| Without supplying evidence, Trump says China has more coronavirus deaths than the U.S. Posted: 17 Apr 2020 05:56 PM PDT  President Trump claimed on Friday that China was minimizing the number of deaths it has suffered from the coronavirus, disputing figures that showed the United States had suffered more fatalities from the disease.
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| Sunlight destroys virus quickly, new govt. tests find, but experts say pandemic could last through summer Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:07 PM PDT  Preliminary results from government lab experiments show that the coronavirus does not survive long under high-temperature, high-humidity conditions, and is quickly destroyed by sunlight, providing evidence from controlled tests of what scientists believed — but had not yet proved — to be true.
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| Elizabeth Warren is the 'candidate to beat' in Biden running mate poll of Wisconsin and Michigan Democrats Posted: 17 Apr 2020 11:21 AM PDT  A poll of Democrats in Michigan and Wisconsin found that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was "the overall candidate to beat" as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's running mate, Axios reports.In a poll conducted by MRG Research for Donors of Color Action that Axios reviewed, 62 percent of registered Democratic voters in Wisconsin said Warren would make a "good" or "great" vice president, putting her ahead of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) at 57 percent and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) at 52 percent. In Michigan, 53 percent of voters supported Warren as vice president, below only the state's governor, Gretchen Whitmer (D), who this week said Biden's running mate "is not going to be me.""Warren reflected the most consistent support among white and black voters in both states," although former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was the top choice for black voters, Axios reports.This comes as Abrams and Warren this week have both expressed interest in serving as Biden's vice president in interviews. Abrams in an interview with Elle said she would be "an excellent running mate," and asked on MSNBC whether she would be Biden's running mate if asked, Warren responded, "Yes." The poll surveyed 1,640 registered voters in Wisconsin and Michigan from March 23 through April 5. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points. Read more at Axios. More stories from theweek.com A parade that killed thousands? 5 brutally funny cartoons about Dr. Fauci's Trump troubles Neiman Marcus to reportedly become first major U.S. department to file for bankruptcy during pandemic
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| ‘Very, Very Scary’: Officials Dumbfounded as Florida Beaches Reopen, 3 Days After Death Spike Posted: 18 Apr 2020 02:57 PM PDT  The state of Florida passed two milestones in the coronavirus pandemic this week: its deadliest day yet, and the reopening of several public beaches.Hundreds of people flocked to the newly opened beaches in northern Florida on Friday evening, just two weeks into Gov. Ron DeSantis' monthlong stay-at-home order began. The state is the first of several to start slowly reopening public spaces even as the novel coronavirus continues to spread.DeSantis announced Saturday that K-12 schools would remain closed for the rest of the school year, saying he did not want to force families who were uncomfortable with the idea to return to classrooms. Just a day earlier, however, he greenlit the reopening of some beaches, arguing that Floridians needed fresh air."I think people, they're gonna be responsible, they're gonna be safe, but they want to get back into a routine," he said Saturday.Duval and St. Johns Counties, as well as the city of Mexico Beach, opened their beaches Friday for "essential activities" like running, fishing and surfing. The beaches will run on limited hours in the morning and evening, and activities like sunbathing will still be prohibited. Police were seen manning the beaches on Friday and Saturday, asking residents to maintain social distancing and avoid large gatherings. "This can be the beginning of a pathway back to normal life," Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said in a video statement. "But please respect and follow the limitations."He added: "The data for Duval County is encouraging. For now, we need to stay the course and continue taking precautions."Despite the mayor's warnings, hundreds of people flocked to the beaches in Duval County Friday, some engaging group sports like volleyball or spikeball. Photos of the scene drew outcry on social media, spawning the hashtag FloridaMorons, as well as disdain from officials elsewhere in the state. "When a person doesn't believe in science, they do dumb things," Lake Worth Beach City Commissioner Omari Hardy tweeted. "When a person in power doesn't believe in science, they do dumb things that hurt the public. This move is so dumb that I had to make sure it wasn't fake news. You guys, it isn't fake news."Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who contracted coronavirus himself, called the reopening in Jacksonville "very concerning," adding that Florida was "not out of the woods yet" and the consequences of reopening too soon were "very, very scary." "When they talk about the curve flattening and the curve descending, we still have not seen a major descension, what we're seeing is more of a plateau in the state of Florida," he told MSNBC on Saturday. "And I'm concerned that if we're not careful that we could see another flare up."That state's deadliest day yet occurred Tuesday, when a reported 72 people died of the virus in 24 hours. The number of confirmed cases in the state was still increasing on Saturday, bringing the totals to 25,269 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 740 deaths. Nearly 3,500 people in the state are hospitalized due to the virus, according to the Florida Department of Health. Along with announcing school closures Saturday, DeSantis said that a task force would also begin meeting daily next week to work on reopening businesses. He added that the state was considering opening four testing labs and was working with commercial labs to produce test results in 24 hours or less.Florida was not the only state moving toward a gradual reopening. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order this week allowing state parks to reopen Monday, though visitors would still be required to wear masks and stay six feet away from anyone not in their household. Abbott also said restrictions on elective medical procedures would be loosened Wednesday and retail stores could open for curbside pickup on Friday. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also ordered state parks and beaches to reopen from next week, but some local authorities insisted the order allowed them to open immediately. Officials in Harrison County were spotted removing "beach closed" signs from the boardwalk as early as Friday afternoon.In Alabama, business owners were reportedly confused by a set of suggestions released by the Small Business Emergency Task Force this week, suggesting that everything from jewelry stores to waxing salons could reopen "immediately." The suggestions have yet to be adopted. Gov. Kay Ivery plans to announce which restrictions will be lifted by April 28. President Donald Trump has also been pushing for states to reopen, amid fears of a possible economic depression. The president initially suggested the country could be open for business by Easter, but walked that back after seeing apocalyptic scenes out of hospitals in New York City.The White House issued a three-step guide for governors to use when deciding to reopen, titled "Opening Up America Again." The plan suggests lifting lockdown orders as soon as a 14-day downward trajectory in cases of COVID-like symptoms and positive tests can be documented."America wants to be open and Americans want to be open," Trump said in a press conference Thursday. "A national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution."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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| A Connecticut man broke into a restaurant that was closed due to COVID-19 and spent four days eating, and drinking 70 bottles of liquor, police say Posted: 19 Apr 2020 06:41 AM PDT  New Haven police said a man was found asleep inside a closed restaurant after spending days stealing thousands of dollars worth of food and drinks.
