| Trump suggests China won't be punished if coronavirus was 'a mistake' Posted: 18 Apr 2020 03:47 PM PDT  President Trump offered competing messages on Saturday about how his administration would handle China's alleged culpability in the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in the southeastern city of Wuhan.
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| Colorado health care workers block anti-quarantine protesters amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:15 AM PDT  In states such as Texas, Indiana, Nevada and Wisconsin, demonstrators are disobeying social distancing orders and gathering to call for a reopening of their states and the economy. When protesters tried to do the same in Denver on Sunday, they were met with health care workers blocking their path.
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| Supreme Court Rules Juries Must Convict by Unanimous Consent in Criminal Trials Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:26 AM PDT  The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that defendants in criminal trials must be convicted by unanimous consent of the jury, outlawing a practice that has already been prohibited in all states except Oregon.The 6-3 ruling in the case, Ramos v Louisiana, was delivered with an unusual alignment in which conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh joined with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor for the majority opinion. Justices Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, and John Roberts dissented."Wherever we might look to determine what the term 'trial by an impartial jury trial' meant at the time of the Sixth Amendment's adoption—whether it's the common law, state practices in the founding era, or opinions and treatises written soon afterward—the answer is unmistakable," Gorsuch wrote in an opinion for the majority. "A jury must reach a unanimous verdict in order to convict."While unanimous verdicts had previously been required for convictions in federal trials, most states have banned convictions by supermajority of a jury. The ruling applies a unanimous-conviction requirement in the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to state law. Currently, Oregon is the only state which allows conviction of criminal defendants even if up to two jurors dissent. Louisiana outlawed the practice in 2019.The current Supreme Court case was brought by Evangelisto Ramos, who was convicted of murder in Louisiana court in 2016 by a 10-2 jury verdict. The Supreme Court's case could allow Ramos to receive a new trial.
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| Russian fighter jet executes 'unsafe' intercept of US Navy aircraft, coming within 25 feet of an American plane Posted: 19 Apr 2020 03:08 PM PDT  The intercept was caught on video and marks the second time in four days that a Russian fighter has come dangerously close to a US Navy plane.
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| The new coronavirus may be mutating to a less deadly form Posted: 20 Apr 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Life will not return to normal anytime soon, even if states lift COVID-19 lockdowns in an attempt to revive hard-hit economies. Face masks will be de rigueur, people may be "trapped indoors for months," and crowded public events are out, science reporter Donald McNeil Jr. writes at The New York Times, citing more than 20 health and science experts. Until there's a vaccine, "if Americans pour back out in force, all will appear quiet for perhaps three weeks. Then the emergency rooms will get busy again."Among the many things we don't yet understand about this new coronavirus is how deadly it is or how many people have been infected. "Fatality rates depend heavily on how overwhelmed hospitals get and what percentage of cases are tested," and those numbers keep getting revised in hard-hit areas, McNeil reports. People who die of the disease at home or in overwhelmed hospitals are not counted, but people with few or no symptoms are never tested, so "if you don't know how many people are infected, you don't know how deadly a virus is."The changing fatality rate is one reason the models keep fluctuating, McNeil says, but "there may be good news buried in this inconsistency: The virus may also be mutating to cause fewer symptoms. In the movies, viruses become more deadly. In reality, they usually become less so, because asymptomatic strains reach more hosts. Even the 1918 Spanish flu virus eventually faded into the seasonal H1N1 flu."While we don't know the fatality rate or level of contagion, the "refrigerated trucks parked outside hospitals tell us all we need to know: It is far worse than a bad flu season," McNeil writes. How the pandemic ends depends on the virus' lethality, medical advances, and how individuals behave, he adds. "If we scrupulously protect ourselves and our loved ones, more of us will live. If we underestimate the virus, it will find us."More stories from theweek.com When time stops A parade that killed thousands? 5 brutally funny cartoons about Dr. Fauci's Trump troubles
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| Palghar lynching: India police arrest more than 100 suspects Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:24 AM PDT  Three men have been beaten to death in Palghar district despite a strict lockdown across the country.
