| Yahoo News/YouGov coronavirus poll: Most Americans reject anti-lockdown protests Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:42 AM PDT  The total number of protesters may be small. But the public's dismissive attitude toward them reflects a deeper sentiment: Americans strongly disagree with those who claim the country is ready to reopen for business.
|
| China Daily Bureau Chief: Trump a ‘Racist A**hole’ for Suggesting China Has More Coronavirus Deaths than U.S. Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:47 PM PDT  The European bureau chief of China's state-run publication China Daily has called President Trump a "racist a**hole" for claiming China "must have the most" deaths from the global coronavirus pandemic."We don't have the most-in-the-world deaths — the most in the world has to be China," Trump said during Friday's White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. "It's a massive country. It's gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem. And they must have the most."China Daily's Chen Weihua, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's coronavirus response, responded by tweeting that Trump's suggestion was "coldblooded." He added in a later tweet that "Trump is like a mad dog with rabies biting everyone, only to divert attention from his failures," before tweeting that it was "irresponsible" and "immoral" for Trump to suggest that the virus could have come from a Wuhan lab. He also floated a theory pushed as Chinese propaganda that a U.S. military athlete brought the disease to China.In 2018, U.S. officials flagged the Wuhan Institute of Virology as the potential starting point of a "future emerging coronavirus outbreak," citing the lack of safety protocols applied to the Institute's research on "SARS-like coronaviruses in bats."While there is no documented evidence that China has more coronavirus deaths than the U.S., reports have detailed how China covered up the initial coronavirus outbreak, with the Chinese Communist Party recently restricting research into the pandemic's origins and censoring reports of thousands of asymptomatic cases. Radio Free Asia reported in March that Wuhan residents were dismissing the government's reported death counts, anecdotally referencing steep increases in funerals and cremations to estimate at least 40,000 deaths during the city's lockdown.Chen Weihua has been outspoken on Twitter about what he claims is the "racist" U.S. response to the pandemic, echoing a tactic used by other Chinese media outlets to suggest any scrutiny of China's handling of the coronavirus is xenophobic.
|
| Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says its handheld device can detect coronavirus, scientists scoff Posted: 20 Apr 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Iranian scientists have rejected the claim and other government officials have distanced themselves.
|
| 20 Weird Facts About Earth To Remind You Why It's The Best Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:52 PM PDT |
| The White House appears to have silenced the surgeon general for his remarks on racial disparities in the coronavirus outbreak, as data shows black communities are hardest hit Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Health officials told Politico that Surgeon General Jerome Adams was one of the few to be talking about the impact on minority communities.
|
| US home sales plunge 8.5% in March, and it may grow worse Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:06 AM PDT |
| Nearly all abortions in Texas must stop, appeals court rules Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:13 PM PDT  The vast majority of abortion services will again be halted in Texas.
|
| Putin warns Russia's coronavirus crisis yet to peak as cases surpass 47,000 Posted: 20 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin said Russia had managed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus but warned the peak of the outbreak still lay ahead after the number of confirmed infections surged past 47,000 nationwide on Monday. Russia reported 4,268 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, down from more than 6,000 the day before. Forty-four people died overnight, bringing the death toll to 405, Russia's coronavirus task force said.
|
| Fearing Big Election Loss, China Goes on Offensive in Hong Kong Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- On the surface, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam appears to have had a few pretty good months: Her government has managed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, during which street protests have mostly disappeared.Yet her bosses in Beijing don't appear convinced that will help their allies during Legislative Council elections set for September. A spate of arrests and stern official edicts over the past few weeks amount to an offensive that looks designed to ensure China gets its way no matter what happens at the ballot box.Over the weekend, Hong Kong police arrested more than a dozen prominent pro-democracy figures in the former British colony, including a current lawmaker, former politicians and a media tycoon whose outlets are sympathetic to protesters who paralyzed the city for much of the last year. That came after Beijing agencies that oversee the city blasted the opposition for filibustering in the parliament, known as LegCo."The authorities would like to prepare Hong Kong people for the possibility that the LegCo majority falls into the hands of the pro-democracy camp," said Joseph Cheng, a veteran democracy activist and retired political science professor. "The preservation of the regime is of paramount importance all of the time -- and the authorities are willing to pay the price, in terms of conflict, damage to the stability of Hong Kong, its international image, its progress."On Tuesday, Lam blasted the opposition's "malicious filibustering" and suggested that the city's recent stimulus relief package wouldn't have been possible if the pro-democracy forces had a majority in the Legislative Council -- and that Hong Kongers and businesses alike would suffer."Imagine if the Legislative Council is led by those who voted against the HK$130b in funding? What would Hong Kong become?" Lam asked in a regular news conference ahead of a meeting of the city's Executive Council. "How can the suffering of companies and the people be alleviated?"The harder-line