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| Iran's Revolutionary Guards say have increased Gulf patrols Posted: 19 Apr 2020 04:49 AM PDT |
| Italian church-turned-morgue 'finally empty' of coffins Posted: 18 Apr 2020 11:13 AM PDT  A church in Bergamo that served as an overspill morgue at the height of Italy's coronavirus epidemic "is finally empty", the mayor said Saturday. Where dozens of coffins once stood, nothing but flowers are left to be seen in a photograph tweeted by mayor Giorgio Gori that symbolises the easing of a crisis that has killed over 23,000 people in Italy. Bergamo is in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for over half Italy's virus victims.
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| Canadian authorities say mass shooting suspect may have been disguised as a Mountie Posted: 19 Apr 2020 08:36 AM PDT  The man, now in custody, was wanted in connection to a shooting with "several victims" in the rural community of Portapique, Nova Scotia.
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| Libya's east-based forces hit Tripoli civilian area, 4 dead Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT |
| Hamas' decision to lock up a Gaza peace activist during a pandemic is proof that it wants endless war with Israel Posted: 18 Apr 2020 05:39 AM PDT  A Gazan peace activist set up a Zoom chat between Israelis and Palestinians. Hamas arrested him for it, and now his family doesn't know where he is.
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| Mom of missing Idaho kids investigated for death of husband's late wife Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:04 PM PDT  Tammy Daybell died in October. Her death was initially ruled as natural but has since been classified as suspicious.
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| Taiwan virus cases spike, mostly navy sailors on Palau trip Posted: 18 Apr 2020 11:38 PM PDT |
| ‘A mistake is a mistake’: Trump on consequences for China following virus outbreak Posted: 18 Apr 2020 03:35 PM PDT  When asked if China should face consequences following the coronavirus outbreak that originated in the country and spread around the world, President Trump said that "a mistake is a mistake."
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| Tens of thousands defy Bangladesh lockdown for imam's funeral Posted: 17 Apr 2020 05:44 PM PDT  Tens of thousands of people defied a nationwide coronavirus lockdown in Bangladesh on Saturday to attend the funeral of a top Islamic preacher, even as authorities battle a surge in virus cases. Police had agreed with the family of Jubayer Ahmad Ansari, that only 50 people would attend the funeral in the eastern town of Sarail because of the risk of spreading the disease. Aide to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Shah Ali Farhad, also said more than 100,000 were present.
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| In Trump-Cuomo spat on coronavirus, the gloves come off Posted: 17 Apr 2020 10:46 AM PDT  The New York governor, who has been reluctant to engage with Trump during the crisis, turned the president's criticisms back on him.
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| Sheriff threatened to jail teen's family if she did not delete Instagram posts about coronavirus, lawsuit says Posted: 18 Apr 2020 02:22 PM PDT  The Marquette County sheriff maintained the girl did not have the right to make her Instagram posts, the lawsuit says.
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| 'I pray to God it never happens again': US gulf coast bears scars of historic oil spill 10 years on Posted: 18 Apr 2020 07:36 AM PDT  The Deepwater Horizon devastated the ecology and economy from Texas to Florida but BP-funded recovery programs are ongoing and the sector is a big employerWhen the explosion ripped through the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Leo Linder was standing in his living quarters in his underwear. He suddenly found himself facing a fellow rig worker in what had been a separate room because the force of the explosion had blown the walls away.Linder wasn't to know it at the time but the blast was to trigger the worst environment disaster in US history, with the BP operation spewing more than 4.9m barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, fouling hundreds of miles of shoreline from Texas to Florida, decimating wildlife and crippling local fishing and tourism industries.The spill also had a human cost, with 11 workers dying in the disaster. One of them, Gordon Jones, had relieved Linder around an hour before the explosion. "He said, 'What the hell are you doing, go home,'" Linder said. "In many ways he saved my life. The guilt from surviving, as well as the damage done, still gnaws at me. It kills me."The 10th anniversary of the disaster, which began on 20 April 2010, marks a period of devastation and partial recovery, with billions of dollars extracted from BP to aid a clean-up that is still under way. Projects to replenish damaged oyster-catching areas and restore degraded marshland are ongoing. An enduring image of the spill was a brown pelican, the state bird of Louisiana, struggling in oily gunk. But a project to restore Queen Bess island, a crucial rookery for thousands of the birds, is only now nearing completion.The recovery has been patchy, with some businesses unable to recover and some people forced to move away."It was a bit like a bad dream," said Albertine Kimble, a retiree who has spent the past two decades in Carlisle, a small town south of New Orleans. "It was impending doom, it affected the fisheries and the birds. It was even more depressing than Hurricane Katrina and that flooded my house."Kimble has had to raise her house twice on stilts due to the threat of flooding in an area prone to storms and coastal erosion accelerated by the climate crisis. The process has also been worsened by the oil and gas industry's practice of forging canals through wetlands, which has introduced corrosive salt water. The nearby town of Pointe à la Hache was turned into a "ghost town" as fishing opportunities vanished, Kimble said."It was a bit like the coronavirus, just dead," she said. "I don't think it's recovered, to tell you the truth."The fishing industry is a major constituent of life in southern Louisiana and shutting down the ability to catch fish, oysters and shrimp was a major blow to communities. Many of the fishermen and women used their boats to help the clean-up effort by deploying booms and spreading oil dispersant.Even after the Gulf was declared safe to fish in again, crews initially reported pulling in smaller catches of oddly deformed fish with oozing sores. Dolphins started dying in record numbers, tuna and amberjack developed deformities to their heart and other organs. Scientists have also found lingering problems within the web of marine life.Recent research by the University of Florida found the richness of species in the Gulf has declined by more than a third due to direct and indirect impacts of the spill. A separate study of 2,500 individual fish from 91 species by the University of South Florida found oil exposure in all of them.Many of the species are popular types of seafood. The extent of the exposure has startled researchers."We were quite surprised that among the most contaminated species was the fast-swimming yellowfin tuna as they are not found at the bottom of the ocean where most oil pollution in the Gulf occurs," said lead author Erin Pulster, a researcher at the university's college of marine science.The seafood industry lost nearly $1bn, while house prices in the region declined by as much as 8% for at least five years, according to a report by the conservation group Oceana."It was an entire Gulf of Mexico-wide event," said Tracey Sutton, a marine scientist at Nova Southeastern University. told Oceana. "Nobody was ready for this scale of pollution. As far as we know, the actual impact of the spill is not over yet."Deepwater Horizon exploded 40 miles off the coast and shot out oil that proved devilishly difficult to clean from the nooks and crannies of Louisiana's marshland. An initial attempt to cap the spill was unsuccessful, necessitating the drilling of a secondary relief well to stem the flow. It took four months to completely stop the gushing oil.In all, BP paid out about $65n in compensation, legal fees and clean-up costs, which includes billions for affected states. A judge ruled the petrochemical giant was "grossly negligent" in the lead-up to the disaster. Subcontractors Transocean and Halliburton were "negligent", the judge said.The payment of the compensation money adds to the complex relationship states like Louisiana, which bore the brunt of the spill, have with the oil industry. The industry caused an environmental and societal catastrophe along the coast and is contributing towards the climate crisis that threatens more and more of the state with inundation each year.But the compensation paid has helped fund various coastal conservation projects and oil and gas remain major, and largely popular, employers in the region. Linder was only on Deepwater Horizon because the pay was four times the $28,000 a year he was earning as an English teacher."I don't think anyone realized right off the bat we'd have this unprecedented natural disaster," said Chip Kline, an assistant to Governor John Bel Edwards and chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA)."During the spill there were some intense moments with BP but in Louisiana we have an economy largely driven by oil and gas; it employs a lot of Louisiana residents. We try to strike a balance."A decade on, with an incomplete recovery, coastal Gulf communities face a Trump administration that is attempting to reverse many of the safety-based regulations imposed after the oil spill. Residents are hoping this won't lead to a repeat."It made me sick to the stomach thinking about all the oil out there in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico," said Kimble. "I hope and pray to God it never happens again."
