| Flight attendants see a very different future for airplane travel in the age of coronavirus Posted: 09 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  "Recognize that there are going to be social distancing practices at the airport. So there's no running to the gate at the last minute," said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in an interview with Yahoo News.
|
| Biden's lead over Trump widens – but strain on his virtual campaign grows Posted: 09 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Coronavirus has robbed the Democrat of his typical back-slapping approach as he faces growing scrutiny and a third-party challengeThe Tampa, Florida, rally for Joe Biden on Thursday evening began as it normally might have, before a once-in-a-century pandemic transformed all aspects of American life, including the presidential campaign. A local high school student recited the pledge of allegiance, a campaign organizer pleaded with supporters to volunteer and a local DJ spun R&B music between speakers.But in a sign of how profoundly the coronavirus crisis has reshaped American politics, that was where the similarities ended.With much of the US still in lockdown, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has been forced to take his campaign to unseat Donald Trump online. It has not always been easy.His campaign's first attempt to recreate a traditional rally – part of a virtual swing through the battleground state of Florida – was later described by his opponents as an "unmitigated technological failure". The video stream was glitchy and pixelated. The audio was choppy, rendering some remarks nearly incomprehensible. And there were lengthy delays between speakers and at one point, the feed went dark for several minutes."Am I on?" asked Biden, beaming into the telecast from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he has been isolated since the middle of March. An off-camera voice replied that he was. Biden removed a pair of aviator sunglasses as he walked toward the camera."Good evening, Tampa. Thanks so much for tuning in," he continued, a hint of irritation in his voice. "I wish we could have done this together – and it had gone a little more smoothly."For nearly two months, Biden has been the test subject in a novel political experiment: running for president in the age of Covid-19.Social distancing restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus have already starved the campaign of a victory tour to mark his ascent to the Democratic nomination. It may well deny Democrats the chance to formally nominate him in person at the party's national convention this summer. Endorsements from former rivals and party leaders occur online to varying degrees of fanfare. . The remote set-up, anathema to Biden's back-slapping, glad-handing approach to politics, has left the candidate walled off from voters and competing for visibility.Yet, technical difficulties aside, his campaign of confinement seems to be working.In recent weeks, Biden has widened his lead over Trump as the president's support slips amid growing disapproval of his response to the pandemic. Surveys from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona – key battlegrounds that Trump won in 2016 – show Biden ahead. At a recent virtual fundraiser last week, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, his new campaign manager, expressed optimism about Biden's prospects in Florida and Arizona."The natural state of this race is to be a referendum on Donald Trump and every time Donald Trump steps to the microphone he hurts himself," said Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic pollster. "That's a pretty good position for Joe Biden to be in."Biden initially struggled to adapt to his cloistered reality. In March, the campaign turned a recreation room in the basement of his home into a studio, though not fast enough for his critics, who launched a "Where's Joe" campaign to mark the candidate's relative disappearance from the national stage.But since then, Biden has been busy. Nearly every day he makes appearances on local TV news channels or national talkshows. He launched a podcast, where he has hosted conversations with prominent Democratic governors and potential vice-presidential candidates. He spends time each day speaking with a voter – a frontline worker, campaign volunteers – and he participated in what the campaign billed as a "virtual rope line"."So what's up?" he said to Ashley Ruiz of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one of several voters on the rope line. "Tell me about your situation, Ash."•••Biden's rise in the polls comes as he contends with an allegation from Tara Reade, a former aide in his Senate office who accused him of sexual assault in 1993. In an interview this week with Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News and NBC television host, Reade said he should withdraw from the presidential race.Biden has forcefully denied the allegation. "It's not true, I am saying unequivocally. It never, never happened," he said last week, in an interview addressing her claim for the first time publicly.Publicly, Democrats, including prominent MeToo advocates, have rallied around Biden, though privately some in the party have expressed concern about the continuous drip of reporting on the matter.So far the allegation appears to have marginally dented his reputation, but not his lead. Most voters – 86% – are aware of the allegation, according to a Monmouth poll, which found the electorate divided over whether they viewed the claim as credible. At the same time, the poll showed Biden nine points ahead of Trump.Despite Trump's falling electoral fortunes, many Democrats remain anxious about Biden's position – and his strategy.David Axelrod and David Plouffe, two of Barack Obama's top campaign strategists, implored Biden's campaign to expand its digital footprint in a joint New York Times op-ed that compared the atmospherics of the candidate's home videos to "an astronaut beaming back to earth from the International Space Station"."Online speeches from his basement won't cut it," they wrote.Lis Smith, the former top adviser to Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, followed with an op-ed on Thursday that offered a blueprint for turning Biden into the "hottest bad boy and disrupter in the media game". She suggested his campaign use TV appearances and digital content to highlight Biden's empathy, a trait even supporters say the president has lacked in response to the rising coronavirus death toll.Part of the campaign's evolving digital strategy includes partnering with groups that already have an online presence, like JoeMamas2020, a national coalition of "moms, caregivers, moms to be, aunts & all the parental figures in between" with about 27,000 Facebook and 1,200 Twitter followers. The group has helped amplify Biden's appearances and policy proposals while spreading the word about upcoming events.Julie Zebrak, the group's co-founder, said the online army is growing with women energized to help elect a candidate who would end the Twitter presidency."We are all extremely enthusiastic for Joe Biden to beat Donald Trump," she said.Yet the same traits that endear Biden to a growing coalition of suburban women and Never Trump Republicans have largely failed to excite younger, progressive voters. It's not that they prefer Trump – they don't – but a lack of enthusiasm among those voters could spell trouble in November if they stay home or vote for a third-party candidate.The campaign has also ramped up its outreach to young people, who overwhelmingly supported Biden's rival Bernie Sanders. On Friday, Biden presented his economic pitch in an appearance on NowThis, a social-media-heavy news outlet with a young, progressive audience."This crisis hit harder and will last longer because Donald Trump spent the last three years undermining the core pillars of our economic strength," Biden said in remarks that attacked Trump's stimulus efforts a kind of "cronyism" and corporate welfare. Before he began speaking, Biden removed a face mask, a pointed rebuke of the president who had refused to wear one.Still, new research conducted on behalf of NextGen America found many young people weren't convinced Biden's policies meet the scale of the challenges bearing down on their generation.This makes the efforts of groups like Progressive Turnout Project, which endorsed him this week, all the more important. In the coming months, the group is investing more than $52m to turn out low-propensity Democratic voters – including young people and people of color – in 17 key battleground states."The best thing we can do is go and knock on doors and have face-to-face conversations with voters," said Alex Morgan, the group's executive director. "We are still looking to do that. But it'll be knocking on that door and then taking a few big steps back and having a more distant conversation."•••Biden's campaign also faces another looming threat. The Michigan congressman Justin Amash, who left the Republican party last year after voting to impeach Trump, recently announced that he would seek the Libertarian party nomination.His entrance has alarmed Democrats, who fear he could siphon off Never Trump voters who might otherwise back Biden, particularly in Amash's home state of Michigan, where third-party candidates pulled away a combined 5% of the vote share in 2016. Hillary Clinton lost the state by just 10,704 votes, less than 0.25%.Many Democrats believe Biden's fate may well rest on his ability to persuade their own side to vote."Trump has shown no desire or ability to moderate for those swing voters in this election," said Addisu Demissie, who served as Cory Booker's presidential campaign manager. "So those voters are now likely going to end up either Biden voters or non-voters or third-party voters, and that's the competition."This week, Trump traveled to the battleground state of Arizona, where he toured a medical mask facility without wearing one himself. The visit was a symbolic show of his administration's push to reopen the US economy but there were unmistakable elements of his signature campaign rallies, including the music that played when Trump finished his remarks (the Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want).Trump's cross-country venture stood in striking contrast to Biden's virtual swing through Florida – which included a rally, a roundtable in Jacksonville and an appearance on the local news in Tampa. The technical glitches only further highlighted the limitations of his confinement.But the coronavirus has also upended Trump's strategy, erasing the booming economy he has made a centerpiece of his re-election campaign. In recent weeks, his campaign has all but abandoned championing the president's leadership, instead focusing its efforts on diminishing Biden.Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, previewed the onslaught on Twitter this week, comparing the Trump re-election juggernaut to the Death Star from the Star Wars movies. "In a few days we start pressing FIRE for the first time," he wrote.As Trump prepares to make even greater use of the advantages of incumbency, Biden faces his biggest test yet. Can he really lead a Rebel Alliance from his basement?