approach comes just as Hong Kong appears to be ready to open up again after months of social-distancing restrictions kept people indoors: The city reported no new cases Monday for the first time since March 5. It risks spawning another summer of discontent, with protesters expected to mark several anniversaries from June up until the LegCo election.On Monday, Fitch Ratings downgraded Hong Kong as an issuer of long-term, foreign currency debt in part because the city's "deep-rooted socio-political cleavages remain unresolved," despite the virus dampening protests."This injects lingering uncertainty into the business environment, and entrenches the risk of renewed bouts of public discontent, which could further tarnish international perceptions of the territory's governance, institutions, and political stability," Fitch said.Xi's HardlinersA majority for the pro-democracy camp in the lawmaking body would be unprecedented: The high-water mark came in 2004, when it won 42% of seats. But the sometimes-violent protests last year, in which demonstrators called for meaningful elections, propelled the pro-democracy camp to win about 85% of seats in a vote for local district councils in November.President Xi Jinping's response to that result was the appointment of two hardliners to oversee Hong Kong. In January, Luo Huining, a cadre known for executing Xi's anti-corruption campaign, was made head of China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, while in February Xi appointed Xia Baolong, who oversaw a crackdown on Christian churches several years ago when he was the Communist Party chief of China's Zhejiang province, as director of the overarching Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office.In recent weeks, Beijing's agencies overseeing the city have accused the opposition politicians of potentially violating their oaths with delay tactics -- a potential precursor to disqualification. They also reiterated their support for national security legislation that has ignited previous rounds of protest in the city.Lam and other pro-establishment politicians in Hong Kong have criticized the filibustering and have supported the right of the Liaison Office chief to comment on gridlock at the city's legislature. As Hong Kong successfully contained the virus, Lam's popularity rating has rebounded from record lows and "significantly increased" in a poll conducted in late March and early April, which did not attribute the increase to any particular policy."The central government has constitutional responsibility for the governance of Hong Kong, and of course has the right to express its views on the performance of the Legislative Council," said Zhi Zhenfeng, a law professor at the state-run China Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. He added, though, that "policy tweaks are possible" and the recent statements do no constitute any sort of new policy direction.However, the Hong Kong government's defense of the two central government agencies to comment on Hong Kong politics has set off alarm bells, particularly since Article 22 of the city's mini-constitution bars any Beijing-controlled entity from interfering in the former colony.The Hong Kong Bar Association pointed out Monday that the city's government was contradicting previous statements on the role of Beijing's agencies in Hong Kong, and that the "current uncertainty contributes to undermining confidence" in both governments' commitment to the "one country, two systems" principle. In its statement, Fitch Ratings said the central government is "taking a more vocal role in Hong Kong affairs than at any time since the 1997 handover."Danger of ExtremismFor both China and Hong Kong, the economic stakes are high. The U.S. has increased scrutiny of the city's autonomy from the mainland, which is essential to maintaining special trading privileges that help underpin the economy.President Donald Trump's administration roundly condemned China's latest arrests, which included 81-year-old Martin Lee, a former lawmaker nicknamed the "Father of Democracy" since he was a founder of the city's flagship opposition Democratic Party. China rejected the international criticism on Monday, calling it "gross interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs."China's assertive tone -- and the arrests of many moderate, older opposition figures -- could alienate the city's more radical protesters and encourage them to renew violent attacks in the city, said opposition lawmaker Fernando Cheung. This may allow authorities in Beijing to then justify canceling the election or ramming through controversial national security legislation known as Article 23, he said."Democrats don't want to see extremism grow," Cheung said. "We want to keep peace and prosperity, but by way of the government's handling of this -- and more so the Communists handling of the situation -- there's a danger that extremism will grow."Summer Is ComingThis idea was echoed in a blog post over the weekend by Jerome Cohen, a renowned American scholar of Chinese law and a professor at New York University, who wrote the arrests could be a "trap" that could justify "repressive" national security measures or lead to a cancellation of the upcoming election.Hong Kong officials repeatedly warned of the risk of terrorism last year, and those fears have continued to grow. The city's police chief on Monday received an improvised explosive device at his office on Monday although no one was injured, the South China Morning Post reported, citing multiple unidentified insiders.Either way, analysts are expecting political turmoil to return to the streets once the pandemic fears subside."They're trying to use a tough political line ahead of summer, which is the traditional peak of social movements in Hong Kong," said Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "They want to use this time to try and threaten these people from coming out, to make people think that if they come out again there will be legal consequences. This is their thinking. Whether this happens is another issue. Protesters could be provoked."(Updates throughout.)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.
|
| Kim Jong Un may be seriously ill, though South Korea casts doubt Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:59 AM PDT  U.S. officials say the North Korean dictator may be incapacitated after heart surgery, but South Korea says Kim is working.
