told The Daily Beast that while he is grateful for the arrest, he will only feel "complete when there is a conviction and justice has been served.""It's still kind of unbelievable—like I'm dreaming," Davidson Jr. said, adding that his mother "can finally Rest in Peace."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| GOP Sen. Richard Burr's response to coronavirus insider-trading reports ranges from weak denial to 'lol' Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:17 PM PDT  Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, responded Thursday night to two damaging reports showing his bifurcated public-private responses to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.First, NPR News reported that Burr had issued a dire warning about the coronavirus at a Feb. 27 private luncheon in North Carolina at the same time he was publicly more upbeat about America's preparedness for a pandemic. Then, ProPublica examined Burr's new financial disclosure forms and found that he sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his stock holdings in 33 separate transactions on Feb. 13, his largest stock selling day in at least 14 months. The stock market has since plummeted about 30 percent.Burr called NPR's article, which included a recording of his comments, a "tabloid-style hit piece" that left the wrong impression Americans weren't properly warned about the coronavirus, citing tepid comments from President Trump and other officials. Burr spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll responded to the reports of possible insider trading by noting that "Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak." When NPR asked about Burr's stock sales, Carroll replied: "lol."> Here's the full statement. As many have pointed out, it actually raises more questions/concerns, given Burr's access to intelligence assessments >>> pic.twitter.com/Yv01bOL3qK> > -- Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 20, 2020Burr was one of only three senators who voted against the 2012 STOCK Act, which requires senators and their staff to regularly disclose their stock trades and explicitly bars them from using nonpublic information for buying and selling shares. In 2009, after hearing a report about banking troubles from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Burr publicly recalled telling his wife "to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take." Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) were among those who called on Burr to explain or resign.Trump, who isn't friendly with Burr, watches Carlson's show regularly and is known to value his opinion. At the same time, Burr isn't the only GOP senator who made questionable stock sales while downplaying the virus, and this scandal may yet end up hitting closer to home. > Subpoena Don, Eric, Ivanka, and Jared's financial information. pic.twitter.com/5Z3ujJVNsv> > -- subscribe to my newsletter (@brianbeutler) March 20, 2020More stories from theweek.com America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses FDA clarifies that no drugs are approved to treat COVID-19 after Trump names 2 contenders Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans
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| As deliveries soar, UPS drivers say company's coronavirus precautions may not keep them or customers safe Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:59 AM PDT  "I got 160 stops, 300 packages," one UPS driver said. "I deliver to doctors' offices, urgent cares. The potential for bad things to happen is crazy."
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| Almost half of coronavirus patients experience nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea before they get a fever. It could be one of the first signs of COVID-19 infection. Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:29 PM PDT  Though the virus primarily causes fever and difficulty breathing, these symptoms sometimes appear first.
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| Bloomberg Scraps Plan to Fund Biden Campaign, Will Donate to DNC Instead Posted: 20 Mar 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is shelving plans for an organization that would have channeled funds toward the Democratic presidential nominee's campaign, electing instead to donate funds to the Democratic National Committee, NBC reported on Friday."While we considered creating our own independent entity to support the nominee and hold the President accountable, this race is too important to have many competing groups with good intentions but that are not coordinated and united in strategy and execution," the Bloomberg campaign told NBC.Bloomberg will soon transfer $18 million to the DNC while laying off for his originally planned organization. The group was made up of former campaign staff."With this transfer from the Bloomberg campaign, Mayor Bloomberg and his team are making good on their commitment to beating Donald Trump," said DNC chairman Tom Perez in a statement. "This will help us invest in more organizers across the country to elect the next president and help Democrats win up and down the ballot."Bloomberg spent an unprecedented $500 million of his own fortune on his presidential campaign, but only began competing in the Super Tuesday primaries. The former mayor ultimately failed to win a significant number of delegates and dropped out of the race almost immediately, endorsing former vice president Joe Biden.Bloomberg had pledged in January to contribute vast funding for whoever became the Democratic nominee. While the Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) campaign had made clear it did not want funds from Bloomberg, Biden has since pulled far ahead of Sanders in the delegate count and is the favorite to win the Democratic primary.
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| Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley leaves Boeing board, opposing federal aid Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:22 PM PDT  "I cannot support a move to lean on the federal government for a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes our company over others and relies on taxpayers to guarantee our financial position," Haley said in a letter to the company's management released by Boeing on Thursday. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, has often been mentioned as a future presidential candidate. When asked to respond to Haley's concerns, Boeing said only the company appreciated her service on the board and wished her well.