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| U.S. Delays Some Tariff Payments, Leaves China Levies in Place Posted: 20 Apr 2020 12:56 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will allow companies to defer paying tariffs on many imported goods for 90 days, a move aimed at freeing up cash for pandemic-hit employers while leaving punitive measures against China and other nations intact."This will protect American jobs and help these businesses get through this time," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.The deferral doesn't apply to anti-dumping or countervailing duties, or so-called Section 201, 232 or 301 tariffs. So it won't ease President Donald Trump's punitive import taxes on Chinese goods, on steel and aluminum, or those tied to enforcement actions he took including against Airbus SE.To qualify for the deferment, U.S. importers have to demonstrate "significant financial hardship," according to a separate statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.For several weeks, White House officials have debated tariff relief to help companies that are laying off millions of workers and clamoring for emergency federal loans to cushion the a sharp, steep economic downturn that may rival the Great Depression.While the tariff-payment deferral might ease some short-term strain, the bigger issue now is whether it will help counter a slump in domestic consumption."The postponement has little effect in stabilizing the U.S. economy," Gai Xinzhe, a senior analyst at Sino-Ocean Capital in Beijing. "The problem is with the demand side, and this postponement can hardly solve that."The move comes amid heightened rhetoric between the world's two largest economies as the Trump administration blames the global spread of Covid-19 on China's perceived lack of transparency about the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan. Deaths in the U.S. attributed to the disease have topped 41,000."If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake," Trump said during news conference over the weekend. "But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences."A top Wuhan laboratory official denied any role in spreading the new virus.In January, the countries signed phase one of a trade deal in which China agreed to buy more American imports, including energy and agriculture commodities, in exchange for a cease fire on tariff increases. According to Bloomberg Economics, China wasn't hitting purchase targets at the three-month mark.As China's economy slowly reopens, that may be about to change. A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas, which departed from the U.S. around March 21, docked at a Chinese port on Sunday, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg on Monday. That's China's first import of U.S. LNG in a year, and six more ships are en route.(Updates with details in 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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| Poland records spike in coronavirus cases day ahead of easing some restrictions Posted: 19 Apr 2020 12:16 PM PDT  Poland saw its biggest spike in coronavirus cases on Sunday with 545 new infections recorded, according to health ministry data, a day before the country plans to ease some of its pandemic-related restrictions. Parks and forests will be reopened on Monday and limits on the numbers of people allowed in shops will be eased, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday. As of Sunday, Poland had 9,287 confirmed cases and 360 deaths.
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| Trump Hijacks Dr. Deborah Birx’s Coronavirus Presentation Posted: 18 Apr 2020 04:01 PM PDT  During her presentation at the White House COVID-19 briefing on Saturday, Dr. Deborah Birx was cruising along until she waded into one of President Donald Trump and the GOP's sorest spots: the Chinese government's apparent undercounting of coronavirus casualties. As Birx, the White House's coronavirus coordinator, explained a slide showing COVID-19 deaths per capita for various countries, China's was marked with an asterisk at the very bottom.Trump, standing on the sidelines, couldn't help but interject. "Excuse me, does anybody really believe this number?" he said, interrupting an apparently startled Birx—who then wheeled around, smiled, and coolly explained she put China's number on the chart to demonstrate "how unrealistic this could be."Though Birx tried to move on, Trump still couldn't keep quiet. He soon interrupted her again, to make a similar point, this time on the numbers shown for Iran. "Does anyone really believe that number?" Trump asked again. "You see what's going on over there." He then asked to return to the previous slide and walked over to the screen, hovering and pointing incredulously to China and Iran's numbers.The moment was a fitting one for Saturday's roughly 70-minute briefing, which was absent familiar figures like Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Anthony Fauci.Trump did the lion's share of the talking, veering between lambasting Democratic politicians and the media—in particular New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman—and embracing comfortable topics. He repeatedly mentioned a phone call with unnamed world leaders who, he said, had offered effusive praise for his handling of the outbreak.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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| Please Don't Let Anyone 'Pill Shame' You If You Need Anxiety Meds During COVID-19 Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:23 AM PDT  Unsurprisingly, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our anxiety levels world-wide have risen dramatically. According to recent report from Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, we have also seen a 34% increase in prescriptions for anxiety medication.
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| In Germany, Syrians take their torturers to court Posted: 19 Apr 2020 07:49 PM PDT  When Anwar al-Bunni crossed paths with fellow Syrian Anwar Raslan in a DIY store in Germany five years ago, he recognised him as the man who had thrown him in jail a decade earlier. On Thursday, the two men will face each other in a German court, where Raslan will be one of two alleged former Syrian intelligence officers in the dock accused of crimes against humanity for Bashar al-Assad's regime. In the first legal proceedings worldwide over state-sponsored torture in Syria, Raslan will be tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction -- which allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity.
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| Medical detection dogs able to sniff 750 people an hour could help identify coronavirus cases, researchers say Posted: 19 Apr 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Dogs have already been taught to detect diseases such as cancer. UK health experts believe they could be trained to sniff test the coronavirus.
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| Experts: Coronavirus brings spike in anti-Semitic sentiments Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:04 AM PDT  Israeli researchers reported Monday that the global coronavirus outbreak has sparked a rise in anti-Semitic expression blaming Jews for the spread of the disease and the economic recession it has caused. The findings, which came in an annual report by Tel Aviv University researchers on anti-Semitism, show an 18% spike in attacks against Jews last year. "Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it," said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group representing Jewish communities across the continent.
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| Iran's Guard acknowledges tense encounter with U.S. warships during a drill Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:09 AM PDT  Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged Sunday it had a tense encounter with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last week, but alleged without offering evidence that American forces sparked the incident.