|
| 'Every parent's nightmare': New York is investigating the death of a 5-year-old child from an illness linked to the coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 01:16 PM PDT  "Caution to all people who again may have believed that their child couldn't be affected by COVID," Cuomo said.
|
| Coronavirus: Chinese official admits health system weaknesses Posted: 09 May 2020 08:02 AM PDT  China says it will improve public health systems after criticism of its early response to the virus.
|
| DNA samples lead to arrest in 1987 murder of 17-year-old Ohio girl: 'Great to see justice' Posted: 07 May 2020 01:28 PM PDT  Using DNA to track down 67-year-old James E. Zastawnik, police made an arrest in the 1987 murder of an Ohio girl.
|
| Iran's president says an end to United Nations arms embargo is a 'right' Posted: 07 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  The Iranian president said Wednesday that lifting a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran would be an "obvious right" and added a veiled warning of unspecified steps Iran could take if the embargo is extended, as the United States wants.
|
| Plastic shields in place, Dutch schools to reopen amid coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 08:15 AM PDT  At the Springplank school in the Dutch city of Den Bosch, staff have installed plastic shields around students' desks and disinfectant gel dispensers at the doorways as part of preparations to reopen amid the country's coronavirus outbreak. New infections in the Netherlands have been declining for weeks, and the government on Wednesday announced a schedule to relax some of its lockdown measures, with elementary schools to reopen on May 11. "Our teachers are not worried," said Rascha van der Sluijs, the school's technical coordinator.
|
| James Clapper Said He ‘Never Saw Direct Empirical Evidence’ of Trump-Russia Collusion in FBI Interview Posted: 07 May 2020 04:05 PM PDT  Former director of national intelligence James Clapper in 2018 said that he hadn't seen evidence that the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 general election.Clapper was responding to a query from then-representative Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, during an interview before the House Intelligence Committee. The transcript of the interview was released on Thursday."I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting [or] conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election," Clapper said."That's not to say that there weren't concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence…[redacted]," Clapper added. "But I do not recall any instance when I had direct evidence of the content of these meetings. It's just the frequency and prevalence of them was of concern."Rooney then asked Clapper, "At what time is collusion collusion, and at what time is it just people that may have an affiliation with the campaign meeting or talking with… the Russian ambassador or somebody that's of Russian origin, and when should that be taken as something that rises to the level of an Intelligence Community concern?""I really can't answer it other than the sort of visceral reaction to why all these meetings with the Russians," Clapper responded. Clapper admitted that it would be "legitimate" for incoming Trump administration officials to meet with representatives of Russia, "but I think there is a line…between that and violating the principle that in this country we traditionally have one President and one administration at a time."The interview was part of a set of 53 transcripts of interviews held by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the Russia investigation. Current committee chairman Adam Schiff had called for the release of the transcripts in 2018.However, after 43 transcripts had been reviewed and redacted by intelligence agencies as of June 2019, Schiff refused to relase the completed transcripts to the public. Current acting DNI head Richard Grenell informed Schiff on Wednesday that all the transcripts were ready for publication.
|
| Report says cellphone data suggests October shutdown at Wuhan lab, but experts are skeptical Posted: 08 May 2020 05:12 PM PDT  U.S. and U.K. intel agencies are reviewing the private report, but intel analysts examined and couldn't confirm a similar theory previously.
|
| 3 nurses strangled in Mexico; border mayor gets coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Three sisters who worked in Mexico's government hospital system were found murdered by strangling, authorities in the northern border state of Coahuila announced Friday, stirring new alarm in a country where attacks on health care workers have occurred across the nation amid the coronavirus outbreak. Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator, but there was no immediate evidence the attack was related to their work. The National Union of Social Security Employees called the killings "outrageous and incomprehensible."
|
| Reade responds to skeptics and calls on Biden to drop out Posted: 09 May 2020 05:23 AM PDT  Reade discussed her sexual assault allegation against Biden in an interview with Megyn Kelly Thursday.
|
| Almost 12,000 meatpacking and food plant workers have reportedly contracted COVID-19. At least 48 have died. Posted: 08 May 2020 09:21 AM PDT  The infections and deaths are spread across roughly two farms and 189 meat and processed food factories.
|
| Pence aimed to project normalcy during his trip to Iowa, but coronavirus got in the way Posted: 08 May 2020 06:35 PM PDT  Vice President Pence's trip to Iowa shows how the Trump administration's aims to move past coronavirus are sometimes complicated by the virus itself.