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| 4 family members battling coronavirus after Virginia bishop's death Posted: 18 Apr 2020 02:37 PM PDT  Bishop Gerald Glenn of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church died from the virus. Now his wife, two daughters and son-in-law are sick.
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| Why Amy Klobuchar Is the Front-runner in the Democratic Veepstakes Posted: 17 Apr 2020 12:32 PM PDT  In normal times, the vice presidency is not supposed to be worth a warm bucket of, um, spit. But these are not normal times.A global plague has shut down much of American society. The virus is particularly deadly to the elderly, and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee will turn 78 later this year. In November, voters will want more than anything a VP who is ready on a moment's notice to lead the country out of a crisis. So the Democratic veepstakes is suddenly much more important than it otherwise would be.Joe Biden has pledged to name a woman as his running mate, and he has indicated that he would very much like that woman to be an African American. Stacey Abrams checks both boxes, and she is auditioning for the job. But while she might excite the Democratic base, a failed gubernatorial candidate who has never held a public office more powerful than state legislator obviously has no chance of getting the nod during the present pandemic. Maybe the coronavirus will, against all odds, abate in the coming months. But it would be an act of political insanity for a geriatric presidential nominee to select a former state legislator as his running mate under the current circumstances.If Biden wants his VP to be a black woman, then, he is left with only one real choice: Kamala Harris. While the California senator has three years of experience as a senator and six years more as her state's attorney general, her presidential campaign was a disaster, doomed by vacillation and equivocation on important matters of policy. She proved herself capable of delivering scripted attacks during debates, but her most famous such attack came at Biden's expense: She hit him on his past opposition to forced busing, practically calling him a racist. That would be difficult, to say the least, for her to explain away were Biden to choose her. It shouldn't be an insurmountable obstacle, and she still makes sense on paper. But her primary performance failed to generate much enthusiasm among Democrats, and her indecisiveness made her seem unready to step up in a crisis.What about Elizabeth Warren? If Biden wants ideological balance on the ticket, the senator from Massachusetts makes the most sense. But does he really need ideological balance?For most of the left, Biden's pledges to lower the Medicare-eligibility age to 60, establish a public option for health care, and defeat Donald Trump will be enough. Bernie Sanders's most alienated, angry, hardcore supporters are not going to turn out because of Warren; they hate her just as much as they hate Biden. The greater number of 2016 Sanders voters who didn't turn out for Hillary Clinton in key Midwestern states could be swayed by Warren, but my hunch is that they were turned off more by Clinton's persona than her ideology, and it's hard to see how Warren would connect with them on a cultural level. More importantly, Warren's pledges to radically transform the nation's economy could scare away the moderate suburbanites who powered Democrats' successful 2018 effort to retake the House — and Biden really can't afford to lose those voters in 2020.All of which suggests that a relatively moderate woman from the Midwest would make much more sense as Biden's VP.Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer has gotten a lot of attention in recent weeks, but a fair amount of it has been negative. Whitmer only has one year of experience as governor, and voters may come to view Michigan's especially stringent lockdown restrictions as arbitrary and excessive in the coming months. She seems like a long-shot for the second spot on the national ticket.The darkhorse VP nominee from the Midwest is Tammy Baldwin, who has been a senator from the potentially decisive, perpetually polarized swing state of Wisconsin for the last seven years, and won re-election in 2018 by eleven points even as GOP governor Scott Walker lost his bid for a fourth term by just one point. The existence of Baldwin–Walker voters, plus the fact that Baldwin was the first openly gay women in Congress, must be attractive to Democrats. The major drawback is that Baldwin has never endured the national spotlight.That leaves just one name: Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who is still the leading contender for the job. She won't scare away crucial suburban voters the way that Warren would and Harris might. She is serving her 14th year in the Senate, so she has experience, and having run for the presidency this cycle, she has survived the scrutiny of a national campaign.There are other senators Biden could select, of course: Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is a veteran and a Purple Heart recipient. Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada makes a fair amount of sense if Biden decides his path to victory depends more on the Southwest than on Wisconsin.But neither Duckworth, Cortez-Masto, nor Baldwin has been tested on a national stage the way Klobuchar was. The Minnesota senator was far from flawless during the primaries, and she had some (literally) shaky performances. But she also proved herself more than capable of knifing an earnest and smooth-talking Indiana politician on the debate stage when it counted, a skill that might come in handy this fall.Biden has four months to make a final decision, but at the moment Klobuchar remains his most logical pick.
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| 44 jihadists found dead in Chad prison: prosecutor Posted: 18 Apr 2020 03:09 PM PDT  N'Djamena (AFP) - A group of 44 suspected members of Boko Haram, arrested during a recent operation against the jihadist group, have been found dead in their prison cell, apparently poisoned, Chad's chief prosecutor announced Saturday. Speaking on national television, Youssouf Tom said the 44 prisoners had been found dead in their cell on Thursday. The dead men were among a group of 58 suspects captured during a major army operation around Lake Chad launched by President Idriss Deby Itno at the end of March.