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| Gifts to Thank Health Care Workers for Their Hard Work Posted: 18 Apr 2020 11:55 AM PDT |
| Spain coronavirus deaths climb by lowest daily amount in a month Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:15 AM PDT  Spain's death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rose by 410 on Sunday, the lowest daily increase in about a month in one of the world's hardest hit countries, prompting cautious optimism from the government that the figures are on a downward path. It is far below the highest daily increase - 950 deaths reported on April 2 - in a sign of a slowdown of the spread of the virus after Spain imposed a strict lockdown in mid-March. The total number of deaths reached 20,453 on Sunday, the Health Ministry said.
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| China accused of discriminating against Africans as part of coronavirus fight Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Ambassadors to Beijing and others say Africans have been harassed, denied basic services and even evicted despite adhering to mitigation guidelines.
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| Trump says he's 'OK' with Las Vegas shutdown after mayor calls it 'total insanity' Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:38 AM PDT  "I'm OK with it," President Trump said of Gov. Steve Sisolak's closure of nonessential businesses, which has shuttered Las Vegas hotels and casinos.
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| Lockdown Diary, Budapest Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:30 AM PDT  'Ghost trains" and ghost buses are the most visible and oddly comforting expression of Budapest's lockdown. Because "essential workers" still have to get to and from work, and the other city-dwellers may have good reasons to move around the city, the regular train and subway services are running as before, and even keeping to their regular schedules. In the case of the Number Two train, which runs alongside the Danube past such city sights as the "Whale" gallery and cultural center and Hungary's magnificent 19th-century Parliament building, this means that between six and eight trains pass by every hour. At the same time, because Hungarians have been faithfully observing the lockdown rules, which firmly instruct social distancing, almost no one travels on them.Many trains have no passengers at all; few have more than six or seven. They arrive at a train stop, halt, pause while their doors open for passengers to alight and board them, ring a warning bell before the doors close, and then depart again. On most occasions during this routine, no one gets on and no one gets off. And when essential workers do board them, they punctiliously take seats as far away from each other as they can manage.Mark Higgie, a former Australian ambassador to Hungary who has stayed on to live in Budapest, has spent the lockdown walking around the city and posting photographs of its old and beautifully restored buildings on Twitter. He's also been waging an Internet campaign against the decision of Mayor Sadiq Khan and London transport authorities to reduce the number of train services in the U.K. capital.He's been pointing out that since millions of workers still have to travel in and out of central London daily, the reduced service mean more-crowded trains. News photographs show Londoners packed into the carriages like so many sardines. "Carriages of death" is how a U.K. tabloid headline would describe the scene (and may already have done).If Mayor Khan and his colleagues were to buckle under Mark's criticism, it would be the first occasion that a left-wing Western European politician has followed the example of anything in Viktor Orban's Hungary. If he knows that, he won't do it.So it's probably best if he remains unaware of our Ghost Trains silently moving almost no one at all under the Budapest sun.***With the exception of a single day, the Budapest weather has continued to be idyllic. Skies either cloudless or etched with faint cloud traces, warm sunny days followed by cool evenings, breezes that rarely become winds — in short, perfect weather for long walks.We go for one long exercise walk every day, and though the streets and parks are far less crowded than in normal times, there are always other walkers and shoppers about. Most people observe the etiquette of social distancing, wearing masks, staying about six feet away from others, carefully maneuvering around oncoming pedestrians like scorpions about to strike, but at the same time nodding and trying to smile through the mask to show a friendly disposition.The good weather has also brought forward early blossoms and leaves on the trees and . . . pollen. I suffer quite severely from hay fever, which takes the form of prolonged sneezing fits, sometimes 15 to 20 sneezes in succession. It's impossible to sneeze wearing a mask, which I push up my face so that I can sneeze into the mass of Kleenexes I carry about with me.Embarrassing, of course, but it certainly ensures social distancing.***Criticism of Hungary's "state of emergency" from both media pundits and leftish politicians abroad continues to rumble on, undeterred by the remarkable string of errors included in these attacks that have yet to be apologized for.Almost as bad as the errors themselves — which, if not errors, are slanders — is the massive tribute to double standards that they exemplify. Hungary is one of many European countries that have emergency laws in their constitutions. Which nation has used them most frequently? And which politicians have been most willing to use them in handling any number of issues?My colleague at the Danube Institute, senior research fellow Agnes Zsofia Magyar, set out to answer these questions. And she came up with answers that must surely surprise almost everyone:> The answer to the first question is France. Emergency laws have now been applied more than 1,000 times under the Fifth Republic. The second answer is President Francois Hollande, the socialist leader, who with 273 applications of law by decree emerges as its absolute champion. Standing second on the podium, however, we see Emmanuel Macron, who has used this measure 84 times in his presidency's first 2 years. Taking