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| Goldman, Credit Suisse Forecast Recession for Latin America Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:29 AM PDT |
| No new domestic coronavirus transmissions for 1st time since start of outbreak Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:43 AM PDT  China has reported no new local coronavirus infections for the first time, raising hopes that strict containment efforts to stop the spread of the virus are working.
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| Africa sees 'extremely rapid evolution' of pandemic, UN says Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:48 PM PDT  More African countries closed their borders Thursday as the coronavirus' local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic. Africa is seeing an "extremely rapid evolution," the World Health Organization's regional chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters. Thirty-six of Africa's 54 countries now have cases, with the total over 720.
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| Coronavirus: Bangladesh mass prayer event prompts alarm Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:20 PM PDT  The religious leader who organised the event said it would offer people protection from the virus.
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| Trump briefing notes show he replaced 'coronavirus' with 'Chinese virus' in Sharpie Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:48 PM PDT  President Trump won't budge on labeling the COVID-19 coronavirus the "Chinese virus," apparently even to the point of altering his own White House notes.After Trump's White House briefing on Thursday, during which he called the novel coronavirus "the Chinese virus" within 45 seconds of taking the podium, The Washington Post's Jabin Botsford shared a photo showing that the notes Trump was reading from in one section included "corona virus" crossed out to be replaced with "Chinese virus," presumably by Trump himself.> Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out "Corona" and replaced it with "Chinese" Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House. trump trumpnotes pic.twitter.com/kVw9yrPPeJ> > — Jabin Botsford (@jabinbotsford) March 19, 2020Trump has repeatedly doubled down on labeling of the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" because it originated in Wuhan, even as the World Health Organization has urged against attaching "locations or ethnicity to the disease," saying that "this is not a 'Wuhan Virus,' 'Chinese Virus' or 'Asian Virus'" and "the official name for the disease was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatization." New York Magazine's Josh Barro argued Thursday the photo of Trump's notes showed that "they're using the term 'the coronavirus' internally like everyone else and are throwing this up publicly because they would rather have an argument about political correctness than discuss the response itself." More stories from theweek.com America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses FDA clarifies that no drugs are approved to treat COVID-19 after Trump names 2 contenders Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans
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| Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic missile Posted: 20 Mar 2020 08:51 AM PDT  The United States announced Friday it has successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a weapon that could potentially overwhelm an adversary's defense systems. The Pentagon said a test missile flew at hypersonic speeds -- more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 -- to a designated impact point. The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in October 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.
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| For people with anxiety and OCD, coronavirus is a 'personal nightmare' Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PDT  For people with mental health conditions, COVID-19 is both their worst nightmare and sudden validation of their habits.
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| Biden Running Mate? Party Leaders Favor Former Female Rivals Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:13 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- With former Vice President Joe Biden now holding an all but insurmountable lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary contest, many Democrats have shifted their attention to a favorite quadrennial parlor game: the vice-presidential search.Biden has shown his hand in a big and unusual way for a front-runner, saying he would pick a woman as a running mate. That has opened the path for Democratic officials to start picking favorites -- from a socially safe distance.In discussions with The Times since Biden's big primary victories on Tuesday, 60 Democratic National Committee members and congressional and party leaders most frequently proposed three former rivals of Biden as his running mate -- Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Next up was Stacey Abrams, a former state House leader whose defeat in 2018 Georgia governor's race remains disputed by many in the party.Other popular suggestions included Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Rep. Val Demings of Florida. The Democrats interviewed also proposed seven other women, including Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico.While de facto presidential nominees typically keep their list of potential running mates closely held, Biden has helped fuel speculation by eagerly rattling off names for months -- nearly all of them women. Even his wife, Jill, offered her take in a private fundraiser earlier this month, praising Klobuchar and criticizing Harris' debate stage attack on her husband last summer.Biden, at various points, has suggested he might choose Abrams, Klobuchar, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire or Sally Yates, the former assistant attorney general whom President Donald Trump fired three years ago.A female vice president would be historic: Only two women -- Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York in 1984 and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska in 2008 -- have been nominated, and none have ever served in the White House. That barrier-breaking appeal could give Biden's candidacy a shot of energy, an acknowledgment of the role women have played in boosting the party during the Trump era.Prominent Democratic activists, officials and leaders have been vocal with their desires that the ticket include a woman, after the demise of the last major female candidate, Warren, who