|
| Kim Jong Un may be in ‘grave danger’ after surgery: CNN Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:12 PM PDT  Reports saying Kim Jong Un underwent a recent medical procedure are fueling speculation about the North Korean leader's health after his unprecedented absence from events last week marking his grandfather's birthday.
|
| Report: Trump administration received real-time information on coronavirus from Americans working at the WHO Posted: 19 Apr 2020 09:33 PM PDT  As the novel coronavirus first emerged in China late last year, more than a dozen U.S. researchers, doctors, and public health officials were working at the World Health Organization's Geneva headquarters, relaying back real-time information on the virus and its spread to the Trump administration, several U.S. and international officials told The Washington Post. President Trump has accused the United Nations' health agency of not clearly communicating early on how big a threat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was, in an attempt to protect China. Last week, he said the U.S. will halt funding to the WHO and conduct a review "to assess the WHO's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."Caitlin Oakley, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), confirmed to the Post that in January, 16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees were at the WHO "working on a variety of programs, including COVID-19 and Ebola." She added that "just because you have Americans embedded in WHO providing technical assistance does not change the information you are getting from WHO leadership. We have learned now that WHO information was incorrect and relied too heavily on China."Officials told the Post that from the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, CDC staffers consulted with their WHO counterparts on the disease, and that CDC Global Disease Detection Operations Center Director Ray Arthur has participated in daily "incident management" calls, sharing information gleaned from WHO officials. That information is sent to HHS via telephone calls and written reports, one official said.Sensitive information, including details on actions the WHO is planning on taking, was shared in a secure facility at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, the official told the Post, with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar among those receiving updates in the early days of the outbreak. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? A parade that killed thousands? Late night hosts are bemused at Trump's encouragement of the 'virus huggers' flouting his own advice
|
| An Oregon man said his property manager illegally searched an IRS system to see if his tenants received stimulus checks Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:53 PM PDT  Austin Goodrich of Forest Grove, Oregon, said he lost his job as a security guard due to COVID-19 and told his landlord he couldn't pay rent.
|
| ‘I’d take her in a heartbeat’: Joe Biden says he would love to have Michelle Obama as his running mate Posted: 21 Apr 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Joe Biden says he would secure Michelle Obama as his running mate "in a heartbeat" but doubts that the former first lady is interested in returning to the White House.Mr Biden, the presumptive nominee for the Democratic presidential nomination to face Donald Trump in November's general election, called Ms Obama "brilliant" and said she "knows the way around".
|
| 110 arrested over latest deadly lynch mob attack in India Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:06 AM PDT  2 police officers have also been suspended after viral videos showed them unable or unwilling to control the mob, apparently fuelled by a rumor.
|
| Mortgage payments paused or reduced for 3 million U.S. households, survey suggests Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT  Some 3 million U.S. households have won at least a measure of relief on mortgage payments as efforts to squelch the coronavirus pandemic throw millions out of work and stretch household balance sheets, a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed on Monday. About 5.95% of mortgage loans were in forbearance during the survey week of April 6-12, up from 3.74% a week earlier and from just 0.25% the week of March 2, the industry lobbying group said on Monday. Congress did not include any such relief in its recent $2.3 trillion stimulus package, though some top Democrats have called for it and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan has said he is open-minded about potentially coming to the sector's aid.
|
| Trump administration will require nursing homes to report Covid-19 cases Posted: 19 Apr 2020 05:50 PM PDT  "It's important that patients and their families have the information that they need, and they need to understand what's going on in the nursing home," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said.
|
| Saudi executions a record last year Posted: 20 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  "The death penalty is another violation which has gone in line with that trend of a real deterioration in civil and political rights," said a rights advocate.
|
| China to ease entry ban on foreigners with South Korea 'fast track' Posted: 21 Apr 2020 04:59 AM PDT  China has reached an agreement with South Korea to set up a "fast track" for businesspeople to travel between the countries as Beijing looks to ease an entry ban on foreigners imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. With the deadly disease spreading globally, China last month blocked almost all foreigners from entering as authorities fretted over cases being imported from abroad. Beijing is also in talks with other countries including Singapore to set up a similar channel to stabilise economic cooperation and ensure supply chains run smoothly, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing Tuesday.
|
| New Zealand could pull off bold goal of eliminating virus Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:54 PM PDT  While most countries are working on ways to contain the coronavirus, New Zealand has set itself a much more ambitious goal: eliminating it altogether. The virus "doesn't have superpowers," said Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at the University of Auckland. If any place could be described as socially distant it would be New Zealand, surrounded by stormy seas, with Antarctica to the south.