a longer perspective, the figures show that 40 percent of such jurisdictions were issued from the left, and that six of its ten largest users were socialist presidents in France.Those figures certainly surprised me, especially the statistic showing that the hapless François Hollande, no one's idea of a strongman, had used emergency powers more often than any other French president, including de Gaulle, under the Fifth Republic. By comparison, the Orban government has declared just two such states of emergency in his two periods of office, 1998–2002 and 2010–20 — at least that's all that anyone recall. And while Orban's state of emergency is tailored strictly to combating the epidemic, Macron's emergency rules have been used, inter alia, to push through pensions legislation that was stalled in the French national assembly.To say that Orban's critics exercise double standards, therefore, may be paying them an undeserved compliment. Some of them have no standards at all, as an old joke goes, but others have very strong standards except that they're not saying what they are. *** Two items of urban etiquette under the lockdown:Among the categories of "essential workers" are the many skilled occupations in the building trades. Since our walks are almost all in or near the city center, my perceptions here may be skewed, but work on the rebuilding and restoration of Budapest seems to have been scaled down only a little. New hotels are still rising, three within minutes of our apartment, at a time when completed hotels have few guests and aren't allowed to sell food or drinks to nonresidents.But the new ones carry on rising, and they do so rapidly. As someone who has seen the glittering revival of the city since the depressed days after the 2008 financial and euro crises— when I was sometimes the only diner in a mid-level restaurant — I admire the resilience of the people even if I fear for them too. And the builders are at present the most visible evidence of Budapest's resilience since they are working away on every street.So a common sight is a building worker taking a break who has pushed his mask down to his neck or up to his forehead, happily smoking a cigarette.Less common is the sight of masked beggars, but there are a few, and they bring an eerie touch of the Wild West to Budapest. My suspicion is that they are opportunistic newcomers to the begging trade who, being masked, have a lower risk of being recognized and losing social status.One approached me yesterday and, standing the requisite six feet away, apologized in good English for being unable to shake my hand and welcome me to Budapest as he would do in better days. He and his two friends looked prosperous and not at all threatening. I half-thought that I recognized him above the mask and that it might be a prank. Also, I had no cash about me.So I did my share of nodding and smiling and hurried on.But the phenomenon of masked beggars in lockdown cities might be a good Ph.D. topic for a rising young social scientist when "normal" life returns. Indeed, in the meantime, the beggars themselves might consider social science as their next profession. As several recent hoaxes have shown, not to mention the high rate of non-producible experiments in the field, some of the softer social sciences are not very different from masked begging except in being much more profitable. And Dr. Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple), drawing on his experience as a prison doctor, was impressed by the way in which hardened criminals were adept at trotting out the latest sociological patter in justifying their crimes, sometimes only weeks after the theories had been published in learned journals. So why wait for prison to learn this lesson?Remember, kids, it's never too late to go straight (except, of course, sexually.)***Not every part of Budapest is the urban wonderland one might suppose from reading Mark Miggie's treats. Some years ago I was traveling from the city center to a quiet suburb past some high-rise flats erected under the Communists, when the taxi driver remarked: "I sometimes think that the entire world Communist movement was really a front for the cement trade."***My NRO article on Hungary's state of emergency — and why it was not the start of Viktor Orban dictatorship — stimulated a good deal of debate in the Twitterverse in the last fortnight. It started with a fusillade of attacks that provoked return fire from a strong contingent of supporters. I'm grateful for both, the endorsements for obvious reasons, the attacks because they were an opportunity for me to check weaknesses in my argument. I don't think the critics found anything serious, though they may differ.One friendly critic, however, did notice a straightforward error in what I had written. When I was listing the current constitutional safeguards against any abuse of emergency powers, I had argued that a second of two such safeguards was "that Parliament can vote to end the state of emergency at any time by the same two-thirds majority by which it passed the law." In fact, as Olivier Braun pointed out in a tweet, though a state of emergency needs a two-thirds majority to pass, it can be revoked by a simple majority of MPs.My error doesn't make a great deal of difference unless you believe that the government intended to make the state of emergency permanent. I don't. Insofar as it had an effect, however, it exaggerated the extent to which the government could defy parliamentary opposition, and to that extent it was anti-Orban.As for being a regime toady: I won't join a lynch mob, however distinguished.This conflict is not yet concluded, however. It never is. As the war of words has developed, moreover, the last redoubt of the alarm-sounding critics has been to insist that the government will ignore its obvious duty to declare the state of emergency over when the pandemic is over and that it will thereby quietly establish a permanent dictatorship when no one is looking..Though I made it clear, as above, that I thought that far-fetched, I am not a lawyer, and so I sent along the Hungarian constitution (it's easily available online) to a distinguished constitutional lawyer friend and asked him for an opinion. He responded, after a minimal amount of legal bafflegab, to the point:"Worriers/haters of Orban would have to focus on the procedural point — can the government simply refuse to terminate the state of danger when the virus passes, or is judged sufficiently to have ebbed? In theory I suppose that is impossible to rule out. In practice it's ridiculously far-fetched. The government cleaned up last election. Why turn off voters by doing this? And neighbouring countries? Can't see it. And not only won't the government do that, the constitutional court (even full of Orban appointees) would step in and end the State of Danger."And that's about the size of it.