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| Pence Ducks and Dodges When Grilled on Trump’s ‘Liberate’ Tweets Posted: 19 Apr 2020 08:39 AM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence deflected and pivoted when repeatedly pressed on the Sunday news shows on President Donald Trump's "liberate" tweets seemingly inciting civil unrest against states implementing social distancing guidelines—the very same practices that the Trump administration has itself recommended.A day after announcing a three-phase map for states to gradually reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, the president rage-tweeted on Friday, calling for three states—all swing states with Democratic governors—to be liberated. Trump would later defend his support for protests against stay-at-home orders, saying the protesters were "very responsible people."Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace immediately confronted Pence on the growing anti-quarantine protests, asking him to personally weigh in while also noting that many of the participants were ignoring social distancing.Pence, for the most part, swept that question aside in favor of generally praising the president's handling of the pandemic before saying that Trump now wants to get the country back to work."No one wants to reopen America more than President Donald Trump," Pence said. "And what you see, I think, among millions of Americans who have been embracing those social distancing measures and making the sacrifices is they want their governors to find a way to responsibly and safely reopen their state economies."Wallace, meanwhile, pointed out that in many cases "these protesters—who are not social distancing—are saying they don't want to wait" and are actually protesting against the administration's own guidelines to stop the spread of the deadly virus.Highlighting Trump's "liberate" tweets, the Fox anchor noted that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said the president is "fomenting domestic rebellion," and asked Pence what the president's tweets mean since the administration's own guidelines call for a "very phased and gradual" reopening of the country."The American people know that no one in this country wants to reopen this country more than President Donald Trump," Pence replied. "And on Thursday, the president asked us to lay out guidelines for how the states can responsibly do that.""And in the president's tweets and public statements, I can assure you he's going to continue to encourage governors to find ways to safely and responsibly let America go back to work," the veep added, completely dodging Wallace's question. Over on NBC's Meet the Press, anchor Chuck Todd also stated that the three states Trump targeted are all following the administration's guidelines, pressing Pence to explain what the president is trying to liberate them from.As he did with Wallace, Pence ducked the question, instead talking about Trump's hopeful wish to quickly reopen the country while parroting Trump's refrain that the "cure can't be worse than the disease." Todd, however, interjected to repeatedly ask what the president was tweeting about."I have given you a lot of leeway," the NBC News host continued. "Why is the president trying to undermine the guidance you have been laying out? And that he's been — he laid out this guidance on Thursday and undermined it on Friday.""Chuck, I don't accept your premise, and I don't think most Americans do either," the vice president responded. "The president's made it clear, he wants to reopen America, and we laid out guidelines for every state in the country to safely and responsibly reopen their economy at the time and manner of their choosing."Todd attempted one more time to get Pence to address the tweets, saying that it appeared the president wants to take credit for reopening the economy and blaming governors for not opening it fast enough."That's what the tweet seems to imply, that he doesn't want to own the responsibility of these necessary shutdowns," Todd added.Pence again waved off the question, merely replying that Americans "can be confident" that Trump wants to reopen the economy as "safely and responsibly" as possible.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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| We are not prepared at all': Haiti, already impoverished, confronts a pandemic Posted: 18 Apr 2020 05:09 PM PDT  Haiti has barely 60 ventilators for 11 million people, and a limited number of doctors who can operate them.
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| Coronavirus handling shows Greece no longer "black sheep" of Europe: PM Posted: 18 Apr 2020 07:38 AM PDT  Greece is no longer the black sheep of Europe, having shown discipline and resilience in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. Greece, with a population of around 10 million, has registered a low number of cases compared with other European countries.
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| Questions mount over Christian group behind Central Park Covid-19 hospital Posted: 19 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Facility run by Trump ally Franklin Graham's organisation requires staff to sign statement opposing gay marriageWhen big white field hospital tents appeared in Central Park in late March, they became a potent symbol of the scale and severity of New York's coronavirus crisis.But just over two weeks since the opening of the 68-bed facility run by Franklin Graham's organisation Samaritan's Purse, questions are mounting over why the controversial religious leader viewed by many to be homophobic, Islamophobic and politically extreme was chosen to perform this vital role outside Mount Sinai hospital on Fifth Avenue, and who sanctioned it.Graham, a close ally whom Donald Trump praised in a recent briefing, has previously described Islam as "evil" and has described gay people as "the enemy". Coronavirus, he recently said, was a result of "the sin that's in the world".Samaritan's Purse – which has so far treated 130 coronavirus patients and has about 90 staff at the Central Park field hospital – requires all staff and volunteers to sign a "statement of faith".Statements in the document include "we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female" and "human life is sacred from conception to its natural end".The decision to allow the group to run such a key Covid-19 effort in the city has drawn protests from both activists and politicians."His hostility towards LGBTQ people does not comport, in my opinion, with his desire to provide assistance and relief to New Yorkers during this time of crisis," the New York state senator Brad Hoylman said. "That said, the federal government has put us in the unfortunate position of having to accept charity from bigots like Franklin Graham and at the very least I think it's government's responsibility to ensure that he follows the law."Hoylman has requested that the Mount Sinai hospital network ask Samaritan's Purse staff to sign a non-discrimination agreement acknowledging their understanding of New York's human rights law. But he still fears the organisation's presence in the city will cause "incalculable" damage."I do fear that we've given Franklin Graham a platform in one of the most famous pieces of public land in the country to spew his hatred of LGBTQ people, and unfortunately at the same time legitimise his homophobia," Hoylman said.On Easter Sunday, Graham – son of the late evangelist Billy Graham – gave an Easter message from outside the Central Park hospital, broadcast on Fox News with the charity logo on a banner in the background.Natalie James, a member of Reclaim Pride Coalition, which staged a protest outside the hospital on Tuesday, said: "Franklin Graham, their notoriously transphobic and homophobic leader of their organisation, had an Easter sermon right there in Central Park next to those tents, which I can only imagine was furthering their fundraising."Among those who spoke at the protest was Timothy Lunceford-Stevens, who said he was rejected as a volunteer by Samaritan's Purse because he did not want to sign the statement of faith. James said the protesters were not necessarily trying to shut down the hospital – acknowledging that help was needed – but that the group wanted Samaritan's Purse to drop the statement of faith, which they believe could