- PoliticsYahoo News
In shadow of coronavirus, Congress contemplates 'one of the biggest rule changes in the last century'
As the House of Representatives prepares to pass a historic $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces a bigger challenge: figuring out a way for 435 members to cast votes in the time of social distancing. The pandemic has left multiple members of Congress in quarantine and led to restrictions on movement that could prevent the House from voting. While House leadership has indicated they hope to pass the initial coronavirus aid bill quickly using a voice vote, the likely need for further relief and other legislation has led Pelosi to consider new procedures, including measures for remote voting that a report from the House Rules Committee described as “one of the biggest rule changes in the last century.”
- U.S.Yahoo News
Florida man whose 'game changer' coronavirus treatment was touted by Trump is a believer, but warns: Don't try this at home
It's been less than a week since Rio Giardinieri claimed his coronavirus was cured overnight by an antimalarial drug touted by President Trump and by Fox News, and he has no complaints. “Man, I'm alive and kickin',” Giardinieri told Yahoo News over the phone on Wednesday. The story of Giardinieri's remarkable recovery, which was first reported Monday by a local Fox affiliate in Los Angeles, quickly became the subject of national news — and speculation — after it was picked up by the New York Post and tweeted by Trump, who hailed the news as a “great early result” from the drug, which has yet to be approved as a treatment for the coronavirus.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The US's coronavirus death rate is currently 1.6% — one of the lowest of any hard-hit country. Here's how it compares to places like China and Italy.
But the COVID-19 death rate — the number of deaths divided by the total number of cases — from these three hard-hit countries varies wildly. The US's coronavirus death rate is currently 1.6%, which puts it among the lowest of any country with more than 9,000 cases. Italy's, by contrast, is 10.6% and China's is 4%.
WorldAFPItaly, Spain suffer record virus deaths as British PM tests positive
Italy on Friday recorded the most daily deaths of any country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and Spain had its deadliest day, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the first major world leader to test positive. Italy reported 969 new deaths, Spain 769 and France 299 as Europe reeled from a crisis that led the United States on Friday to finalise an unprecedented $2 trillion stimulus package. In other grim milestones, AFP tallies showed more than 26,000 deaths worldwide, and a total of 300,000 cases now recorded in Europe, after the United States overtook China as the country with the most infections.
- WorldAssociated Press
AP Sources: Alleged Maduro co-conspirator is in DEA custody
But he was charged Thursday with allegedly running with Maduro, socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello and another retired army general a narcoterrorist conspiracy that U.S. prosecutors say sent 250 metric tons of cocaine a year to the U.S. and turned the Venezuelan state into a platform for violent cartels and Colombia rebels. The Justice Department had offered a $10 million reward for Alcalá's arrest. Alcalá was being flown on a chartered plane to the U.S. from Barranquilla, Colombia, after waiving an extradition hearing and agreeing to collaborate with prosecutors, said the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss actions that had not yet been made public.
- WorldReuters
Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus
Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone "in the same boat" as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter's Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values. "Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities," he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year. The Vatican called the service "An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic," a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.
- WorldNational Review
Now That Canada Is Rationing Masks, Trudeau Faces Backlash for Donating Medical Supplies to China
Canada's Official Opposition Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for shipping tons of medical supplies to China in February, calling the move “outrageous” with current concerns that Canada is running short on supplies amid its own fight against coronavirus. Drs. across the country are facing urgent shortages of critical supplies.
- WorldBloomberg
Stacks of Urns in Wuhan Prompt New Questions of Virus’s Toll
The long lines and stacks of ash urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan are spurring questions about the true scale of coronavirus casualties at the epicenter of the outbreak, renewing pressure on a Chinese government struggling to control its containment narrative. The families of those who succumbed to the virus in the central Chinese city, where the disease first emerged in December, were allowed to pick up their cremated ashes at eight local funeral homes starting this week. As they did, photos circulated on Chinese social media of thousands of urns being ferried in.