***English-speaking expats who usually get together over meals and weekend parties have been forced by the lockdown rules to forgo these social pleasures and socialize by phone and Internet, swapping tips on the latest home entertainments. Recommendations usually focus on Netflix, Poirot, Miss Marple reruns, and Donald Trump's press conferences. But a clip from CNN has been making the rounds among us to general hilarity.It's an interview on CNN with the Hungarian foreign minister, Peter Sziijarto, conducted by Christiane Amanpour, in which the interviewer continually makes statements about what's happening in Hungary only to be patiently corrected by the minister on simple points of fact. When at one point she says that Parliament has been suspended during the emergency, he replies that he's appeared three times before it in that week.In between moments of puzzlement, Szijjarto is friendly and courteous throughout the interview. That seems to be second nature to him, but maybe diplomatic considerations played a part too. Which was a pity at times. When she was asking why so many distinguished people around the world thought Hungary was drifting away from democracy and into authoritarianism, it meant he was unable to respond, "Maybe they get their news from CNN."***That said, there is something odd and almost choreographed about almost any of the international debates on Hungary. And it goes deep. The standard format consists of argument, counterargument, followed by a long pause, and then the reiteration of argument (i) again. Occasionally it varies, but this format, in addition to being the standard one, also has a strong resemblance to American debates on immigration. It's not a format that can ever decide anything. Indeed, it's not a debate but a kind of performance. And it requires some thinking through.George Schopflin does thinking very well. As a Hungarian exile during the Communist years, he was an informed critic of how the world behind the Curtain operated. He served as professor of politics at the London School of Economics until the Berlin Wall fell. He returned to a free Hungary in the aftermath and then served as a Hungarian member of the European Parliament, from which he retired at the last election.On the website of the Estonian journal of international affairs, Diplomaatia, Professor Schopflin sees in the "wooden language" of the anti-Hungarian liberal consensus in the European Union a form of ritual that serves a familiar purpose: "All human institutions rely on ritual to secure solidarity, to sustain a consensus that is taken for granted (not debated) and to establish propositions that all those inside the magic circle accept as an unquestionable fact."And, of course, to repel boarders, indeed to excommunicate them. The boarders in this case are those who dispute the European establishment's orthodoxy of a version of liberal democracy that privileges courts, bureaucracies, treaties, and supranational institutions over elected and accountable governments."Which," as the professor succinctly notes, "Hungary does." Not of course in defense of authoritarianism or any other of the boo-word ideologies that make up the anti-Hungarian indictment but in support of the democratic sovereignty of independent nation-states. It's livelier than my summary makes it sound. Read the whole thing here.***Meanwhile, one aspect of the emergency regulations that is rarely discussed is whether or not they've been successful in delaying and halting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We're still fighting the virus in all countries, of course, and if we've learned one lesson in the last few weeks, it's that we won't know the final answer to that question until we can read the final numbers of infected and dead in the rearview mirror.For the moment, however, Hungary's performance looks likely to be a good one, judged by three practical tests. It acted much more promptly than most countries to do the things that most countries have done — namely, closing schools, shops, and borders and encouraging social distancing. Its regulations have been enforced lightly and with common sense but followed impressively. And so far it has a much lower infection and death count than countries of a similar size and situation: 1,916 cases of confirmed infections and 189 deaths.Those are not the only considerations, of course, but they're worth mentioning.***A week ago the citizens of Budapest in moderate lockdown were waiting for a second blow to fall in the form of tighter regulations on social distancing, home confinements, and shopping hours. It never came. Ministers might have thought people would rebel if they announced tighter restrictions at the start of an Easter weekend traditionally reserved for family get-togethers. For whatever reason, they announced only the extension of existing lockdown rules for another three weeks.That came as a relief. Though some nonessential workers and small-business people are feeling a real pinch as well as serious economic anxiety, the rest of us are adjusting to life under lockdown quite well. The weather has been good and the regulations not too cramping. The rules don't forbid people from sitting on benches or pausing between exercises. And perhaps in response to the self-discipline of the civilians, the cops have been restrained and even easygoing.There's been little or nothing of the "petty authoritarianism" we've seen either in the behavior of Britain's police, formerly "wonderful," or of the governors of some American states seized by delusions of omnipotence almost as catching as the virus. The Budapest police at least seem to be playing by the rulebook for dealing with tourists