|
| California governor says 'politics and frustration' aren't enough to have him modify stay-at-home order Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:50 PM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) isn't bowing to pressure to ease a statewide stay-at-home order he put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus.Newsom said Monday he won't modify the order until there is adequate COVID-19 testing and the threat to public health abates, the Los Angeles Times reports. A handful of protests have popped up across the state, with demonstrators saying they want businesses to reopen despite the virus still spreading, and officials from San Luis Obispo County have asked to "begin a science-based, thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.""If we're ultimately going to come back economically, the worst mistake we can make is making a precipitous decision based on politics and frustration that puts people's lives at risk and ultimately sets back the cause of economic growth and economic recovery," Newsom said. Singapore relaxed its restrictions and is now facing a second wave of infections, Newsom cautioned, and that could happen in California. "The virus knows no jurisdiction, knows no boundaries," he said.Last week, Newsom said six things must happen before he will even consider easing his stay-at-home mandate, including the development of therapeutics and an increase in the number of hospital beds. "None of these local health directives can go further, or rather, go farther backward than the state guidance," Newsom said Monday. His administration will work with local officials, he added, to ensure that their decisions are all "health-based. ... Health first, science, and data. Everything else follows from that."More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Gretchen Whitmer's pandemic competence is a mirage Hospitals are seeing heart attack and other emergency patients drop off over coronavirus fears
|
| Coronavirus: Governors ask Trump to call off lockdown protests Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:54 PM PDT  One governor says it would be "incredibly appreciated" if the White House helped rein in protesters.
|
| Mike Bloomberg spent over $1 billion running for president — that's $23 million for each delegate he won Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:32 PM PDT  Monday's FEC filings showed Bloomberg's short-lived campaign ended up spending $1,047,623,103 of his own money.
|
| Mexico enters most serious 'Phase 3' spread of coronavirus epidemic Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:52 AM PDT  Mexico has entered what the government calls "Phase 3" of the spread of the new coronavirus, the most serious stage, as transmission of the virus is intensifying, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday. Mexico has registered 712 coronavirus deaths and 8,772 infections, with 511 new cases reported on Monday. Lopez-Gatell on Thursday said the government's "Sentinel Surveillance" mathematical model estimated there were 55,951 cases across the country.
|
| Under cover of pandemic, China arrests protest leaders Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:22 PM PDT  Fifteen of Hong Kong's highest-profile opposition figures linked to the 2019 pro-democracy protests were arrested.
|
| U.S. crude oil futures for May plummet to minus $37 — lowest price in history Posted: 20 Apr 2020 12:47 PM PDT  With demand at near-paralysis, oil and fuel tanks around the world are close to brimming.
|
| Nobody’s Expecting North Korea to Implode Without Kim Jong Un Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:30 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Reports of a health scare for Kim Jong Un are prompting North Korea watchers to envision the country without him: And the general consensus is that not much may change in how the regime deals with the outside world.While any sudden leadership change in a dictatorship as opaque as North Korea always has the potential for unintended consequences, the 36-year-old leader had consolidated power since taking over from his father in 2011. That has appeared to leave "no real advocates" for a Chinese-style opening of the North Korean economy or a change of approach with the U.S. on nuclear weapons, according to Robert Kelly, a professor at Pusan National University."I would be surprised if you didn't have another hardliner who more or less kept North Korea as it is, so I'm not sure that North Korea would suddenly implode," said Kelly, who writes extensively about the country from South Korea. "We need to kind of accept that North Korea is reasonably stable and will be with us for awhile."As usual with North Korea, it was near impossible to tell what was happening on Tuesday. U.S. officials said Kim was in critical condition after undergoing cardiovascular surgery last week, while South Korea's presidential office said that Kim was conducting "normal activities" in a rural part of the country and no unusual military movements were detected.If Kim were to be debilitated, the biggest immediate question mark surrounds succession. Given that North Korea has been ruled by one family since it was constituted after World War II, it's nearly a given that the next leader would come from within the dynasty.Kim has purged scores of senior officials since taking office, including his own uncle. In 2017, his half-brother Kim Jong Nam was killed with a chemical weapon at an airport in Malaysia, removing one of his last remaining rivals for power in the bloodline.While North Korea's patriarchal leadership structure is dominated by males, the most prolific family member is his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong. She served as his envoy to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, became the first member of the immediate ruling family to visit Seoul and was also by his side during Kim's summits in Vietnam and Singapore with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has touted his friendship with the North Korean leader even while pushing him to give up his nuclear weapons for sanctions relief.The two other prominent male members of the Kim family -- Kim Jong Chol, the current leader's