ended her campaign two weeks ago."I've been predicting a woman on the ticket since 2017 and demanding it since Warren dropped out," said Christine Pelosi, a DNC member from San Francisco and the daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "It's really important to have the ability to lead America in the depression we will enter if we don't flatten the curve and find a cure. The best pick is the woman Joe or Bernie trusts the most to be president and commander-in-chief."Some of the party's most liberal members and supporters of Sanders suggested that choosing Warren, a fellow liberal, would help Biden appeal to the progressive and young voters who have backed the Vermont senator in the primary. Choosing a moderate like Klobuchar, they say, would dampen general election enthusiasm."Whoever ends up the nominee should pick Sen. Warren," said Tefere Gebre, a DNC member from Maryland who is executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. "I would be less enthusiastic if it's the senator from Minnesota."Yet, with the coronavirus upending every part of American society, including the presidential campaign, Biden may be forced to deviate from the standard playbook.Biden's running mate pick will be viewed through the lens of a public health and economic crisis, perhaps raising the stock of candidates who have more experience, or pushing him to consider someone from outside of government."You could imagine some highly successful person from a different walk of life being considered, and that could expand the list a lot," said John Podesta, who as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman was involved in her vice-presidential search. "A college president or a medical professional, somebody who would send a pretty powerful signal that what you care about is strength, performance, a commitment to facts and sound decision-making."Biden's campaign said it was beginning to build a team to conduct a "vigorous vetting process." Some close to the campaign say the team is in the early stages of compiling a list of potential running mates and then will vet them. Beyond his own experience as Barack Obama's vice president, Biden has a deep bench of aides to consult. One of his closest advisers, Ron Klain, helped do vice-presidential vetting for Al Gore in 2000.Mitt Romney cut his campaign's list of about 80 potential running mates to 20 in early April 2012. By late July, the list had been narrowed to five men, after the one woman under serious consideration, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, declined the campaign's invitation to be vetted. (Romney eventually chose Rep. Paul Ryan).Donald Trump's 2016 vetting process was less streamlined, but among those he interviewed during his search was Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.Clinton started with a list of 40 possible candidates, which was narrowed to nine who underwent a process of serious vetting, an interview and a campaign appearance with the candidate. While she considered a number of women to be vice president, only Warren advanced to the final stages of the process.For Biden, 77, a much younger woman could assuage concerns about his age and critiques about a primary process that started with the most diverse field in history and ended with two white men.Biden's campaign hopes the early announcement that he would select a woman will give his operation a shot of enthusiasm from voters, even as the presidential election heads into a deep freeze because of the coronavirus. On Thursday, his campaign sent a fundraising appeal asking supporters to "commit to standing with" Biden and his future female running mate.By announcing he will pick a woman, Biden is aiming to give his ticket a modern-day balance in a party focused on issues of racial and gender representation. Past nominees have chosen running mates who provided geographic diversity (Lloyd Bentsen in 1988) or offered the promise of winning a key state (Ryan, from Wisconsin, in 2012). Obama, just four years into his Senate term, chose Biden in 2008 to ease concerns about his own relative lack experience and help appeal to white working-class voters.Choosing Harris, 55, would not only provide not a gender balance but also would add a black woman to the ticket after black voters helped revive Biden's campaign in February. But as Jill Biden's recent criticism indicated, the memory of Harris' debate stage attack may hinder her chances."I have to tell you that I'm a little torn in terms of my choices," said Alma Gonzalez, a DNC member from Florida. "If it were me and if I was Joe Biden, I would say to Sen. Harris, 'Do you want to be on the Supreme Court or be my vice president?'"Presidential candidates rarely place public restrictions on their pick, preferring to keep options open so they can pivot their selection to suit the shifting dynamics of the campaign. Veterans of past vice-presidential searches said the most important elements have been how comfortable the nominees are with their would-be partners.And while past campaigns spent months vetting candidates and agonizing over running-mate strategy, there's very little academic research suggesting that the vice-presidential pick has a huge impact on winning the general election."The first and most important criteria is, can this person help you win in November and will they at least not hurt you in November," said Podesta.For Clinton, that meant ruling out candidates from states with Republican governors, like Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. If she won, her team feared that Brown could be replaced in the Senate by a Republican and shift the balance of the chamber away from her future administration.Unlike any nominee since Gore, Biden has a unique view into the selection process, having gone through it himself. While Obama started with a list of 20 candidates, he faced pressure to select Clinton as his running mate and create a "unity ticket." After Obama rejected that idea, the choice came down to a "coin toss" between Biden and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Biden was more energetic and enthusiastic in his interview, according to aides.In an interview earlier this month, Biden cited his close relationship with Obama as a model for his selection process, saying the president was able to trust him with key pieces of his agenda."For me, the most important thing in choosing a vice president is whether or not the person is simpatico with me in terms of where I want to take the country," he said. "It's really important that the next president is able to do what Barack was able to do with me."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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