|
| ‘A Start Towards Victory’: Gregory and Travis McMichael Charged With Murder of Ahmaud Arbery Posted: 07 May 2020 05:31 PM PDT  SAVANNAH—Gregory and Travis McMichael have been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault in connection with the February killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday. According to police, the white father and son, 64 and 34, chased Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, after he ran by Travis McMichael's home in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick on Feb. 23. He was unarmed and jogging at the time. "This is a start towards victory," Thea Brooks, Arbery's aunt, told The Daily Beast on Thursday. "This only the beginning though, but this is what we were all hoping for."The McMichaels said they believed Arbery was a burglar responsible for a series of break-ins in their neighborhood and that they pursued him in their pickup truck while armed with a shotgun and a .357 magnum. The GBI alleges the McMichaels confronted Arbery, and that Travis shot him. A local prosecutor previously indicated a third man, William Bryan, took part in the chase and filmed the incident.'It's Murder': This Shooting of an Unarmed Black Man Is Roiling GeorgiaAt least two shots hit the 25-year-old, the Glynn County Coroner's Office told The Daily Beast last week.Video that Brooks said depicted her nephew's death elicited a furious reaction nationwide, and residents of the area protested the initial failure to prosecute a case on Tuesday."It's murder. It's heartbreaking to even look at. The whole city has seen it," Brooks told The Daily Beast after the video was released this week.The Georgia NAACP echoed her words in a Thursday response to the McMichaels' arrest: "The murderers of Ahmaud Arbery have been arrested."Gregory McMichael, a former cop and investigator with a local prosecutor's office, previously told The Daily Beast he "never would have gone after someone for their color." He also said the "closest version of the truth" about the incident was captured in a letter effectively clearing him and his son that was written by a prosecutor who recused himself from the case, George Barnhill. McMichael also admitted he had no direct evidence that Arbery was a thief. "But he's the guy who's there without permission," he said from behind the closed front door of his son's home.The owner of an unfinished home just down the street from Travis McMichael's home, Larry English, told The Daily Beast earlier this week that he had surveillance footage that appeared to show Arbery stopping to look at the foundation of his still-under-construction home. While Gregory McMichael claimed to police that Arbery had been caught on surveillance video, it was not immediately clear what video he was referring to. English told The Daily Beast he had no knowledge of the McMichaels seeing his surveillance footage. McMichael's ties to law enforcement helped fuel a haze of suspicion around the killing from the beginning. Barnhill was one of two area prosecutors who looked into the incident before recusing themselves. A third prosecutor—District Attorney Tom Durden—sought a GBI probe ahead of the arrests this week.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Belarus holds Victory Day parade despite coronavirus threat Posted: 09 May 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Thousands of troops paraded before crowds of spectators in Minsk Saturday to mark 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany as Belarus held a celebration of Victory Day despite the coronavirus pandemic. Neighbouring Russia cancelled its Victory Day parade over the pandemic and Belarus was the only ex-Soviet country with reported cases to hold the annual event. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been dismissive of the pandemic and the "psychosis" around the virus, watched in military uniform with top brass as some 4,000 troops marched past and planes and helicopters flew overhead.
|
| U.S. chief justice puts hold on disclosure of Russia investigation materials Posted: 08 May 2020 08:50 AM PDT  U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday put a temporary hold on the disclosure to a Democratic-led House of Representatives committee of grand jury material redacted from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in March that the materials had to be disclosed to the House Judiciary Committee and refused to put that decision on hold. The appeals court said the materials had to be handed over by May 11 if the Supreme Court did not intervene.
|
| Meet the Ohio health expert who has a fan club — and Republicans trying to stop her Posted: 09 May 2020 02:04 AM PDT  Some Buckeyes are not comfortable being told by a "woman in power" to quarantine, one expert said.
|
| Russian volunteers search for fallen World War II soldiers Posted: 09 May 2020 12:09 AM PDT  Abayev and members of his search team rummage the steppe for remains of the Red Army soldiers who fell in the autumn of 1942 in fierce fighting with Nazi troops pushing toward the Caspian Sea south of Stalingrad. Stiff resistance by the Red Army stopped the Wehrmacht onslaught in the steppes of Kalmykia, and months later the enemy's forces were encircled in Stalingrad and surrendered, a major defeat for the Nazis that marked a turning point in World War II.
|
| Democrats’ Desperation about Tara Reade Is Growing. So Is Their Hypocrisy. Posted: 08 May 2020 12:15 PM PDT  There aren't a ton of synonyms for the word "hypocrisy." I've become aware of this problem ever since I began writing about the Tara Reade–Joe Biden situation. I keep gravitating towards phrases such as "despicable hypocrisy," or "partisan hypocrisy," or "unconscionable hypocrisy," but you can only go to the well so often. Really, though, I'm not sure how else to describe the actions of someone like Senator Dianne Feinstein.You might recall that it was Feinstein, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, who withheld Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh from the Senate so that it could not be properly vetted, in a last-ditch effort to sink the nomination.Feinstein knew that Ford's credibility was brittle -- the alleged victim could not tell us where or when the attack occurred, hadn't mentioned Kavanugh's name to anyone for over 30 years, and offered nothing approaching a contemporaneous witness.At first, Feinstein did not want to provide Ford's name, or a place or time of the alleged attack, or allow the accused to see any evidence against him, denying him the ability to answer the charges.Henceforth this brand of justice could be referred to as "The Joe Biden Standard," since it's exactly the kind of show trial the presumptive Democratic nominee promises college kids via Title IX rules.When finally asked about Reade yesterday, Feinstein responded: "And I don't know this person at all who has made the allegations. She came out of nowhere. Where has she been all these years? He was vice president."To put this in perspective, when Ford came forward "out of nowhere," Feinstein said: "Victims must be able to come forward only when they are ready."What's changed?During the Kavanaugh hearings Feinstein noted that "sharing an experience involving sexual assault — particularly when it involves a politically connected man with influence, authority and power — is extraordinarily difficult."Is Biden not a politically connected man with influence, authority, and power? Feinstein is now arguing the opposite: She is saying we should dismiss Reade's allegations because she failed to come forward against a powerful man earlier.But to answer Feinstein's question about what Reade has been "up to" the past 27 years: Well, she's been telling people that Biden had engaged in sexual misconduct. She relayed her story to her former neighbor, her brother, her former co-worker, and at least two other friends. It is also likely that her mother called Larry King Live asking for advice for her daughter the year of the alleged attack.Yesterday a document uncovered by local journalists in California -- somehow missed by Barack Obama's crack vetting team -- shows Reade's ex-husband bolstering her claim in 1996 divorce proceedings: "On several occasions [Reade] related a problem that she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden's office."The reaction to the divorce papers has been extraordinary. Biden defenders argue that because Reade alleged "sexual harassment" -- a catch-all term used in the 1990s when men were getting away with despicable behavior far more often -- it proves her story has changed. Biden, through his deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield, alleges that "more and more inconsistencies" come up every day.Even if Reade didn't tell everyone everything that allegedly happened every time she mentioned the incident, that doesn't definitively prove anything. If it did, none of us would have ever heard the name Christine Blasey Ford.Indeed, at time of Ford's evolving story, there was a slew of journalists taking deep dives into the unreliability of memory and trauma and complexities of relaying assault allegations. I assume that science hasn't changed in two years.Let's also not forget that, despite Ford's inconsistencies, Biden still argued that Kavanaugh should be presumed guilty. Why shouldn't he?It is also quite amazing to