in the absence of tourists. They interpret "exercise" very loosely, don't seem to mind people resting on benches, and treat an obvious couple as a single person.And there's a feeling, hard to pin down, that lockdown has been eased slightly, not by the government but by people finding ways to cope with it. The clearest example of this is an unexpected revival in the hot-food trade. There are three meal-delivery services that ferry takeout restaurant food in heated containers to your home. If they were there before the lockdown, I never noticed them. Within a few days of the restaurants' closing their doors, however, they were everywhere.At first it was largely pizzerias and the cheaper chain restaurants that used these services, which between them employed more and more young Hungarians of both sexes peddling furiously across the city for your dinner to get through. But the services soon expanded their suppliers and customers, and at the very time when people were using their cars less, their young riders and cyclists dashing about ruled the deserted streets. For the restaurants, which were forbidden to admit people inside but could serve through a window or over a half-door, it was a lifesaver that may not have made a profit but that reduced their losses significantly.As a result, in the last ten days more and more good middle-level restaurants that had closed for the duration returned to the city, reopened as takeouts, and emailed or telephoned their regular customers to invite them to pick up their favorite meals at an agreed time. Three of our own regular haunts have done so — for the record and for those visiting Budapest in happier times, they are Kispiac, Pomodoro, and Biarritz — and a kind of camaraderie between hosts, guests, and other guests developed as we line up six feet apart to pick up our meals.It won't completely disappear when lockdown ends, nor will the new Budapest culture of high-quality cuisine takeways. The takeout meals are cheaper than eating out — one drinks less alcohol, for a start — and they're the same meals. With less money we'll probably eat in more often while keeping our culinary standard of living high.Of course, we'll all be happy to celebrate the end of lockdown with a good meal and a glass of Furmint at our local restaurants. As we start to climb back to yesterday's standard of living, we'll be eating out more again too while still eating in other people's cuisines. The restaurants will expand their customer base by providing both services.And we've learned something very hopeful. Budapest has a good many on-their-toes entrepreneurs and some hardworking (and now very fit) young people — many of them the same people — who will be around to help city and country climb out of the post-virus economic recession we are all resigned to digging through.Given that the last two economic wastelands that Hungarians had to dig their way out of, in 1945 and 1989, were either controlled by Communists or poisoned by their legacy, they should have a better chance of success this time, with a people less sedated by free things of poor quality and more attentive to opportunity.I wish them well.***Gaming report. I reported two weeks ago about a bet offered by Boris Kalnoky, the Budapest-based correspondent for Germany's Die Welt. Its terms were that Boris would buy anyone who took up the bet a Borsodi beer if Orban kept the "state of danger" law in place after the danger had passed; vice versa if Orban lifted the law promptly. To get over any difficulties over when the bet would be declared over, Boris proposed five days after the Brits lifted their emergency rules.He has now been trumped by Frank Furedi, the Anglo-Hungarian sociologist and a founder of the website Spiked, who teaches at Hungarian universities. Furedi has offered what is essentially the same bet with higher (and MORE generous) stakes. Frank is offering 100 U.K. pounds if he loses and asking 50 U.K. pounds if he wins.Well, given the news reports that democracy has ended in Hungary, these would seem to be very good odds for anyone challenging either Boris or Frank. Anyone who wins the bet, moreover, can look forward to a very jolly evening at home with a foaming mug and a takeout from one of the better hostelries. But none of the correspondents, commentators, or editorialists who have been warming us of the coming dictatorship have yet taken up the bet.It's almost as if they don't really believe what they write.***An hour after I wrote this diary, my wife rang me to say that she'd fallen and twisted her ankle on a hike with a Hungarian friend through the Buda woods. After the police and paramedics had taken her to a hospital and she'd been X-rayed, she rang to say she would be arriving home soon but being unable to place any weight on her right foot, she would need help to climb the stairs to our first floor apartment.My days of carrying brides over thresholds are long gone.I walked down to the street, wondering how to manage this task, and I saw a group of cycling food carriers waiting for their next assignment. Going over I asked if one would help carry a lady up a flight of stairs. Three of them spoke English, and all of them thought this a reasonable request. The one who won the contest was an engineering student who had really enjoyed his lockdown job and was plainly as fit as an entire string section.When Melissa arrived, we both helped to reach the unavoidable stairs and then he carried her into our flat and the bedroom. He refused to accept any tip (we overcame this scruple) and rushed off to deliver his next order.I felt hopeful about young Hungary before. Now I feel optimistic too.
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| Boko Haram suspects 'die of poison' in Chad jail Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:55 AM PDT  The 44 men were taken into custody around Lake Chad during an offensive against Islamist militants.
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| A bizarre conspiracy theory puts Bill Gates at the center of the coronavirus crisis — and major conservative pundits are circulating it Posted: 19 Apr 2020 12:21 PM PDT  From fringe conspiracy theorists to mainstream conservative pundits, this is how Bill Gates became the scapegoat for the coronavirus pandemic.