be in violation of state and city human rights laws.A group of US lawmakers from New York – including the Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Adriano Espaillat and Jerry Nadler – wrote a public letter warning of their "concern about the policies governing Samaritan's Purse emergency field hospital in Central Park specifically, the implications for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers with Covid-19".The letter, addressed to New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo; the New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio; and the Mount Sinai Health System CEO, Kenneth Davis, called for answers to a series of questions, including details of the process that granted the charity use of public land, any non-discriminatory agreements in place and funding.New York state approved the field hospital application. De Blasio has previously said that he found the organisation "troubling" but that Mount Sinai had assured him there would be no discrimination and that his office would be monitoring.Espaillat, whose district includes Mount Sinai hospital, said he believes the situation has come about because the city is in "crisis mode". He added: "Had it been any other time, this would have been a major scandal."Despite all the outrage, Graham, 67, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday that he believed "the vast majority of New Yorkers are glad that we are there" and that the organisation would remain in Central Park for as long as it was needed.The preacher, who lives in Boone, North Carolina, added: "It's just a small handful of people who are opposed. And I find in life there's always somebody who's opposed to whatever you do and they're just naysayers who disagree with our difficult positions and take exception to that."Defending the statement of faith, he said: "We are an evangelical Christian organisation and we want to have people of like mind."He said "a handful" of qualified people had been turned away because they could not sign the statement of faith, which he said was non-negotiable. "If they agree with it they'll sign it, if they don't agree with it then they move on. That's just who we are and we're not going to change who we are."But he insisted that all patients were treated the same "regardless of their sexual orientation, their race or their religion, it doesn't matter".He also claimed he was not homophobic or Islamophobic, but added: "I certainly disagree with homosexuality and I believe the Bible's very clear about what it has to say about homosexuality, and that's my opinion and that's what I believe, but I'm not anti-gay."The charity is also working in Cremona, Italy, where it has another coronavirus field hospital, and Alaska, where it has airlifted medical supplies. If it were no longer needed in New York and another city requested the field hospital, Graham said, it would "certainly go to that city".Graham said the collaboration with Mount Sinai came about after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) found out Samaritan's Purse had a spare field hospital in a warehouse and asked if the group would be willing to go to New York. He said Mount Sinai had got in touch with the organisation and soon after it began considering different locations.He said Mount Sinai decided the tents should be in Central Park because of its "close proximity" to the hospital. He said the field hospital – including its equipment and staff – was entirely funded by private donations, adding: "We have no state, federal or city money."Fema did not respond to a request for comment. The New York state department of health spokesman, Jonah Bruno, said it had approved the application for Mount Sinai and Samaritan's Purse to erect the field hospital in the park on a "temporary basis, until the governor's emergency declaration is lifted".He added: "The department will fully enforce any and all applicable anti-discrimination laws and regulations against any healthcare provider operating in New York state."The New York City spokeswoman, Jane Meyer, said a member of staff from the mayor's office checked in with staff of Mount Sinai and Samaritan's Purse "every day to ensure things are running smoothly and they also visit the site in person". But Samaritan's Purse said they only came "on occasion".The Mount Sinai spokesman, Jason Kaplan, said: "While our organisations may have differences of opinions, when it comes to Covid-19 we are fully united: we will care for everyone and no patients or staff will be discriminated against. Mount Sinai and Samaritan's Purse are unified in our mission to provide the same world-class care to anyone and everyone who needs it. No questions asked. Any suggestion otherwise is incorrect."
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| Coronavirus live updates: Some states begin reopening; more cash soon for small businesses; Oklahoma City anniversary marked virtually Posted: 19 Apr 2020 09:11 AM PDT  Negotiators were close to a deal for $300 billion for struggling small businesses. Some states are starting to relax restrictions. The latest news.
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| The 10 Most Challenging Puzzles To Try While You Stay Home Posted: 17 Apr 2020 11:58 AM PDT |
| Ukraine in flames: Chernobyl wildfire highlights a dangerous tradition Posted: 18 Apr 2020 01:38 AM PDT  Villagers' embrace of traditional field-burning clashes with modern need to safely contain nuclear waste for generations to come.
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| Mnuchin Says Small-Business Deal May Be Passed Within Days Posted: 19 Apr 2020 09:25 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were optimistic about reaching a deal to top up funds in a loan program aimed at helping small businesses stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.Mnuchin said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he's hopeful the deal can be passed in the Senate on Monday and the House on Tuesday. Pelosi offered no specific timetable. While the Senate has a pro forma session scheduled for Monday, passage of any measure then is unlikely. Leaders in both parties must check with all senators to ensure they would agree to approve something by unanimous consent, and text of legislation is usually provided first. The Senate's next scheduled session is currently set for Thursday. Discussions are focused on adding an additional $300 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, designed to help small businesses keep workers on their payrolls as much of the country remains under stay-at-home orders, Mnuchin said.He also proposed $50 billion more for a separate Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, or EIDL, that provides financing and advances as grants of as much as $10,000.'All on Board' Mnuchin said he's had "constant discussions" with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. "We're all on board with the same plan," he said.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, also on CNN, said he was hopeful the framework of the small-business deal could be reached on Sunday night or early Monday, including tweaks to the program designed to distribute the money more widely. Congress is "very close" to a bipartisan deal, Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week," adding that the Democratic caucus backs her approach to dig in and demand additional money for hospitals and other segments."We're close. We have common ground," Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week." "I think we're very close to an agreement."Mnuchin said all sides were "making a lot of progress" on another $300 billion in small business funding.He said the deal will include $75 billion of the the $100 billion Democrats have demanded for hospitals, and $25 billion for virus testing -- but not for states and local governments.Separately, two senators on Sunday proposed a $500 billion fund for state and local governments as part of the next, comprehensive rescue package from Congress. House Republicans have scheduled an 8 p.m. conference call for Sunday to get an update from the their leaders on the status of negotiations on replenishing the tapped-out PPP, according to multiple party officials.Democratic members in the House hadn't received any notice as of Saturday night on getting an update.One Republican lawmaker familiar with the situation said there's been no official whipping or vote counting on a possible deal. The call Sunday is being billed as catching members up on the status of talks, the lawmaker said.Read more: Democrats Make Offer to Mnuchin in Effort to Break Aid DeadlockDemocratic insistence that the Congress do more than simply "top up" the PPP funds stalled action on the measure last week as funds dwindled, drawing criticism from Republicans and President Donald Trump."Overwhelmingly, my caucus, and we're working closely with the Senate Democrats, know that we have an opportunity, and an urgency, to do something for our hospitals, our teachers and firefighters and the rest, right now," Pelosi said.Compromise Offer "It is very urgent though that we support our police and fire, first responders, teachers," Pelosi said in a separate "Fox News Sunday" interview. "Everything we're doing is about the coronavirus. Not going afield into anything else."Congressional Democrats on Friday night outlined a new compromise offer to Mnuchin, a senior Democratic aide said on Saturday.Terms of the offer included allocating an already-requested $150 billion in state and local funding based on need, but also designating additional money for cities, counties and towns, the senior aide said.Key swing states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all won by Trump in 2016 -- would receive billions of dollars in new aid under the Democrats' proposal.The Small Business Association's $349 billion program, which was intended to help mom-and-pop businesses, ran out of funds in less than two weeks. It's come under fire for payouts made to certain operations like large chain restaurants.In all, more than a dozen publicly traded companies with revenue of more than $100 million, including Shake Shack Inc., Potbelly Corp. and a Tex-Mex restaurant chain with more than 10,000 employees, received loans.The National Federation of Independent Business, the largest group representing small businesses in the country, is calling on Congress to reserve $200 billion in the next tranche of funds for firms that have 20 or fewer employees.In an interview on CNN Saturday and on Twitter, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said the types of businesses that can apply for funds "is too broad.""Most of the money now is going to people who have hundreds of people working for them, and millions of dollars in their accounts," Summers said. "We need to change the rules."The industries that received the largest share of loans were construction; professional, scientific and technical services; manufacturing; and health care and social assistance, according to a report from the SBA.The PPP offers loans of as much as $10 million that convert to grants if proceeds are used to keep workers on the payroll and cover rent and other approved expenses for about two months, a stopgap designed to help businesses get by until the economy reopens.Schumer said that "from one end to the country to the other, we have been hearing that people can't get the loans -- the local restaurant, the local barbershop, the local drugstore, or even startup businesses." Democrats "want to put some more money in, but let's set aside some money to make sure it goes to the rural areas, to the minority areas, to the unbanked," he said. Mnuchin conceded that "some big businesses" were getting money from the PPP. "That was in the bill. But let me say, the majority of these are going to small businesses." (Updates with details of Senate schedule from third 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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| Iranian president says prisoner leave to be extended Posted: 19 Apr 2020 06:21 AM PDT  Iran will extend leave for prisoners for one more month, President Hassan Rouhani announced Sunday, after the country temporarily released 100,000 detainees to combat the spread of coronavirus. "Prisoners' leave was supposed to continue until the end of Farvardin (April 19)... it will be extended until the end of Ordibehesht (May 20)," Rouhani said during a televised meeting of the government's coronavirus taskforce, referring to two Iranian months. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili did not directly confirm Rouhani's remarks but further leniency was anticipated.
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| CIA Agents Reveal How Bill Clinton Stopped Them From Killing bin Laden and Preventing 9/11 Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Former President Bill Clinton has talked openly about how he could have killed Osama bin Laden—but passed. "I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I just didn't do it," Clinton confessed to an Australian audience just 10 hours before two planes struck the World Trade Center.But in The Longest War, a new documentary from director Greg Barker (Manhunt) and executive producer Alex Gansa (Homeland), former CIA agents reveal that they had another opportunity to take out Osama bin Laden with little collateral damage. "Bin Laden was constantly moving, and we were using Afghan tribal networks to report on his travels and his whereabouts," Bob Grenier, then-CIA station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan, says in the film. WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE CLIP HERE:When the Afghan tribal networks uncovered that a caravan carrying bin Laden would be traveling along a certain route, they suggested U.S. forces bury a cache of explosives along it to eliminate the infamous terrorist. But Grenier told them they'd be "risking jail" if they did, and that was all thanks to President Clinton. "The CIA had a so-called 'lethal finding' [bill] that had been signed by President Clinton that said that we could engage in 'lethal activity' against bin Laden, but the purpose of our attack against bin Laden couldn't be to kill him," Grenier explains in the film. "We were being asked to remove this threat to the United States essentially with one hand tied behind our backs." According to director Greg Barker, "It's hard to believe now, but back in the late '90s, most of the Washington national security establishment—including President Clinton, the State Department, the Department of Defense—simply did not view Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda as a serious threat. The handful of U.S. officials who saw the looming threat clearly—and there were some, mostly mid-level officers at the CIA's bin Laden unit and the counter-terrorism branch at the FBI—tried in vain to raise alarm bells at the highest levels, but were often ignored and even ridiculed."Sundance's 'Manhunt': Three CIA Agents Who Hunted Bin Laden Tell AllHow the CIA Helped Prevent the Next 9/11—And Why You Can't Bring Liquids Onto Planes"As a result," he continues, "policy decisions were made that seem unfathomable today, like a Justice Department ruling that it would be illegal for the United States to intentionally kill bin Laden, which left CIA officers in the field feeling frustrated and angry, as if they were unable to prevent a train crash happening in slow motion right before their eyes. The irony is that many of these same mid-level officers were later blamed for not doing enough to prevent the 9/11 attacks, when in fact the blame rests with the senior decision-makers who ignored direct warnings for far too long." Barker is also the man behind Manhunt, a documentary detailing the (mainly female) CIA agents who spent years hunting down Osama bin Laden. Like that exceptional film, The Longest War is a thorough examination of the catastrophe that is the Afghanistan war, which officially began on October 7, 2001, and continues to this day, making it the longest war in U.S. history. "There's enough blame to go around, and I think the film hands it out evenly," EP Alex Gansa tells The Daily Beast. "Bill Clinton didn't have the balls to do what was necessary before 9/11, George Bush didn't take the threat seriously enough when he came into office and then grievously overreacted when that threat was realized, and Obama didn't do what he promised during his campaign—namely, end the wars." The exclusive clip above ends on a haunting coda, courtesy of Marty Martin, a CIA counterterrorism officer at the time. "The threat was real," he says. "And if President Clinton had taken action and killed Osama bin Laden, there wouldn't have been a 9/11, and if there wouldn't have been a 9/11 there wouldn't have been an Afghanistan, and if there wouldn't have been an Afghanistan there wouldn't have been an Iraq. What would the world be like?" 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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| The Ventilator Shortage That Wasn’t Posted: 17 Apr 2020 02:26 PM PDT  In March, one of the most feared aspects of the pandemic was the widely reported coming shortage of ventilators. One well-publicized estimate, repeated by the New York Times, the New Yorker and CNN, was that the U.S. would need roughly one million ventilators, or more than five times as many as we had. Gulp. Ventilators are expensive, they're complex machines, and they can't be churned out in the thousands overnight.In the state that (as of today) has one-third of the country's confirmed COVID-19 cases, New York governor Andrew Cuomo sounded the alarm for ventilators repeatedly. On March 27, he acknowledged "I don't have a crystal ball" but said his state desperately needed 30,000 ventilators, maybe 40,000, but had only 12,000. When President Trump noted that Cuomo's state had thousands of unused ventilators it hadn't even placed yet, Cuomo admitted this was true but said he still needed more: "Yes, they're in a stockpile because that's where they're supposed to be because we don't need them yet. We need them for the apex," Cuomo said at the time. On April 2, Cuomo predicted the state would run out of ventilators in six days "at the current burn rate." But on April 6, Cuomo noted, "We're ok, and we have some in reserve."Now New York appears to have passed the apex. Deaths, a lagging indicator, crested at 799 on April 9 and hit 606 on April 16, the lowest figure since April 6. Hospitalizations are also declining, and on April 16 also hit their lowest level since April 6. Cuomo today has so many ventilators he is giving them away: On April 15, he said he was sending 100 of them to Michigan and 50 to Maryland. On April 16, he announced he was sending 100 to New Jersey.New Jersey has by far the most cases outside of New York, with 75,000 positive tests. It also has by far the most deaths outside of New York: 3,518 as of April 16. However, New Jersey, with 8,011 total hospitalizations as of April 16, also has more ventilators than it is currently using and also may have passed its apex; as of April 16, the fewest New Jerseyans were on ventilators since April 8. So far, the peak was April 14, when 1705 patients were on ventilators. Yet before Cuomo's announcement, New Jersey reported that 46 percent of its ventilators were still available.Michigan, the fifth-hardest-hit state after Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, may or may not have had its worst day. So far its worst daily death toll was 205 on April 10, but its second-highest total was 172 on April 16. The number of new cases reported fell slightly from a peak on April 14. But Michigan isn't even using most of its ventilators yet: As of April 16, it reported 1,232 ventilators were being used but 1,754 more were available. So New York's surplus is at the moment adding to the Michigan surplus.Maryland, which was sent 50 ventilators by California recently before Cuomo offered to send them 50 more, appears to be right around its apex; deaths hit a record high of 47 on April 15, then dropped slightly each of the next two days. I couldn't find any stats about ventilators on the state's COVID-19 website. The state's largest paper, the Baltimore Sun, appears not to have run any pieces discussing feared ventilator shortages since late March. On March 25, Gov. Larry Hogan said the state had received a shipment of FEMA ventilators and said it was "not enough" without divulging numbers. Hogan appears not to have said anything about ventilators lately except for last Sunday, when he said President Trump was "not quite accurate" when he claimed governors were in good shape regarding medical equipment. "Everybody still has tremendous needs on personal protective equipment and ventilators and all of these things that you keep hearing about," Hogan said, without being specific.Three weeks ago, President Trump was mocked and ridiculed for downplaying the need for more ventilators. "I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they're going to be," Trump said on March 27. "I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators," he added, referring to Cuomo's estimate for New York state. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others said they had "facts" on their side. Said De Blasio, "When the president says the state of New York doesn't need 30,000 ventilators, with all due respect to him, he's not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth of this crisis. And a ventilator . . . means someone lives or dies."NPR ran a strange piece casting these rival predictions as matters of fact also: "FACT CHECK: N.Y. Governor Slams Trump Ventilator Claim As 'Ignorant' And 'Uninformed.'" Well, yes, it's a fact that the governor expressed those opinions, but NPR doesn't ordinarily fact-check opinions. NPR couldn't fact-check the future in this "FACT CHECK," and didn't. The ventilator shortages of which we were all gravely warned have not yet come to pass. If we have indeed reached the crest of the crisis, perhaps they won't.
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| Sweeping US Navy testing reveals most aircraft carrier sailors infected with coronavirus had no symptoms Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:56 PM PDT  "We're learning that stealth in the form of asymptomatic transmission is this adversary's secret power," the Navy surgeon general said.
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| AP PHOTOS: The workers who keep Spain going under lockdown Posted: 18 Apr 2020 11:34 PM PDT  As Spain hunkers down after five weeks of confinement, the brave few keep the country going during a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 20,000 of their fellow citizens. "I feel a great sadness and impotence when faced with the tragedy we are living through," said taxi driver Isabel Zarranz, who has continued to work as part of the essential services authorized by the government. Most retail stores, including restaurants and bars, along with schools and other services have been closed for weeks to stem a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected over 190,000 people in Spain.
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| Europe reaches grim milestone, surpasses 100,000 coronavirus deaths Posted: 19 Apr 2020 07:53 AM PDT  The continent has become the epicenter of the contagion.
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| UK tells doctors to treat COVID-19 patients without full-length gowns due to shortage: report Posted: 17 Apr 2020 10:33 AM PDT  British healthcare staff have been advised to treat COVID-19 patients without full-length protective gowns due to shortages of equipment, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. Health minister Matt Hancock told a committee of lawmakers earlier that Britain was "tight on gowns" but had 55,000 more arriving on Friday and was aiming to get the right equipment where it was needed by the end of this weekend. The Guardian reported that with hospitals across England set to run out of supplies within hours, Public Health England had changed guidelines which stipulated full-length, waterproof surgical gowns should be worn for high-risk hospital procedures.
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| Get the Breezy, Bahamian Look of Lulu de Kwiatkowski's Home Posted: 18 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Americans trust Dr Fauci and Andrew Cuomo far more than Trump, poll finds Posted: 19 Apr 2020 07:29 AM PDT  Far more Americans are placing their trust in what White House infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are saying about the health crisis than what Donald Trump is saying, according to a new poll from NBC News/Wall Street Journal.Three out of every five Americans told pollsters they trust what Mr Fauci says about coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of at least 39,000 people in the US as of Sunday. Only 8 percent do not trust the public statements of Mr Fauci, a longtime White House pandemic adviser who has served both Republican and Democratic administrations.
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| The German Jews Who Escaped Hitler, and Made New York Their Home Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:34 AM PDT  Lin-Manuel Miranda gives a nod to the Jews of New York's Washington Heights in his musical—soon to be a movie—In the Heights, about Dominican immigrants. A shopfront sign peels away, revealing one once catering to the area's Jewish community, 37 percent of the neighborhood at mid-century.These mixed ethnic layers inform the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of German-Jewish History and Culture's Refuge in the Heights: The German Jews of Washington Heights, an exhibit now sadly delayed because of the coronavirus.Lin-Manuel Miranda: How 'Hamilton: The Exhibition' Dives 'Deeper' Into History Than the MusicalCurator Magdalena M. Wrobel said the history of German Jews in Washington Heights was universal, where "many minorities and immigrants in New York and in the US can actually relate and think in a broader context, 'Oh this was also the story of my parents when they came to the US, or maybe someone will think 'Oh my mother also could not speak English when she arrived.'"The German Jews were escaping Nazism, desperation setting in after 1938's Kristallnacht. In America, still in the throes of Depression, refugees had to get affidavits from relatives to ensure they would not be an economic burden. "Sometimes they even approached complete strangers who just had the same last name as the people in Germany and Austria and asking them if they would be able to provide them with those affidavits," said Wrobel. "And of course, we can bring this situation to today. Let's say how many would do that if some person from Syria or the Middle East would approach them with this kind of request? The US as an open country embracing the immigrants was just a myth.""German Jews were treated with some suspicion," Wrobel said. "There was a still a lot of anti-Semitism in the US at this point, but they were also German, so for them this was double."The neighborhood's most famous refugees were Henry Kissinger, and later, Ruth Westheimer, better known as Dr. Ruth. However, Wrobel said the exhibit focused on lesser-known immigrants "to show how they acculturated to the new society, while at the same time trying to preserve some element of their home."Among those was 91-year-old Sophie Heymann, who came to New York as a girl, later becoming mayor of the town of Closter, across the George Washington Bridge in Bergen County, New Jersey. It took her family about five years to get immigration approval."I feel very strongly on that subject," Heymann said. "The United States did everything it could at that time, under President Roosevelt, to keep as many Jews out as possible. My family and I actually became Republicans because we were so appalled at the way Roosevelt closed the doors to the Jewish immigrants." The man who would have been her father-in-law waited three years for possible approval, only to be murdered by the Nazis.The exhibit begins with Washington Heights' history from settlement by the Wiechquaesgeck tribe, European colonization and the forts pivotal to the American Revolution. Construction of its most striking feature, the George Washington Bridge, is also documented. An intriguing photograph shows the neighborhood before I-95 sliced through.Panels discuss refugee stories similar to Heymann's into what was nicknamed "Frankfurt on the Hudson," or "The Fourth Reich." About 125,000 German and Austrian Jews entered the United States through 1940. Of these, 70,000 came to New York City, 20,000 settling in Washington Heights. Many hailed from southern and rural Germany, versus the Upper West Side's refugees from Berlin and larger cities. Judaica from Europe and modern pieces by locally born artist Tobi Kahn are displayed. There are photographs from family collections and of long closed businesses like the Wertheimer department store and Gruenebaum Bakery.Among the most curious items is a wimpel, a Torah cover usually made from bris circumcision ceremony swaddling cloth, created by Siegfried Simon in 1944 for Ronald Bloch, born to a refugee family that year. Bloch's story is almost full circle for the neighborhood: His family had first been refugees in the Dominican Republic under dictator Rafael Trujillo, before their American entry. He described his Washington Heights childhood as idyllic, his family's suffering largely kept from him. "Nobody talked about the war and what happened in Germany," he said, adding, "our parents tried to protect us."He took his daughters to the neighborhood. "I want them to have a sense of history and family and how people can be stigmatized and also the resilience," he said.What his family experienced is still important today, he said, with "not only anti-Semitism but immigration, everything, the hate that's coming out. That's why it's important to understand the history of where stuff is coming from, and how easily it is that hatred comes out."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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| US using coronavirus pandemic to unlawfully expel asylum seekers, says UN Posted: 17 Apr 2020 12:19 PM PDT  CDC recently issued order encouraging immediate deportation of non-citizens without valid documents, citing obscure quarantine law * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageAn unprecedented US policy authorizing the summary expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers because of the coronavirus pandemic violates international law, the United Nations has warned.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a sweeping order on 20 March encouraging the immediate deportation of non-citizens arriving overland without valid documents. The order cited an obscure quarantine law to claim the move is justified on public health grounds.In the first 18 days to 8 April, 10,000 people were expelled within two hours of arriving on US soil – effectively denying them the legal right to seek international protection, according to Customs and Border Protection figures.This amounted to 80% of all migrants and refugees being escorted back over the border into Mexico, where reports of kidnapping, trafficking and assaults by organised crime gangs and corrupt security forces are rife.This novel policy of systematic and rapid expulsions constitutes "refoulement" – the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution – which violates US and international laws and treaties designed to protect people at risk of persecution, torture and trafficking."We understand that in the current global Covid-19 public health emergency all governments have an obligation to enact measures to protect the health of their populations. While this may warrant extraordinary measures at borders, expulsion of asylum seekers resulting in refoulement should not be among them," said Chris Boian from the UN Refugee Agency.The vast majority of those expelled were men, women and children from Mexico and Central America's northern triangle – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – where a toxic mix of organized crime, state sponsored repression, extreme poverty and impunity has fueled an exodus of citizens in recent years.Since taking power, the Trump administration has employed a variety of legally questionable measures to slash migration and roll back rights for asylum seekers without changing any laws.For instance, since January 2019 tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers and migrants have been forced back into Mexico under the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols, where they must wait months or years for a court hearing in the US.The new order singles out those without valid travel or immigration documents including asylum seekers for immediate expulsion on public health grounds, meanwhile excluding commerce and people with the correct documents from the same countries.But the quarantine provision of the 1944 Public Health Service Act does not supersede other laws, or allow for selective application based on immigration status.In a recent article for Just Security, the leading immigration law professor Lucas Guttentag, said: "The CDC order is designed to accomplish under the guise of public health a dismantling of legal protections governing border arrivals that the Trump administration has been unable to achieve under the immigration laws."As the coronavirus crisis unfolded, Trump initially minimized the gravity until cases and deaths started to escalate in the US, at which point he pivoted to blaming foreign nationals.He has since used the pandemic to justify ramping up construction of the wall on the southern border. There is no evidence of undocumented migrants spreading coronavirus in the US, however, the US has deported dozens of infected migrants to Guatemala.As countries across the world have enacted mitigation measures to tackle the pandemic, the right to freedom of movement has been forcefully restricted by repressive regimes in the northern triangle.Over the past few weeks, Trump has used the daily White House coronavirus briefings to congratulate himself and the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for a fall in numbers at the southern border.About 570 people were apprehended every day during the first week of April – down by almost 50% compared to the first week of March, according to analysis by Adam Isacson, who runs the Washington Office of Latin America's defense oversight program.If the downward trend continues, April could see the lowest number of apprehensions in 50 years.The controversial border quarantine order, which has been widely condemned by human rights, humanitarian and religious groups, must be renewed every 30 days.Isacson said: "The danger is that the administration will use coronavirus as a pretext to maintain the expulsions for as long as possible. Right now, not only are courts barely in session, but there's no litigation happening on this yet because the policy itself is mostly secret and it's hard to reach plaintiffs on the Mexican side of the border."
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| Congressional candidate Michelle Caruso-Cabrera hunts for votes in coronavirus 'epicenter of the epicenter' Posted: 19 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT  A former CNBC anchor navigates COVID-19 crisis in her first political campaign.
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