older brother; and Kim Han Sol, the son of the murdered half-brother -- lack strong political support within the ruling party. There's also the possibility that Kim has a son through a previous relationship: South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper reported in 2017, citing a parliamentary committee, that the country's spy agency learned he had a son born in 2010."It is the outside world's wishful thinking that North Korea's ruling system will collapse if another Kim passes away," said Cheong Seong-chang, director at the Sejong Institute's Center for North Korean Studies. "With the broader leadership of the regime sharing the same interests with the Kim family, a prolonged leadership vacuum is highly unlikely."Survival has been a running theme in North Korea's dealings with the U.S. over the years, with the regime citing the American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a reason it needed to acquire nuclear weapons. Kim has doubled down on that effort since taking office, testing an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in the face of threats from Trump to unleash "fire and fury" in addition to imposing stifling economic sanctions.Trump MeetingsThe escalation from Kim won him a series of face-to-face meetings with Trump, a first for a North Korean leader. And while the sanctions remain in place, Kim has since continued to build up the country's weapons as he pushes for North Korea to become accepted by the world as a nuclear-weapons state -- a stance that is unlikely to change if his sister or someone similar takes charge."There is little reason to expect change to North Korea's nuclear posture if Kim Jong Un is incapacitated," said Miha Hribernik, head of Asia risk analysis at consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft. "The country's nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals are its only guarantee against foreign military intervention. Kim's potential successor is unlikely to give up this trump card lightly."Trump, who is facing an election later this year, of late has shown little interest in stepping up pressure on North Korea. Last month, he wrote to Kim offering assistance to fight the virus, a letter that prompted a public response from his sister.Resilient SystemAs a heavy smoker -- and with a pandemic ravaging the world -- it wouldn't be particularly surprising to many analysts if something were to suddenly happen to Kim. But it's also true that very few people know for sure about Kim's health.When his grandfather Kim Il Sung died in 1994, the state kept his death a secret for almost two days to make arrangements for succession. Similarly in 2011, the death of his father Kim Jong Il was announced two days later unbeknown to the outside world, Thae Yong Ho, a former No. 2 at North Korea's U.K. embassy who defected to South Korea in 2016, wrote in his book.The succession process after the deaths of those two leaders show that a sudden demise for Kim was unlikely to change North Korea's political system, according to Kwon Eun-min, a lawyer with Kim & Chang, one of South Korea's most prominent law firms."Everyone worried that absence of the two leaders who had a strong grip on power to result in a rapid change of the power there," said Kwon, who has led a study on unification and North Korean laws. "But North Korea's capabilities of internal checks proved to be stronger than the outside world had imagined."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.
|
| 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.
|
| 35 Ways to Use Overripe Bananas That Aren't Banana Bread Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:55 AM PDT |
| Can parents still share custody during the pandemic? Posted: 21 Apr 2020 02:59 AM PDT  Three months ago, my ex-husband and I had a (particularly ridiculous, with hindsight) fallout over our children's socks. Yes, socks. I buy them, he loses them. I was sick of sending our kids to him in matching pairs and then getting them back in mismatched ones, or without any socks at all. I nearly accused him of stockpiling socks under his bed as some sort of delayed revenge for me ending our relationship, but I resisted. What can I say — co-parenting with an ex can drive you to some crazy thoughts.Of course, with the coronavirus pandemic raging, socks are the least of my worries right now. What matters to me most is keeping my kids healthy — physically, mentally, and emotionally. Which is why, in the face of enormous uncertainty and widespread confusion and fear, my ex and I have decided to continue with our existing co-parenting plan: The children spend four nights a week with me and three with their dad. This might seem to COVID-19 purists to be a breach of strict stay-at-home orders, but many experts (and fellow parents) agree that for kids already splitting their time between parents, sticking with the co-parenting schedule is the right thing to do."Keeping your parenting schedule at this time is critical," says licensed clinical psychologist and parenting evaluator Melanie English, Ph.D. "Routine and structure with school, friends, sports, and extracurricular activities has been halted. ... Children need the consistency and that will help them feel like part of their world is still safe and in control."One crucial qualifier in our coronavirus co-parenting arrangement: It is subject to change if any of us developed COVID-19 symptoms. So if I were to get sick while the kids were with me, for example, we'd all isolate in my home for at least 14 days. Of course, we're vigilant about social distancing and hygiene measures. The kids don't take anything between the two homes apart from the clothes on their backs and one device each. When they get back from their dad's place, their shoes go in a box at the door, their clothes go straight into the washing machine, and they wash their hands before they touch anything — door handles, their baby sister, me.Basically, we're following the rules while still letting our kids spend their usual amount of time with both parents. And there really wasn't much discussion about it. I know other parents are doing things a little differently. Some are keeping the kids with their primary carer and facilitating