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| North Korean defectors, experts question zero virus claim Posted: 19 Apr 2020 06:11 PM PDT  As a doctor in North Korea during the SARS outbreak and flu pandemic, Choi Jung Hun didn't have much more than a thermometer to decide who should be quarantined. Barely paid, with no test kits and working with antiquated equipment, if anything, he and his fellow doctors in the northeastern city of Chongjin were often unable to determine who had the disease, even after patients died, said Choi, who fled to South Korea in 2012. Local health officials weren't asked to confirm cases or submit them to the central government in Pyongyang, Choi said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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| Former FDA commissioner suggests some coronavirus vaccine doses could be available in the fall Posted: 19 Apr 2020 10:06 AM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottleib has repeatedly said life in the United States won't truly be back to normal until a novel COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine is widely available. The most optimistic sources say that likely won't be for another 12 to 18 months, but in the meantime, Gottleib said, there could be some instances where limited doses could be accessible.During a Sunday appearance on CBS' Face the Nation, Gottleib told host Margaret Brennan that if the coronavirus mounts a comeback in a specific U.S. city in the fall, there may be a protocol in which at least some of the potentially hundreds of thousands of doses of trial vaccines produced for testing could be provided to people. He said that wouldn't be the case for a national epidemic similar to the current situation, but the hope is that with a better understanding of how to combat the virus, epidemics will be more constrained should a second wave hit.> NEWS: @ScottGottliebMD says he's there is a chance China may get a vaccine for coronavirus to the market before the United States does. WATCH ---> pic.twitter.com/WMClkMZ85a> > — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 19, 2020Gottleib also said there's a good chance China could beat the U.S. to the market with a vaccine, though he doesn't seem to be a big fan of what Beijing is tinkering with.More stories from theweek.com When time stops A parade that killed thousands? 5 brutally funny cartoons about Dr. Fauci's Trump troubles
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| Syria, Iran slam US for upholding sanctions despite virus Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday slammed their common foe the United States for maintaining sanctions amid the coronavirus pandemic. On his first official meeting with Zarif in a year, Assad expressed condolences to Iran, the regional epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic with 5,209 deaths from COVID-19. A photo released by Assad's office showed him and Zarif sitting opposite each other, both in face masks.
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| 'They're killing us,' Texas residents say of Trump protections rollbacks Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:27 PM PDT  Residents of the mostly black and Latino communities closest to the oil refineries and chemical plants in Texas say it puts them on the front line of the Trump administration's rollbacks of decades of public health and environmental protections.
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| Canada killer's 12-hour rampage is one of worst gun massacres in nation's history Posted: 19 Apr 2020 05:10 PM PDT  Residents of a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada woke up on Sunday to chaos as police hunted a mass shooter who had left a trail of bodies and burning buildings behind him. By the end of the ordeal, at least 10 people were killed, including one member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.Though mass shootings are far more prevalent in Canada's neighbour to the south, the country has weathered its own share of tragic violence at the hands of gunmen.
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| China Flexes Muscles on Hong Kong, Prompting Outcry From U.S. Posted: 19 Apr 2020 04:01 PM PDT |
| 'Delusional,' 'Absolutely false': Governors cry foul on Trump testing claims Posted: 19 Apr 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Experts have said testing would need to be at least doubled from current levels in order to allow for even a partial reopening of America's economy.
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| 30 Dining Chairs That Make a Statement Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:40 AM PDT |
| Guatemala says 50 migrants deported from U.S. test positive for coronavirus Posted: 19 Apr 2020 06:48 PM PDT  Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said on Sunday a total of 50 migrants deported by the United States to Guatemala have tested positive for coronavirus, including 14 sent to the Central American nation on a Tuesday flight. Most of the deportees that have tested positive for coronavirus arrived from the United States on a Monday flight.
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| Florida begins reopening beaches amid coronavirus crisis, and people are enthusiastically flocking Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:04 AM PDT  People came faster than a flock of seagulls chasing a french fry when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened some beaches amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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| A US truck-stop giant is furloughing 2,900 workers as the coronavirus continues to clobber the trucking industry Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:14 AM PDT  As states order dine-in restaurants to shutter and people to stay home, truck stops are suddenly no longer so lively — impacting employment rosters.
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| Congressional Black Caucus PAC backs Biden's White House bid Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:00 AM PDT  The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Joe Biden's presidential bid on Monday, further cementing his support among the nation's influential black political leadership. The political action committee's unanimous endorsement came on the heels of several key nods of support among caucus leadership and members, including civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and caucus Chairwoman Rep. Karen Bass of California. "There's no question that Joe Biden is badly needed by this country," CBC PAC Chairman Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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| Indian police order 'cave-dwelling' foreign tourists into quarantine Posted: 19 Apr 2020 04:06 AM PDT  Six foreign tourists who tried to sit out the coronavirus pandemic in an Indian cave have been sent to quarantine at an ashram near a town made famous by the Beatles after running out of money, police said Sunday. The four men and two women -- from France, the United States, Ukraine, Turkey and Nepal -- had been living in the cave near Rishikesh in Uttarakhand state since March 24, police inspector Rajendra Singh Kathait told AFP. India has been under a nationwide lockdown since late March, with residents permitted to leave their homes only for essential services such as buying groceries or medicine.