WorldYahoo News VideoU.S. warship passes through the sensitive Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions
A U.S. warship passed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, the U.S. and Taiwan militaries said, following heightened tensions between China and Taiwan that have seen Taiwanese air force jets scramble to intercept Chinese fighters.
- PoliticsLA Times
Sidelined in the final days of stimulus talks, McConnell again learns the risk of getting ahead of Trump
Finally, as Tuesday night changed to Wednesday morning, two men stepped forward to tell reporters they had reached a deal — the secretary of the Treasury and the minority leader of the Senate. The majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, was relegated to role of announcing the deal a short time later on the Senate floor. With his mastery of rules and tactics and control over his caucus, McConnell has developed a reputation as one of the Senate's most powerful majority leaders.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Cuomo Says Ventilator Needs Not Based on ‘Feelings’ After Trump Attack
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hit back at Donald Trump on Friday after the president said he “felt” that New York, the struggling epicenter of the coronavirus, did not need the 30,000 ventilators officials have demanded. With 519 deaths and 44,635 confirmed cases, of which 6,481 require hospitalization, the coronavirus pandemic has put New York's medical facilities on the brink. Cuomo has been practically begging for ventilators for days, slamming the federal government for initially sending 400 from the national stockpile when the state needed 30,000.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Without any interventions like social distancing, one model predicts the coronavirus could have killed 40 million people this year
Without intense government intervention, the novel coronavirus could infect 7 billion people and kill 40 million this year, according to a new report from researchers at the Imperial College of London. Without implementing strategies like lockdowns to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, there would have been 7 billion infections and 40 million deaths in 2020 alone, according to a report published Thursday from researchers at the Imperial College of London. The report, according to co-author Charles Whittaker, is meant to project the impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
WorldAFPAsia virus latest: China epicentre starts to reopen, security talks off
Huge numbers had crammed onto trains and buses before the country of 1.3 billion people ground to a halt for three weeks, but many others were left stranded. "Rather than die hungry, we decided to walk," said Dilipji Thakor, who worked at a now-shuttered shopping mall in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, as he trudged along a road. South Korea recoveries - More than 50 percent of South Korea's 9,478 confirmed coronavirus cases have now recovered, authorities said Saturday.
- U.S.Associated Press
Civil rights leader, MLK aide Joseph Lowery dies at 98
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination, died Friday, a family statement said. A charismatic and fiery preacher, Lowery led the SCLC for two decades — restoring the organization's financial stability and pressuring businesses not to trade with South Africa's apartheid-era regime — before retiring in 1997. Lowery, considered the dean of civil rights veterans, lived to celebrate a November 2008 milestone that few of his movement colleagues thought they would ever witness — the election of an African American president.
- WorldReuters
Russia confirms coronavirus case in Putin's administration, tightens curbs
The Kremlin confirmed a coronavirus case in President Vladimir Putin's administration on Friday and the government said measures imposed in Moscow to fight the virus should be extended across Russia. The Kremlin said it was taking measures to stop the virus spreading further after a staff member in the presidential administration contracted the virus. It said the person had not come into contact with Putin, but declined to identify them.
- ScienceNational Review
Chinese State Media Falsely Claim U.S. Army Athlete Brought Coronavirus to China
Chinese state-run media are citing an American conspiracy theorist to push claims that coronavirus was brought to China by a U.S. military athlete. The Global Times claimed in an article Wednesday that the coronavirus, which was first discovered in Wuhan, was in fact manufactured in a U.S. military lab and brought to China by a cyclist who took part in the World Military Games in Wuhan in October. The CCP-run paper cites known U.S. conspiracy theorist George Webb as the source for the claim, which it admits lacks “strong evidence” but still raises questions about the U.S. athletes who traveled to Wuhan.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A Wuhan seafood vendor believed to be one of the first coronavirus patients says 'a lot fewer people would have died' if the Chinese government acted sooner
STR/AFP via Getty Images Wei Guixian, a 57-year-old seafood vendor in Wuhan, China, was among the first 27 people to be diagnosed with the coronavirus, which originated from the wet market where she worked. Wei first began exhibiting coronavirus symptoms on December 10 and was admitted to the hospital less than a week later, with doctors describing her illness as "very serious" and "ruthless." Other vendors from the same market began to check into the hospital soon after.
- WorldCBS News
The mystery behind Germany's low coronavirus death rate
Compared to other countries, the number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus in Germany has been surprisingly low. According to the country's federal health agency, The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the mortality rate is currently at less than 0.5%. Italy has reported more than 86,000 confirmed cases and over 9,000 deaths, which would seem to work out to a mortality rate of roughly 10%.
- U.S.The New York Times
Man Charged With Making Death Threats to Nancy Pelosi in Coronavirus Rant
Prosecutors said that Perry wrote, “If youre a dem or apart of the establishment in the democrats side I view you as a criminal and a terrorist and I advise everyone to Go SOS and use live rounds. The post, which used an abbreviation for “shoot on sight,” included a screenshot of what appeared to be two tweets by Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. One, by Schumer himself, was critical of President Donald Trump's handling of the health emergency.
- WorldBloomberg
Deadliest Day in Italy, Spain Shows Worst of Virus Not Over
Both countries are in almost complete lockdown, with their governments counting on limited social interactions to help contain the spread of the disease. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez convened an emergency cabinet meeting to try to chart a way out of the crisis rapidly engulfing the nation. We may be entering a phase of stabilization, but we haven't reached the peak yet,” Health Minister Salvador Illa said at a news conference in Madrid.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Trump objects to oversight provisions of coronavirus law, setting stage for new front with Democrats
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump used a relatively rare signing statement Friday to object to portions of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus law, potentially opening a new front with Democrats on the oversight of how that money is spent. Trump said he would ignore portions of the law demanded by some Democrats to give Congress additional visibility into the stimulus spending, arguing that those requirements would infringe on the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. Congress and the White House moved with stunning speed to pass the massive economic stimulus, the largest in the nation's history, in an effort to avoid economic calamity from the coronavirus.
WorldAFPNigeria struggles towards shutdown as virus fears grow
But they have advised people to stay home, restricted gatherings and shut schools, bars, non-food markets and shops to try to empty the streets. People were still out skirting the pools of foetid water in Jankarra market on Friday but the crowds were well down on normal. Rotimi Oyedepo stood in front of his shuttered chemical store after local police had ordered him to lock up.
- U.S.Associated Press
Water shutoffs in sharp focus amid coronavirus outbreak
The advice is simple and universal: Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The Rev. Roslyn Bouier remembers when children began to show up at the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry on Detroit's northwest side, clutching empty pitchers. Through the end of 2019, the city has recorded about 127,500 total service cutoffs, according to the water department, though that figure includes households where the water was turned off repeatedly.
- WorldReuters
Tokyo coronavirus cases rise by daily record, residents urged to stay home
Tokyo has confirmed more than 50 new coronavirus infections, a record daily increase, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday as the governor of Japan's capital urged citizens to stay indoors. Governor Yuriko Koike's plea followed a surge in coronavirus infections this week that she said put Tokyo on the brink of an emergency. She has asked the tens of millions of people in the city and surrounding regions to avoid non-essential, non-urgent outings until April 12, and particularly this weekend.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
After Putin's Big Fail, Russia Braces for COVID-19 Onslaught
Only days after the Kremlin assured the Russians that the coronavirus pandemic was under control, Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “the momentum is high and a serious situation is unfolding. Contrary to the previously reported low rate of infection, the real number of those who are sick is significantly higher,” Sobyanin said. He added that the number of tests conducted to date has been extremely low “and no one on earth knows the real picture.