contact with the other parent through phone calls and FaceTime. But this just didn't feel right to us. We have something very close to a 50/50 arrangement, and I don't feel I have the right to call the shots just because I'm the mother. Even if I do buy all the socks.There's also the kids' emotional needs to consider. How might they respond to having their time with one parent suddenly limited? "When a young child doesn't see one parent for an extended period of time, they can develop feelings of abandonment or even develop pathological attachment styles that they carry into their adult relationships," says board certified psychiatrist Margaret Seide, MD.This could manifest into an avoidant attachment style, where a grown child is reluctant to get close to other people for fear of being abandoned. Or they may go the opposite way, taking on a heightened sense of attachment or an anxious attachment style."Young kids may interpret the absence of a parent as something that is their fault and believe that their behavior is somehow responsible for the lack of contact," Dr. Seide says. "That's why it's so important to maintain a level of normalcy, even under these dire circumstances."If you're finding co-parenting difficult right now, Dr. Seide has some suggestions. First of all, consistency is key. To maintain it, lay the ground rules early and make sure your co-parent understands them. "This should be based on safety and the emotional needs of your child," she says. "Make sure your framework limits the amount of transfers and minimize exposure to the virus, while maintaining the closest level of normalcy possible."It's also important to come to an agreement on how to discuss world events with your kids to avoid adding to their confusion during an already unsettling time. "If one parent tends to be sheltering the child from information and says 'everything is okay' and the other is constantly watching COVID-19 news with the child in the background, that's not ideal," Dr. Seide days. "Adults should agree on what their child is exposed to and how they are going to explain to them what is going on in an age-appropriate way."I'm not going to lie: While our kids' safety and well-being are our first priority in all this, I have also benefited from our decision to stick with our regular co-parenting plan. I can keep working my usual 40-plus hour weeks when I don't have a house full of kids 24/7. Yes, of course I miss my kids every second they're away. But having a break from them lets me get my work done and take some time for myself to recharge.That may sound selfish, but Dr. Seide agrees that safely splitting time between parents isn't only good for the child's well-being. "It's important for the parent's welfare," she says. "If one parent is the primary caregiver who is facilitating home-schooling, preparing meals, etc., they may need a break from childcare for their own emotional health."For more practical advice on co-parenting during lockdown, Dr. English recommends reading the recent guidelines prepared by the Association of Family and Conciliation Court and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.Most importantly, don't beat yourself up if co-parenting isn't going as smoothly as you'd like right now. "With or without a pandemic, sometimes there are problems or issues that impact co-parenting, and your ex-partner may not be your favorite person," Dr. English says. Just try to keep things as consistent as possible, and remember: This won't last forever.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Gretchen Whitmer's pandemic competence is a mirage Hospitals are seeing heart attack and other emergency patients drop off over coronavirus fears
|
| Italy's number of active coronavirus cases has fallen for the first time, 2 months after its devastating outbreak began Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:52 AM PDT  Italy, which became one of the world's worst-affected countries, has finally seen a drop in the number of active coronavirus cases.
|
| Senators propose a $500 billion rescue package Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:04 PM PDT  A U.S. Senate Republican and a Democrat proposed a $500 billion rescue package for state and municipal governments on Monday, as it became increasingly clear that the next coronavirus relief bill would not include money for reeling local authorities.
|
| Turkey's Erdogan accuses Syrian government of violating Idlib ceasefire Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:10 AM PDT  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the Syrian government was violating a ceasefire in the northwestern Idlib region, warning that Damascus would suffer "heavy losses" if it persisted. Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria's war, agreed on March 5 to halt hostilities in northwestern Syria after an escalation of clashes there displaced nearly a million people and brought the two sides close to confrontation. Speaking in Istanbul after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said the Syrian government was using the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to ramp up violence in Idlib, and added that Turkey would not allow any "dark groups" in the region to violate the ceasefire either.
|
| Peru has second highest coronavirus cases in Latin America Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:16 AM PDT  Peru has reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus as the disease continues to ravage the economy of the world's second highest copper producer.
|
| UAW Endorses Biden Reopening Plan After Trump’s Task Force Snub Posted: 20 Apr 2020 12:45 PM PDT |
| Records: Man charged in Aniah Blanchard's death bit officer Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:49 PM PDT  An Alabama man accused of kidnapping and killing the stepdaughter of a UFC fighter has also been charged with biting a correctional officer while in jail, authorities said. Ibraheem Yazeed, 30, was charged with second-degree assault in connection with a March 23 incident at the Lee County Detention Center, news outlets reported Monday. Court records said three officers were taking Yazeed back to his cell when Yazeed became hostile and refused to enter.