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| Column: This man masterminded my friend Daniel Pearl's abduction in 2002. He shouldn't be set free Posted: 19 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Pearl's beheading opened the door to more violence against journalists. Those who abducted him should remain in prison.
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| US and Canada border restrictions have been extended for another 30 days, and Trudeau expects them to continue for weeks Posted: 19 Apr 2020 01:07 PM PDT  President Trump said the U.S.-Canada border could be one of the first to fully reopen, but Canadian officials say restrictions will remain for weeks.
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| She's a doctor on the front lines of the coronavirus. At home, she has no running water. Posted: 19 Apr 2020 01:53 AM PDT  "You're saying 20 seconds of wash your hands with water," a Navajo doctor in Arizona said. "We do not have plumbing. And that's how I grew up."
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| If You’re Cooking as Much as We Are, You Need These Kitchen Essentials Posted: 19 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| 'We need life again'; Germans rush to reopened shops but Merkel worries Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:06 AM PDT  Germans returned to the shops on Monday, craving retail therapy after a month of lockdown, but Chancellor Angela Merkel urged them to remain disciplined to avoid a relapse in the fight against the coronavirus. Shops up to 800 sq metres, as well as car and bicycle dealers and bookstores, are allowed to reopen this week under an agreement with the leaders of Germany's 16 states, all keen to start the long haul of pulling the economy out of recession. The federal and state governments have strongly recommended that Germans wear face masks when shopping and on public transport, and some states have even made that compulsory.
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| Germany to Order 45 Fighter Jets From Boeing, Report Says Posted: 19 Apr 2020 02:46 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Germany will order 45 fighter aircraft from Boeing Co. to replace the Luftwaffe's aging Tornado jets, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday.Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer emailed her U.S. counterpart Mark Esper on Thursday to inform him of the decision, the magazine said, without identifying the source of its information. Germany will order 30 F/A-18 Super Hornets and 15 EA-18G Growlers, the report added.The German ministry couldn't immediately be reached outside regular business hours. The Pentagon in Washington declined to comment."While we continue to await an official announcement, we remain committed to working in support of both the German and U.S. governments on this important procurement," a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing wrote in an email. A combination of Hornets and Growlers "is ideally suited to meet Germany's strike fighter and electronic warfare aircraft requirements."Kramp-Karrenbauer's actions may upset the Social Democrats, the junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, as she didn't inform them before making her decision, Der Spiegel said.Kramp-Karrenbauer's predecessor, Ursula von der Leyen, had offered a compromise to the SPD under which Germany would buy a combination of U.S. fighters and the Eurofighter Typhoon manufactured by Airbus SE, according to Der Spiegel.(Updates with Boeing comment in fourth 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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| Israelis Just Showed the World What a Socially Distant Protest Looks Like Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:54 AM PDT  Opposition politicians gathered alongside citizens, spaced 2 meters apart, as a political crisis continues to engulf the country
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| Death sparks unrest at major migrant camp in Greece Posted: 19 Apr 2020 01:07 PM PDT  A fire ripped through one of Greece's largest migrant camps leaving widespread damage and many people homeless after the death of an Iraqi woman sparked unrest, officials said Sunday. The blaze late Saturday at Vial camp on Chios island destroyed the facilities of the European asylum service, a camp canteen, warehouse tents and many housing containers, Migration Ministry Secretary Manos Logothetis told AFP. Anissa, a 22-year-old asylum-seeker from Somalia who declined to give her last name out of concern for her safety, said the fire "burned two big tents and each tent has more than 20 homes" inside.
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| North Korea is advancing its nuclear program, UN report says Posted: 19 Apr 2020 12:47 PM PDT  The 267-page U.N. report that provides surveillance photos and new evidence.
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| 2020 Watch: Why is Trump going to war with governors? Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:19 AM PDT  The inconsistencies in President Donald Trump's coronavirus response are evident as Democrats show new signs of unifying behind presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden. Democrats, meanwhile, are showing new signs of unifying behind Biden following the sudden endorsements of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and former President Barack Obama. Biden still has glaring political liabilities, but as the coronavirus continues to define the political landscape, Democrats and Republicans seem to be moving in opposite directions.
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| India and Singapore see biggest single-day spikes in coronavirus cases Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT  India and Singapore announced their biggest single-day spikes in new coronavirus cases on Monday, as the crisis intensifies in parts of Asia. India's spike came after the government eased one of the world's strictest lockdowns to allow some manufacturing and agricultural activity to resume.
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| Italy PM calls for EU solidarity in support of coronabonds Posted: 19 Apr 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte has repeated calls for the European Union to issue common euro zone bonds to demonstrate the bloc's solidarity in tackling the coronavirus crisis. Conte said in an interview to be published in Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Monday that issuing such bonds was not about socialising previous or future individual Italian debt. Conte said Germany and the Netherlands must change their views to signal that Europe speaks as one, adding he wanted the joint bonds to be specifically applied and limited in time.
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