see Biden's defenders implicitly contending that Reade is only credibly claiming that she was sexually harassed for nearly 30 years, so her story must be politically motivated.Even if we concede that Reade is a wily Sanders operative or Putin stooge, what political motive could Reade possibly have had back in 1993 -- after working for Biden -- to smear the senator? What motive did she have to repeat that story to her family before Sanders was a candidate or Putin was running Russia?By the way, liberals have never argued that political motivations should be disqualifying. Ford came forward, by her own admission, because she did not believe the man who had allegedly assaulted her in high school should be given a seat on highest court in the land. Reade says she doesn't want a man who allegedly assaulted her -- when he was in his 50s -- to hold the most powerful office in the world.Feinstein, of course, isn't the only one to engage in this kind of transparent double standard. When asked about Reade, the idealist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said, "I'm not sure. Frankly, this is a messy moment, and I think we need to acknowledge that -- that it is not clear-cut."Where was all this hand-wringing and caution over the messiness of sexual-assault claims when nearly every Democrat and all their allies in the press were spreading Julie Swetnick's alleged "gang rape" piece? Nowhere.AOC, whose position on Biden has evolved, invited Ana Maria Archila, the women who had famously cornered a weak-kneed senator Jeff Flake in an elevator and yelled at him about Kavanaugh, to the 2019 State of the Union address. Archila now says, "I feel very trapped."I bet.People point out that there are numerous sexual-misconduct allegations leveled at Donald Trump. Indeed. If they haven't yet, news outlets should scrutinize and investigate the credibility of those allegations, as they did for Biden but not for Kavanaugh. But it's important to remember that Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll was given immediate and widespread coverage on cable news, while Reade reportedly wasn't asked to tell her story by any major network -- save Fox News -- until this week.Of course, most Biden defenders are being purposely obtuse about the debate -- Mona Charen's recent column is an excellent example. The problem isn't that Biden is being treated unjustly, or that he should be treated unjustly; it's that he is being treated justly by the same people who treat others unjustly. Democrats have yet to explain why Biden is afforded every benefit of the doubt but not Kavanaugh, and not millions of college students.Public figures such as Biden have every right to demand fair hearings and due process. Voters have every right to judge the credibility of both accuser and accused. Many women are victims. Many women are victims who are powerless to prove it. And some women are frauds. You can't keep demanding that our political system adjudicate similar incidents under two completely differ set of rules. It's untenable.
|
| A person was struck and killed by a Southwest plane as it landed on the runway at Austin international airport Posted: 08 May 2020 07:53 AM PDT  Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said it was "aware of an individual that was struck and killed on runway 17-R by a landing aircraft."
|
| 20,000 migrants have been expelled along border under coronavirus order Posted: 07 May 2020 05:35 PM PDT  More than 90% of the families, children and single adults that Border Patrol encountered in April were swiftly expelled under a public health order.
|
| Two arrested in Georgia as anger builds over shooting of Ahmaud Arbery Posted: 07 May 2020 05:57 PM PDT  More than two months after an unarmed black man was shot in south Georgia, protesters across America are asking why it took so long for police to investigate.
|
| India's lavish weddings go online in virus lockdown Posted: 08 May 2020 12:48 AM PDT  Under lockdown and far apart, Sushen Dang and Keerti Narang went online to say their marriage vows -- and pulled off a spectacular Indian wedding complete with thousands of guests and raucous Bollywood dancing. In a country famous for lavish weddings that last for days, the young couple are among a growing number modifying their marriage ceremonies under a virus lockdown that has limited public gatherings. Eager to go ahead with the arranged marriage on the auspicious date selected for them by a priest, the pair turned to the internet to tie the knot.
|
| Over 500 Employees at Trump’s Las Vegas Hotel Have Been Laid Off Amid Coronavirus Posted: 07 May 2020 12:09 PM PDT  Over 500 workers at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas have temporarily lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.The resort, which is part-owned by the Trump Organization, broke the news to employees last month in a letter to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation."Based on the fluid and rapidly evolving nature of this situation, however, at this time we are unable to provide a specific date at which we will be able to recommence regular hotel operations and return affected employees to work," Human Resources Director LaDawndre Stinson wrote in the letter posted to the agency's website.The April 3 letter added that because of the "sudden, dramatic, and unexpected nature of this unforeseen emergency" and the demands of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak's decision to shut down non-essential businesses amid the pandemic, the hotel would be "unable to provide employees with additional notice of these temporary layoffs." Cuomo Blasts Trump: Your Bailout Strategy Will Doom Us AllAs first reported by The Washington Post, the president's properties in New York, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Vancouver, and Honolulu have all laid-off workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has gutted the hospitality industry. To date, 1,500 employees at hotels owned by the Trump Organization have been laid off or furloughed."You can't have many hundreds of employees standing around doing nothing," Trump said at the White House on April 21, addressing job cuts. "There's no customer. You're not allowed to have a customer."During the same press conference—which took place two weeks after the Las Vegas employees learned they were out of a job—Trump expressed his support for Sisolak's decision to lock down Sin City, despite its cold reception from other elected officials and the Las Vegas mayor, who called it "total insanity.""They closed a big hotel down in Nevada that I have in Las Vegas. It's a very severe step he took. I'm OK with it," Trump said. "But you could call that one either way."Bethany Khan, the communications director for the Culinary Union in Las Vegas—which represents nearly all of the Trump employees who were laid off—told The Daily Beast on Thursday that 98 percent of their members are currently furloughed or laid off. The Culinary Union is Nevada's most powerful labor organization, representing about 60,000 hotel-casino workers.In addition to Las Vegas, more than 200 employees were laid off at the president's hotel in Vancouver, and over 75 percent of his Chicago hotel was placed on leave. "In an effort to conserve energy, most common areas...are illuminated and heated at a minimum level," the Chicago hotel told its investors in a letter, stating that the "heartbreaking decision" to lay off two-thirds of its staff also included suspending 401(k) contributions. Trump Shakes Everyone's Hands at Coronavirus Press Conference—Ignoring CDC GuidelinesAccording to the Post, the combined closed properties used to generate about $650,000 every day for the Trump Organization. The family business, which is now managed by the president's two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, racked up a property-tax bill in April of more than $1.8 million.The group reportedly reached out to the Deutsche Bank in March to ask about delaying payments on at least some of its hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and other financial obligations.According to The New York Times, a Florida-based company executive also emailed and called Palm Beach County officials to talk about whether they had planned to keep asking for payments on land the Trump Organization rents from the county for a 27-hole golf club."These days everybody is working together," Eric Trump told the Times. "Tenants are working with landlords, landlords are working with banks. The whole world is working together as we fight through this pandemic."Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which sits just blocks away from the White House, is also looking for a government break on its rent payments. On April 21, the Times also reported the hotel has asked to delay its monthly rent payments of about $268,000 a month in an effort to curtail their ongoing money troubles. The hotel is housed in the Old Post Office Building, a federally-owned property.The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Cuomo says he feels like for the first time New York is 'ahead of the virus' Posted: 08 May 2020 10:17 AM PDT  At his daily press conference on Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he feels like, for the first time, the state is "ahead" of the coronavirus because of efforts made to control the outbreak.
|
| These are the most dangerous jobs you can have in the age of coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 04:34 PM PDT  For millions of Americans, working at home isn't an option. NBC News identified seven occupations in which employees are at especially high risk of COVID-19.
|
| Hair salons will be different when they reopen: Here's what you should expect Posted: 08 May 2020 11:38 AM PDT  "Salons used to be super jumping and busy and clients on top of clients; there will be a major shift."
|
| US blocks vote on UN's bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO Posted: 08 May 2020 02:07 PM PDT  Security council had spent weeks seeking resolution but Trump administration opposed mention of organizationThe US has blocked a vote on a UN security council resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, because the Trump administration objected to an indirect reference to the World Health Organization.The security council has been wrangling for more than six weeks over the resolution, which was intended to demonstrate global support for the call for a ceasefire by the UN secretary general, António Guterres. The main source for the delay was the US refusal to endorse a resolution that urged support for the WHO's operations during the coronavirus pandemic.Donald Trump has blamed the WHO for the pandemic, claiming (without any supporting evidence) that it withheld information in the early days of the outbreak.China insisted that the resolution should include mention and endorsement of the WHO.On Thursday night, French diplomats thought they had engineered a compromise in which the resolution would mention UN "specialized health agencies" (an indirect, if clear, reference to the WHO).The Russian mission signaled that it wanted a clause calling for the lifting of sanctions that affected the delivery of medical supplies, a reference to US punitive measures imposed on Iran and Venezuela. However, most security council diplomats believed Moscow would withdraw the objection or abstain in a vote rather than risk isolation as the sole veto on the ceasefire resolution.On Thursday night, it appeared that the compromise resolution had the support of the US mission, but on Friday morning, that position switched and the US "broke silence" on the resolution, raising objection to the phrase "specialist health agencies", and blocking movement towards a vote."We understood that there was an agreement on this thing but it seems that they changed their mind," a western security council diplomat said."Obviously they have changed their mind within the American system so that wording is still not good enough for them," another diplomat close to the discussions said. "It might be that they just need a bit more time to settle it amongst themselves, or it might be that someone very high up has made a decision they don't want it, and therefore it won't happen. It is unclear at this moment, which one it is."A spokesperson for the US mission at the UN suggested that if the resolution was to mention the work of the WHO, it would have to include critical language about how China and the WHO have handled the pandemic."In our view, the council should either proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or a broadened resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed member state commitment to transparency and accountability in the context of Covid-19. Transparency and reliable data are essential to helping the world combat this ongoing pandemic, and the next one," the spokesperson said.While the force of the resolution would be primarily symbolic, it would have been symbolism at a crucial moment. Since Guterres made his call for a global ceasefire, armed factions in more than a dozen countries had observed a temporary truce. The absence of a resolution from the world's most powerful nations, however, undermines the secretary general's clout in his efforts to maintain those fragile ceasefires.Talks will continue next week at the security council to explore whether some other way around the impasse can be found.
|
| Cruz gets his hair cut at salon whose owner was jailed for defying Texas coronavirus restrictions Posted: 08 May 2020 04:28 PM PDT  After his haircut, Sen. Ted Cruz said, "It was ridiculous to see somebody sentenced to seven days in jail for cutting hair."
|
| Virginia Man Faked His Own Death in Ridiculously Elaborate Plot to Avoid Bankruptcy Posted: 07 May 2020 03:18 PM PDT  The wild plot involved faking his own death, stealing the identity of a Florida attorney, using an app to disguise his voice, and pretending to have prostate cancer, bone cancer, and a brain aneurysm.Unemployed Virginia man Russell Louis Geyer was so determined to hide his assets in bankruptcy proceedings, he even threw his own wife under the bus—duping her into handing over $70,000 and using her email address to inform an attorney he was dead. Geyer, 50, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to contempt of court, bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity fraud. He faces up to life in prison."In an effort to game the bankruptcy system, Mr. Geyer devised a made-for-TV plot that ultimately collapsed under its own weight," U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said in a statement.Minnesota Man Killed Wife, Buried Her Under Home, Then Faked Her Disappearance: Court DocsGeyer and his wife, Patricia Sue Geyer, from Saltville, filed for voluntary bankruptcy in late 2018, listing liabilities of $532,583.80, according to court documents.They were behind on payments for three of their four vehicles, for both their home and a rental property they owned, and for most of their furniture. They hadn't paid electricity bills, bank overdrafts, credit card bills, and dozens of medical bills, and more than 50 creditors were chasing them for everything from their 65-inch TV to their Kawasaki ZX1000 motorbike. At one point in the bankruptcy proceedings, Geyer told his lawyer, John Lamie, he'd gone to the Mayo Clinic in Florida to be treated for prostate cancer, but it had spread to his bones and he intended to stop treatment.Four months later, according to a criminal complaint, he told Lamie he was now in a hospice in Florida after treatment failed. He said his wife was there, too, and had undergone bypass surgery for a heart condition. She wasn't cleared to drive back to Virginia, he claimed.Then, a few days before September 5, 2019, when Geyer was due to appear in person at a bankruptcy hearing, Lamie received an email from Geyer's wife. Her husband was dead, it said. He'd apparently had a brain aneurysm in June while being transported back from Florida after his chemotherapy treatments.Around the same time, Geyer's attorney got a threatening email from an attorney in Florida who said he'd sold the assets that debtors were trying to recover in the bankruptcy case. "[Patricia] doesn't know anything about this, and neither does Russell," the email said. "I have complete control of Russell and told him to kill himself. You will not find him in time." He ended the email by saying: "I am on a plane out of the country."However, investigators later found that the Florida attorney whose name was used in the email existed but had nothing to do with the case. Geyer had simply set up a bogus email account using his name.'Please Come Get Me': Fatal Indianapolis Police Shooting May Have Aired on Facebook He even used the attorney's identity to fleece his wife, a registered nurse who earned $3,200 a month, for $70,000. Geyer told his wife he'd won a $1 million settlement in Florida in an unrelated court case but needed her to pay $70,000 in legal fees for the money to be released. He used the bogus email address and an app that disguised his voice to pose as the Florida attorney and confirm the settlement was imminent. "It was all untrue," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia said in a statement on Thursday.The plot unraveled on Sept. 4, the day before the bankruptcy hearing, when a process server visited the couple's Saltville home to give them a notice to appear.The home was empty but, just as the process server was leaving, Geyer and his wife arrived home in their car and got out—far from the Florida hospice he had claimed to be languishing in. The next day, Patricia Geyer, who said she'd largely let her husband deal with the bankruptcy case, left home to attend the court hearing about an hour after her husband. He never showed up.She told the court she had no idea about her husband's wild story. She said they hadn't been in Florida recently, she hadn't had bypass surgery, and her husband didn't have cancer. The first time she'd heard of her husband's supposed death was two days earlier, when Lamie called her to say he'd heard about Geyer's passing."A few days ago, [Lamie] called me at work," she said under cross-examination in court. "I got a message to call him. So I immediately called him and then he told me all this stuff about Russell being dead and all that. It just floored me, so I had no clue.""Where's Mr. Geyer now?" a judge asked her."I couldn't tell you, because he left the house this morning an hour, hour before me. And he was supposed to come down here and be here at 10:30, and then when I ended up here, he wasn't here. So I don't know." After that day in court, she only ever received text messages from Geyer saying he was in a hospital in West Virginia following a suicide attempt. Geyer was tracked down two weeks later and charged with criminal offenses. He underwent a psychiatric evaluation as part of the criminal case but was found to be competent to stand trial."Despite its complexity and shameless use of deceit, including against his own wife, Mr. Geyer's scheme failed to account for the FBI's and the US Attorney's office's commitment to protect both fraud victims and our judicial system," FBI Special Agent David W. Archey said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Was the coronavirus made in a Wuhan lab? Here's what the genetic evidence shows Posted: 09 May 2020 06:00 AM PDT  Despite President Trump's statements that the coronavirus was released from a laboratory in Wuhan, scientist say the evidence points to a natural origin.
|
| Idaho governor appeals to Supreme Court to stop trans inmate's surgery Posted: 08 May 2020 03:03 PM PDT  A lower court had ruled that the prisoner's gender-affirming surgery is a medical necessity, and denying it constituted a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
|
| "Snow in Central Park! In May!": Rare snowfall ties 1977 record Posted: 09 May 2020 07:37 AM PDT  Upstate New York looked like a winter wonderland Friday night.
|
| White House won't consider another stimulus bill in May -Kudlow Posted: 08 May 2020 07:58 AM PDT  The White House has halted talks with Congress over any further coronavirus stimulus package as it waits for more information about how U.S. state reopenings affect the economy, White House top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Friday. The Senate and House of Representatives have already passed four major bills to address the novel coronavirus outbreak, including three aimed at stabilizing the economy as most Americans have sheltered in place and unemployment has soared.
|
| AP FACT CHECK: Trump is not credible on virus death tolls Posted: 09 May 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Truth can be a casualty when President Donald Trump talks about deaths from the coronavirus in the United States. Pushing to get the country back to normal, Trump also suggested that children are safe from the coronavirus. Germany has done very good.
|
| Delta, citing health concerns, drops service to 10 US airports. Is yours on the list? Posted: 08 May 2020 03:41 PM PDT  Delta said it is making the move to protect employees amid the coronavirus pandemic, but planes have been flying near empty
|
| Half of Queens residents are white, but 90% of social distance arrests just this week were of people of color Posted: 08 May 2020 03:03 PM PDT  20 people were arrested for alleged social distancing violations this week in Queens, New York. Only 2 were white.
|
| Troops deployed in Indian state as coronavirus cases surge Posted: 08 May 2020 07:01 AM PDT  Hundreds of paramilitary forces have been deployed in coronavirus-hotspot Gujarat state as India on Friday faced a surge in the number of deaths and infections from the outbreak. Official data show the deadly disease is taking a growing toll in the country of 1.3 billion people even as it begins to emerge from the world's largest lockdown. India had 56,000 cases including 1,886 fatalities as of Friday, official figures showed.
|
| Mike Huckabee: No elected official who orders a lockdown should get a paycheck as long we're shut down Posted: 08 May 2020 07:47 PM PDT  Reaction from Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate.
|
| US mercenary says group plotted to seize Venezuela's presidential palace Posted: 07 May 2020 02:24 PM PDT  Airan Berry, captured by security forces, says group aimed to haul Maduro away 'however necessary'An American soldier of fortune captured during a botched attempt to seize Venezuela's leader has claimed his group had plotted to raid Nicolás Maduro's presidential palace before spiriting him away "however necessary".Airan Berry, 41, was one of two US mercenaries captured by Venezuelan security forces this week after what appears to have been a catastrophically executed attempt to topple Maduro by sneaking into the South American country in a pair of weather-beaten fishing boats.In an edited televised confession, broadcast by Venezuelan state television on Thursday, Berry claimed one of the group's key objectives was to commandeer the heavily fortified Miraflores palace in the capital, Caracas.Asked how they planned to extract Maduro from the 19th-century building, the Iraq veteran answered: "I'm not exactly sure – however necessary."Berry said the group had also planned to "secure the airstrip" at La Carlota, a military airbase at the heart of Venezuela's capital, in order to fly Maduro out of the country.The base is six miles west of the Miraflores palace and was the scene of a failed attempt to spark a military uprising against Maduro on 30 April last year.Asked where the plane would have taken Maduro, Berry, a former special forces engineer sergeant in the US army, replied: "I assume that it is the United States."Berry's declarations were broadcast one day after a similar video featuring the group's other North American member, Luke Denman.Denman, 34, told his interrogators his mission had been to apprehend Maduro and take him to the US. "I thought I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country," he said.There was no sign any lawyers were present during either alleged confession, or that the men were not speaking under duress.In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ephraim Mattos, a former Navy Seal who knows Denman, said the former special forces soldier appeared to signal he was speaking under duress by moving his eyes while talking about Donald Trump's supposed involvement in the planned attack."He looks off screen real quick," Mattos told the newspaper. "That's him clearly signaling that he's lying. It's something that special forces guys are trained to do."Berry named two other highly sensitive targets in his statement: the installations of Venezuela's military counter-intelligence service, DGCIM, and the Bolivarian national intelligence service, Sebin.Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since the death of his mentor, Hugo Chávez, in 2013, has led the country into a devastating economic collapse, with millions of citizens fleeing overseas during his presidency.On Tuesday he portrayed the botched incursion as a 21st-century version of the failed US invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and alleged the mercenaries had been working for Trump.The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, raised eyebrows this week by denying "direct" involvement in the plot.The Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has also been linked to the conspiracy, has denied currently being involved with the US-based private security firm that employed Berry and Denman. But his spokespeople have declined to say whether they previously did have such connections.
|
| He Had Never Sold a Ventilator. New York Gave Him an $86 Million Deal. Posted: 09 May 2020 07:35 AM PDT  NEW YORK -- The offer to the Federal Emergency Management Agency sounded promising: A Silicon Valley engineer said that he could deliver thousands of ventilators from manufacturers across China to help hospitals treat coronavirus patients.The engineer was asked for more details. Within 12 hours, he responded with a 28-page digital catalog of medical supplies at his disposal, including protective masks and goggles.But there were also a series of caveats: Interested buyers had to sign a contract within four hours of receiving a quote and pay the entirety of the order upfront. "Nonnegotiable," the catalog said. And the engineer, Yaron Oren-Pines, had no apparent background in procuring medical equipment.Federal officials passed on the vendor's information to senior officials in New York and, within days, the state struck a deal to buy 1,450 ventilators from Oren-Pines for $86 million, one of the largest contracts for medical supplies since the outbreak.The deal, however, began to unravel as quickly as it had come together.In a matter of days, a bank had frozen funds that the state had wired to Oren-Pines because it found a transaction from his account suspicious. State officials were then warned by Oren-Pines and his business partners of possible shipping complications and were told that the ventilators might have to be routed through Israel, where they said they had connections.Before long, Oren-Pines and his partners began accusing the state of breach of contract. State officials later tried to send inspectors to confirm the stockpile in China; that effort was unsuccessful, and the contract was terminated.Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said that the contract was canceled because the state's hospitalization rate fell far short of projections and New York's need for ventilators lessened, diminishing the urgency to proceed with a contract mired in complications.But interviews with state and federal officials as well as emails obtained by The New York Times underscore how the challenges of a pandemic may have clouded a decision that placed millions of taxpayer dollars at risk.The voided contract illustrated the desperate measures New York took at the height of the pandemic to procure precious medical equipment as officials scrambled to find as many of the 40,000 ventilators that the state believed it needed to stave off a catastrophe. As the state scoured the globe for supplies, it eschewed competitive bidding protocols to expedite acquisitions and resorted to vendors that had never done business with the state.Without a coordinated federal approach to distributing medical equipment based on need, states were left to fend for themselves, bidding against one another amid a global shortage.Federal officials, in fact, also referred Oren-Pines to New Jersey. But officials in that state said they were troubled by a series of warning signs and declined to procure equipment from Oren-Pines, according to a person familiar with the matter.New Jersey officials saw Oren-Pines' insistence for upfront payment as problematic, and they balked at the price of the ventilators and how long it would take for them to be delivered, according to the person.But in New York, officials decided to take a chance.Oren-Pines' offer to help was originally fielded by a team of inexperienced young volunteers recruited at FEMA by President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. New York officials said they were told by an official assigned to the Department of Health and Human Services that the federal government had vetted Oren-Pines and that a consulting firm had conducted a video inspection of the ventilators in China.A spokeswoman for FEMA said the agency did not recommend Oren-Pines to New York and noted, "While the volunteers played an important role, they were not FEMA employees."A Trump administration official involved in the White House coronavirus task force defended the vetting process of leads that were funneled through FEMA but said that states should still be doing their own due diligence.New York officials said Oren-Pines provided certificates for the ventilators and passed a background check conducted by the state."While New York was struggling to purchase ventilators to meet the demand of the federal government's projection models, the Department of Health and Human Services referred us directly to Oren-Pines, confirming they were vetted and approved by the federal government themselves," said Richard Azzopardi, a senior aide to the governor. "The idea that the federal government is now effectively saying states cannot trust the federal government's own recommendations is bizarre."A spokeswoman for the HHS said it was "reviewing this matter and has nothing further to add at this time."Oren-Pines rejected several requests for interviews, saying in a text message that a confidentiality agreement prohibited him from talking to reporters. "Keep on following your leads and sources and hopefully one day the truth will come out and my name will be cleared," he wrote.A graduate of the University of Maryland who studied electrical engineering, Oren-Pines, 50, has experience in mobile communications technology and has worked in a number of technology-related roles, including as a consultant for Google, according to his LinkedIn profile.He is also a co-founder of a networking company called Legasus Networks; its other co-founders, Douglas Lee and Thao Tran, said the firm had nothing to do with ventilators. Tran said Oren-Pines was the type of person who would jump at an opportunity if he spotted one."His personality is, he will go take a chance and do any kind of business outside his field," he said.It is unclear when Oren-Pines reached out to the federal government offering to provide medical equipment. But his offer was received by Kushner-appointed FEMA volunteers who were drawn from venture capital and private equity firms and had little to no experience with government procurement procedures.On March 24, one of the volunteers, an associate at a private equity firm in New York City, thanked Oren-Pines for reaching out and asked him to fill out a form detailing the stock and price of the supplies he had access to, according to emails.Oren-Pines quickly emailed back the form along with the 28-page catalog.The volunteers passed on the lead to two federal officials -- both of whom worked for the HHS -- who then sent it to Cuomo's aides by March 27.But Oren-Pines and his associates appeared to become impatient with the pace of the process and simultaneously took to Twitter in search of other prospective buyers.On March 27, after Trump used Twitter to urge General Motors and Ford to expedite ventilator production, Oren-Pines addressed a tweet to the president: "We can supply ICU Ventilators, invasive and non-invasive. Have someone call me URGENT."The tweet by Oren-Pines was reported last week in a BuzzFeed News article that suggested that the Twitter post to the president may have been connected to the New York state contract. Oren-Pines, however, had been in touch with federal officials days before he posted his sales pitch on Twitter.One of Oren-Pines' two partners, Segev Binyamin, also used Twitter to try to get the attention of the Israeli defense minister, writing, "I own a Chinese company that is capable of shipping 1,400 machines to Israel."In an email to a New York official March 28, Oren-Pines urged the state to expedite the process because he said he had access to the ventilators for "a limited time." He said he had been vetted by FEMA.On March 30, New York formalized the $86 million contract for 1,450 ventilators, or about $59,000 per ventilator, and agreed to pay Oren-Pines $69 million upfront. It was a steep price: At the time, Cuomo said officials had witnessed ventilator prices surge to $45,000, up from $25,000.The contract did not go through the typical procedures that require the state comptroller to independently review contracts before issuing a payment. Earlier that month, Cuomo had issued an emergency order exempting emergency contracts from going through such procedures.In early April, Wells Fargo, Oren-Pines' bank, froze his funds after it flagged a transaction as suspicious, state officials said. Oren-Pines, however, had been able to transfer $10 million before the funds were frozen.After the freeze, and as the state's need for ventilators began to subside, New York officials sought to arrange their own inspection of the ventilators in China. They were unsuccessful.On April 9, Guy Peleg, another of Oren-Pines' business partners, sent an email to Judith Mogul, a special counsel to Cuomo, accusing New York officials of acting unlawfully, breaching the contract and freezing their bank account. He said they had retained lawyers and were unlikely to deliver the ventilators by the agreed-upon date, April 29.Regardless, Peleg said, Chinese regulations were complicating ventilator shipments to the United States, so he proposed funneling the machines through Tel Aviv."Our participation in this venture is crucial in order for these precious ventilators to leave Chinese soil and land in Israeli territory, and then sent to the U.S.," he wrote. "As you can see we have established a very expert and tight outfit here to serve your demands. No other constellation can achieve our goal to supply these vents to the U.S."Mogul replied that it was Wells Fargo, not New York, that imposed the freeze and informed the men that the state would terminate the contract unless they could begin to secure ventilators with the $10 million they had on hand."In light of the changing facts, we are not willing to place additional funds of the state at risk with no certainty when or whether we will receive the specified goods," she wrote.New York eventually terminated the contract. Azzopardi said the state had recovered $59 million, with the remaining $10 million being negotiated among the parties.Mark Werksman, a lawyer for Oren-Pines, said his client and his partners hoped to arrive at an amicable resolution with the state."They worked tirelessly to begin delivery of the promised ventilators, and they would have fulfilled the terms of the contract if the state hadn't abruptly canceled it before they were able to deliver the first set of 150 ventilators," he said. "Yaron acted swiftly and in good faith to provide vital medical equipment to the state in its hour of need."Last weekend, Oren-Pines emailed New York officials describing the personal and financial fallout from the botched ventilator deal, pleading with them to issue a statement to clear his name.In a reference to the BuzzFeed News story, he said he was being victimized by a "fictional/fake story" about his connection to the White House and that he and his family were now receiving threats and anti-Semitic messages.A spokesman for BuzzFeed News did not address Oren-Pines' criticism but said that the outlet was "proud to have been first to report that New York state gave a $69 million contract to an unqualified vendor who failed to deliver."In the email to New York officials, Oren-Pines said, "What has happened to me personally over the past few days is worse than death itself." He said the sudden cancellation of the order had left him and his partners "with tens of millions of dollars in liabilities and contracts.""In Israel, I am called a traitor and accused of a Sting operation against NYS," he wrote. "I have done Nothing wrong! All I wanted was to help New York state and in the process got thrown under a bus."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
|
| Heat, humidity at edge of human tolerance hitting globe Posted: 08 May 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Researchers found that temperature extremes previously thought to be rare have been recorded more than 1,000 times in 40 years.
|
| Brazil government warns of economic collapse in 30 days Posted: 08 May 2020 08:54 AM PDT  Brazil could face "economic collapse" in a month's time due to stay-at-home measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak, with food shortages and "social disorder," Economy Minister Paulo Guedes warned Thursday. Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, is also the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the region. But far-right President Jair Bolsonaro - who appeared alongside Guedes, his free-market economics guru - opposes stay-at-home measures to slow the virus, saying they are unnecessarily damaging the economy. "Within about 30 days, there may start to be shortages on (store) shelves and production may become disorganized, leading to a system of economic collapse, of social disorder," Guedes said. "This is a serious alert." Bolsonaro, who has compared the new coronavirus to a "little flu," said he understood "the virus problem" and believed that "we must save lives." "But there is a problem that's worrying us more and more... and that's the issue of jobs, of the stalled economy," Bolsonaro added. "Fighting the virus shouldn't do more damage than the virus itself."
|
| ‘Truly Disturbing’: Third NY Child Dies From Rare Syndrome Linked to COVID-19 Posted: 09 May 2020 06:31 AM PDT  Three New York children have died from pediatric multi-symptom inflammatory syndrome tied to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.A 7-year-old boy from Westchester County died late last week, the county confirmed on Friday. A 5-year-old boy died earlier in the week from the same syndrome at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital in New York City. Cuomo did not give any details about the third New York child on Saturday."We still have a lot to learn about this virus and every day is another eye-opening situation," he said, adding that the emergence of the illness was "truly disturbing."The childhood ailment has affected at least 73 children in New York state and authorities are now looking for other potential cases across the country. Cases have also been reported in Washington, D.C., California, Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington state and New Jersey, where a 4-year-old died with symptoms last month. Is the Key to Beating COVID-19 in Survivors' Blood?It had been previously been thought that children were less likely to suffer any serious complications from the coronavirus. "We're not so sure that is the fact anymore," Cuomo said. Children affected with the COVID-19 virus can become ill with symptoms "similar to the Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome that literally causes inflammation in their blood vessels," he said. It's possible the syndrome has been "going on for weeks" and hasn't been diagnosed, he added.New York is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop national criteria for identifying and responding to the illness.Dr. Dial Hewlett, from the Westchester County Department of Health, said at Cuomo's news conference on Friday that the disease has been most common in households where parents or grandparents tested positive for COVID-19 but the children did not show symptoms initially before becoming seriously ill. "We must emphasize that based on what we know thus far, it appears to be a very rare condition," Hewlett said.Affected children have had COVID-19 antibodies or have tested positive for COVID-19 but didn't show typical COVID-19 symptoms, Cuomo said."This is very serious," County Executive George Latimer said at the Friday news conference. "The disease can be fatal, and we want to make sure everyone in Westchester County is aware to be on the lookout for symptoms that may lead to this."The symptoms include a prolonged fever of more than five days and difficulty in feeding for infants or drinking fluids in older children. Severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, or vomiting and a change in skin color—either becoming pale and patchy or blue—is also common in most young patients. Children also exhibit trouble breathing or a racing heart beat in addition to mood changes, lethargy and confusion. Cuomo urged parents to seek medical attention if their children exhibits any symptoms whether they are living in a house with COVID-19 patients or not. "So this is every parent's nightmare, right?" Cuomo said. "That your child may actually be affected by this virus. But it's something we have to consider seriously now."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.
|
| Ousted health official dismisses Trump's claim he is disgruntled: 'I am frustrated at a lack of leadership' Posted: 08 May 2020 07:24 PM PDT  Ousted vaccine expert Rick Bright said he is "frustrated at our inability to be heard as scientists."
|
No comments:
Post a Comment