|
| Russia’s Fatalism Has Fatal Consequences Against COVID-19 Posted: 20 Apr 2020 03:19 AM PDT  MOSCOW—When Russian President Vladimir Putin finally decided to admit at the end of last month that this country had not been spared the wave of disease sweeping over its Chinese and European neighbors, and called on Russians to take seriously the threat he had ignored, he asked them "not to rely on our good old Russian avos'."Coronavirus Could Turn All of Russia Into a Digital GulagThat's an interesting word with a "colossal role" in culture, according to the scholar Anna Wierzbicka in her classic study of expressions almost impossible to translate. Basically, it is an attitude that "life is unpredictable and uncontrollable, and one shouldn't overestimate the powers of reason, logic, or rational action," she says: "The best one can do is to count on luck." But if Putin seriously wanted Russians to dispense with avos' in the face of this deadly pandemic, that, too, was wishful thinking. Indeed, one might wonder if he was trusting in luck himself the day he visited a hospital filled with coronavirus patients last month and conspicuously shook hands with the director, who subsequently came down with the disease.In any case, what we see on the streets of Russian cities today, especially outside Moscow, is fatalism with potentially fatal consequences. In spite of hundreds of detentions—and fines for violating the self-isolation regime that even Muscovites consider huge—the metro is full of people and kiosks continue to sell fast food. Muscovite Tatiana Dubrovina, an activist at the Sakharov Center, walked to a bank in the Oktyabr Pole district of Moscow's downtown on Friday. "It looked like a parallel world. KFC sold food from a window, a cafe was open next door, people walked by, as if there were no coronavirus epidemic," Dubrovina told The Daily Beast. As of Monday morning, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, there have been 42,853 confirmed cases nationwide, with 361 deaths, but many people think even those counts are low.Giant crowds waited in the metro and outside factory checkpoints for security to check their documents or temperatures last week. Emergency or not, many managers stuck to bureaucratic procedures while ignoring rules for social distancing, perhaps thinking the situation is simply out of their hands.Generations of Russian poets and novelists have written about our blend of carelessness and fatalism in the face of a devastating crisis. Leo Tolstoy, for instance, saw these attitudes rooted in the wisdom of the people, who share a deep belief that life is like a river that cannot be resisted and demands to be accepted for what it is. A philosopher peasant in Tolstoy's War and Peace, Platon Karatayev, teaches noble Pierre Bezukhov to live "not by our mind, but by God's judgment."One of today's popular writers and poets, Dmitry Bykov, says fatalism is just as appealing to Russians now as to those who came before: "One person's role is absolutely meaningless here," Bykov said recently on Radio Echo of Moscow. "History takes its predestined, cyclical course and a man cannot stop that cycle, at least for now. Maybe plans and projects make sense somewhere in the world. They don't mean anything in Russia where we make a plan in order to just step away from it later. It is interesting, I see it as a peculiar challenge."A 57-year-old factory worker in the small town of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, was waiting in line outside the Lukoil refinery's checkpoint on Thursday. Like many of the people there, he wore no mask. "They do not have them at our pharmacies," he told The Daily Beast. So, he reasoned, why bother?Thus far there are 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kstovo, a town with a population of 67,623 near the Volga river. "Our guys don't worry about the Chinese virus," he said, "Our bodies are well sterilized—we are more worried about losing a job here. Lukoil is the best employer in town." The Bolshoi Theater closed down for quarantine in mid-March but more than 100 of its artists continued to work and organize the "We Are Together" concert that was aired on the Rossiya 1 TV channel on April 11. When COVID-19 test results arrived, it turned out that 34 theater employees had the virus. Back on March 18, Putin said of the COVID-19 epidemic, "Thank God, we have everything under control, in general." By that time Italy, Iran, Spain, and China had reported thousands of dead. But the Russian military continued to rehearse for the annual Victory Day parade, a huge affair marking the defeat of Nazi Germany 75 years ago.The training was canceled only last week. On Monday, a report by a Russian state news agency, TASS, said that all the Russian soldiers who had previously rehearsed for the parade are now in quarantine. All the military equipment involved, and the trains that carried the troops, are now being disinfected. How many of the soldiers contracted the disease is not yet known.Through much of the 19th century, fatalists were lionized in Russian literature. Grigory Pechorin, an adventurous young officer in Mikhail Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time is one of the best known examples. Expelled from St. Petersburg for taking part in a duel, Pechorin goes to battlefields in the Caucasus where he courts death but soon grows bored with bullets whistling by.Irina Yukhnova, a professor of philological science, studied the phenomenon of fatalism in Lermontov's novel. "Pechorin is a pure fatalist, he believes he is in the hands of destiny," Yukhnova told The Daily Beast. "But what was considered courageous at war did not help during a pandemic," she noted. Lermontov, the author, was brought up by his grandmother, who, perhaps saving the young man's life, was a strong believer in isolation during epidemics. As a teenager, Lermontov survived a devastating cholera pandemic that killed more than 190,000 people in Russia. Moscow schools closed in the fall of 1830. Ugly gossip crawled from house to house and mobs beat Polish residents on the streets, blaming foreigners for poisoning the water in the city. But Lermontov's grandmother made plans to save her family, not letting fate play its course; she stocked up on food and locked the gate of the family residence to wait out the devastating epidemic. It was during this same cholera epidemic in 1830 that the poet Alexander Pushkin traveled to the provinces on business. He wanted to sell his family's property in Boldino, east of Moscow. Pushkin planned to spend just a month away from his gorgeous fiancée, Natalya Goncharova, but the murderous spread of cholera grounded the poet for three months.Those turned out to be the most prolific months in the Pushkin's life. He wrote a poetic masterpiece every couple of days, completed most of his novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, and started and finished a series of plays including A Feast in Time of Plague. In his poems, he clearly understood the danger, describing this scene of a distraught lover at a funeral: "Watch, but watch you from afar off / When they bear her corpse away!"Yukhnova says the poet was restless that fall, and in fact tried to break quarantine several times. "Pushkin tried to escape from Boldino, but every time he was stopped at checkpoints and turned back."Russian poets and literary critics have been organizing "Boldino Readings" in Pushkin's house for the last 50 years, in memory of those fruitful months when Pushkin was quarantined. Victor Shenderovich, a satirist and playwright, suggests that recalling the work of writers—their moods, their perceptions—during past epidemics may help during the present one.Pushkin wrote to his friend: "Hey, look, melancholy is worse than cholera; one kills just the body, the other kills the soul… The cholera will end any day. If we stay alive, we'll be happy again sometime."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.
|
| Trump says US investigating whether coronavirus spread after China lab mishap but cites no evidence Posted: 20 Apr 2020 01:26 AM PDT  Trump said U.S. officials are investigating whether the coronavirus began spreading after an accident at a Chinese lab. He did not offer evidence.
|
| Richard Branson is offering up his private island as collateral in order to save Virgin Atlantic from collapse Posted: 20 Apr 2020 09:43 PM PDT  Branson's Virgin Australia airline announced bankruptcy on Tuesday. Another Virgin-backed UK airline, Flybe, went bankrupt last month.
|
| Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee are already about to let businesses reopen Posted: 20 Apr 2020 02:26 PM PDT  Southern states are rushing to get back to business against the advice of medical experts and the federal government.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) announced Monday that he'd allow some types of shut-down businesses to reopen by next week. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) topped that by saying some businesses could even reopen this Monday at 5 p.m., and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) finished by saying the state's stay-at-home mandate would run out for good at the end of April.Hair salons, barbers, gyms, and similar businesses will be allowed to reopen Friday in Georgia, Kemp said Monday. Restaurants and theaters will also get to reopen next Monday under social distancing guidelines, though bars and performance venues will stay closed, Kemp said. Lee said some Tennessee businesses will get to reopen by next Monday, and nearly every business will get to do so on May 1.> NEW: "@GovBillLee announces the stay-at-home mandate will EXPIRE April 30th, with most businesses allowed to open May 1st" pic.twitter.com/zqqMJqOTTU> > — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 20, 2020McMaster went further, saying a variety of retail stores in South Carolina could reopen at 5 p.m. today if they operated at 20 percent capacity or less. Like Florida, McMaster also lifted closures of beaches, public piers, and docks.> South Carolina governor begins reopening of certain beaches and businesses some as early as today. pic.twitter.com/QJe8KtuPwz> > — Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) April 20, 2020The White House issued guidance last week listing what criteria states would have to meet before they were allowed to begin a phased reopening of businesses. None of these states have met those case and hospitalization thresholds yet. More stories from theweek.com What do animals think? Gretchen Whitmer's pandemic competence is a mirage Hospitals are seeing heart attack and other emergency patients drop off over coronavirus fears
|
| Deported from U.S., man infects 14 migrants with coronavirus in northern Mexico Posted: 20 Apr 2020 10:16 AM PDT |
| As Latinos lose jobs, remittances to their relatives in Latin America dry up Posted: 20 Apr 2020 07:38 AM PDT  "I couldn't even pay rent this month," a Miami resident from Guatemala said, "and we need to keep a little bit of reserves so we can eat."
|
| In Surprise, Air Force Picks Raytheon to Build New Cruise Missile Posted: 21 Apr 2020 06:12 AM PDT  The service wasn't expected to choose a final contractor for the Long Range Stand Off weapon until fiscal 2022.
|
| US zeroes in on shadowy Lebanese playmaker in Iraq Posted: 20 Apr 2020 08:56 PM PDT  Months after the United States killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, it has offered millions for any details on the mysterious man filling his boots -- Hezbollah power-broker Muhammad Kawtharani. Washington charged last week that Kawtharani had "taken over some of the political coordination of Iran-aligned paramilitary groups" formerly organised by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani. In fact, when a US drone strike in January killed Soleimani and others in a small convoy outside the Baghdad airport, the little-known but powerful official from Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement was initially rumoured to have died alongside him.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment