- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump sees 'hard days' ahead in coronavirus fight, with as many as 240,000 Americans dead
Nearly a quarter million people in the United States could die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump administration officials said Tuesday. In what was presented as a best case scenario in which millions of citizens across the country adhered to intensive social distancing guidelines promoted by the Trump administration, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans are still expected to be killed by COVID-19. “We're going to do everything we can to get [the U.S. death toll] significantly below that,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose forthright manner has made him a star of the coronavirus briefings.
- HealthYahoo News
First he had brain cancer. Then the coronavirus struck his city. One patient’s perilous journey.
When Ronnie Kresel went in for his most recent checkup following chemotherapy on March 21, it wasn't anything like the ones he'd had before. Upon his arrival at the Southhampton Stony Brook Hospital in Long Island, N.Y., a doctor met Kresel in a hazmat suit in a large tent outside the facility, where he was asked “a series of rapid-fire questions” and then sent to a negative-pressure room, which prevents cross-contamination, for his visit. In mid-December, Kresel, 53, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
WorldAFPMasquerade or needed aid? Virus help from China proves contentious
As European and American healthcare systems creak under the strain, China has offered millions of face masks and teams of medical experts. As well as seeking to deflect criticism over initial Chinese missteps in handling the epidemic, analysts say, the campaign is a public relations opportunity in China's great power rivalry with the West and especially the United States. COVID-19 first emerged in a wild animal market last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but Beijing says the situation in China is now under control with domestic cases dwindling to zero.
- WorldReuters
Israel tests coronavirus vaccine prototype on rodents at defense lab
Israel has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its bio-chemical defense laboratory, a source said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), in rural Ness Ziona, to join the fight against the coronavirus pandemic on Feb. 1, prompting an easing of its secrecy as it cooperates with civilian scientists and private firms. In a statement, Netanyahu's office said IIBR director Shmuel Shapira had informed him of "significant progress" in designing a vaccine prototype and that the institute "is now preparing a model for commencing an animal trial".
- WorldAssociated Press
Saudi official urges Muslims to delay hajj plans over virus
A senior Saudi official urged more than 1 million Muslims intending to perform the hajj to delay making plans this year — comments suggesting the pilgrimage could be cancelled due to the new coronavirus pandemic. In February, the kingdom took the extraordinary decision to close off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to foreigners over the virus, a step which wasn't taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide. Restrictions have tightened in the kingdom as it grapples with over 1,500 confirmed cases of the new virus.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
A Doctor Who Met Putin Just Tested Positive, and Russia’s COVID-19 Crackdowns Could Get Real Ugly.
MOSCOW—Amid a growing uproar in newly locked-down Russia, news broke on Tuesday that a doctor President Vladimir Putin met with just a week ago during a highly publicized visit to a coronavirus treatment facility has now tested positive for the infection himself. Widely disseminated photos of the visit showed Putin donning an orange hazmat suit, but he had also talked to Dr. Denis Protsenko extensively without protection and photographs show them together with very little "social distancing." Putin's spokesman says the Russian president is tested frequently for coronavirus infection and is just fine.
- U.S.National Review
Feds Find Smuggling Tunnel Linking San Diego to Tijuana, Seize $29 Million in Drugs
Federal immigration authorities have discovered a drug smuggling tunnel leading from San Diego under the U.S.-Mexico border and seized nearly $30 million worth of drugs found inside. Federal agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force discovered the “sophisticated” tunnel on Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a release Tuesday. The discovery resulted from a joint investigation by members of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
- BusinessBloomberg
Germany to Help Startups With $2.2 Billion Aid Package
Germany pledged to help startups hit by the fallout from the coronavirus with short-term financial assistance worth around 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The program is designed specifically for startups which may not be able to get the support they need from a wider package of measures the government launched last week, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told reporters in Berlin Wednesday. For these young, innovative companies, classic credit instruments are often not suitable,” Altmaier said.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
'We are the verge of a massive collapse': Ex-Energy Secretary Perry says COVID-19 will ravage oil industry
Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry believes that the oil industry could collapse because of the dramatic decrease in demand worldwide caused by the coronavirus outbreak and a steep decline in prices. "I'm telling you, we are on the verge of a massive collapse of an industry that we worked awfully hard, over the course of the last three or four years, to build up to the number one oil and gas producing country in the world, giving Americans some affordable energy resources." Coupled with a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has resulted in an oil surplus, the price for crude as well as gasoline has plunged.
- U.S.Business Insider
The White House projects that shutting down the US to stop the coronavirus could save 2 million lives
As many as 2.2 million people in the US are predicted to die from COVID-19 if the disease is not mitigated, according to an analysis that the White House is using to guide its response, which was released Tuesday. The White House is recommending that social distancing continue until at least April 30. President Donald Trump previously said he wanted to reopen parts of the economy by Easter, but the trove of data about deaths from the coronavirus made him change course.
WorldYahoo News VideoIran warns U.S. over Iraq deployment amid virus
On Wednesday Iran warned the U.S. it was “warmongering during the coronavirus outbreak,” after it deployed Patriot air defense missiles to Iraq.
- WorldThe Week
China under-reported coronavirus cases and deaths, U.S. intelligence reportedly concludes
There has been some skepticism about China's reporting on the novel COVID-19 coronavirus for some time, especially as smaller countries like Italy surged past the world's most populous nation in both overall cases and deaths. On Wednesday, U.S. intelligence officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity that the skepticism is valid. Per Bloomberg, the U.S. intelligence community reportedly concluded in a classified document that China, where the pandemic originated, has under-reported its totals.
- WorldReuters
U.S. offers to lift Venezuela sanctions for power-sharing deal, shifting policy
The Trump administration on Tuesday offered to begin lifting Venezuela sanctions if the opposition and members of President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist Party form an interim government without him, marking a shift in a U.S. policy that has failed to end his grip on power. With the South American nation squeezed by low world oil prices, a spreading coronavirus pandemic and a U.S. economic pressure campaign, Washington moved to a more toned-down approach aimed at promoting fair elections as soon as this year to end the political crisis there. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the administration's power-sharing "Democratic Transition Framework" for Venezuela, which proposes for the first time a "sequenced exit path" from tough U.S. sanctions, including on the vital oil sector, if Maduro and his allies cooperate.
- U.S.Associated Press
Defense lawyer in death of 7 motorcyclists: Biker at fault
One of the motorcyclists in a crash that killed him and six fellow bikers on a north woods highway was drunk and actually was the one who hit a pickup and caused the accident, the lawyer for the truck driver charged with homicide said in a document made public Tuesday. A New Hampshire State Police account of the June 21 crash in the community of Randolph “was deeply flawed," the lawyer for truck driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 24, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, said in a motion filed Friday that seeks a hearing to set him free on bail. State police initially determined that the flatbed trailer he was hauling was 1 1/2 feet over the center line at the time of impact, the motion said.
- StyleArchitectural Digest
12 Buildings That Show the Beauty of Deconstructed Architecture
From Zaha Hadid's majestic MAXII in Italy to the stunning beauty of Frank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum, these structures elevate the environment they were built in Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- SportsNBC News
One country is refusing to shut down to stop the coronavirus
While officials from Montreal to Moscow have placed populations under some form of lockdown designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, one man continues to hold firm to the notion that the rest of the world has lost its mind: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” Lukashenko told a Belarusian television reporter Saturday when asked whether the coronavirus could stop him from hitting the rink for a propaganda-filled hockey game. Lukashenko, one of the longest-serving leaders in the former Soviet Union, has been in power for over 25 years.
- U.S.National Review
Lindsey Graham Calls on IG Horowitz to Testify in Further FISA Hearings after Scathing New Report
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) plans to call DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz to testify before congress regarding his office's audit of the FBI's FISA application process, which was released Tuesday and revealed potentially systematic abuses of the transparency measures required of the Bureau when agents interact with the FISA court. I have just been briefed on Inspector General Horowitz's audit of FISA applications involving American citizens. This random audit shows discrepancies regarding verification of the information under the Woods Procedures,” Graham said in a press release.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Do I Have to Pay My Rent or Mortgage During the Pandemic?
Alaska: Gov. Mike Dunleavy has forestalled evictions and foreclosures of any tenant or homeowner covered by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, while the state Supreme Court has halted eviction hearings until May 1 and barred enforcement of outstanding ejectment orders against quarantined people. Arizona: Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered a 120-day stay on eviction orders against anybody quarantined or experiencing hardship because of COVID-19, starting March 24, and has launched a $5 million rental assistance fund. The state's “Save Our Home AZ Program” is offering principal reduction assistance, monthly mortgage subsidy assistance, and second lien elimination assistance.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
More Americans could die from coronavirus than those killed in battle during Civil War, White House projection shows
Associated Press President Donald Trump and his leading health advisers dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic offered some grim statistics for Americans in the weeks ahead. Statistical models showed that roughly 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from the disease — even if Americans observed the strict social distancing guidelines. The forecasted figures are an alarming when put in context with other pandemics and wars.
- U.S.USA TODAY
'Reckless': Louisiana pastor arrested for holding services with up to 1,000 attendees
A Louisiana pastor who repeatedly defied state orders prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people by holding church services was charged with six misdemeanor counts of violating a state ban on non-essential gatherings. Rev. Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central, around 15 miles northeast of Baton Rouge, has held services twice a week despite the state orders.
- WorldThe Week
Netanyahu reportedly mistook a Hallmark series clip for proof of an Iranian coronavirus coverup
Netanyahu recently showed his cabinet a video he claimed was evidence Iran was engineering a novel coronavirus coverup, Axios reports. Tehran has reported more than 47,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3,000 deaths, but those figures have been eyed with suspicion by much of the rest of the world, including Israel, which, to put it gently, does not get along with Iran. The video showed people dumping bodies into garbage dumps, two cabinet ministers told Axios.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoTrump responds to questions about whether impeachment diverted his attention from the coronavirus outbreak
President Trump on Tuesday responded to the idea that the impeachment trial kept his attention away from the growing coronavirus outbreak around the world.
- WorldAssociated Press
Roadside bombing in Afghanistan kills 8, mostly children
The victims were all from a single family, according to Helmand police spokesman Zaman Hamdard. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and the Islamic State militants are active in the province. On Tuesday, the Taliban sent a three-member technical team to Kabul to monitor the release of Taliban prisoners as part of a peace deal signed by the insurgents and the U.S. at the end of February.
- BusinessPopular Mechanics
Woodworking Can Bring Solace in Times of Uncertainty
When things get stressful, it's worth slowing down and appreciating the simpler things. From Popular Mechanics
- WorldReuters
Venezuela fuel shortages hinder food delivery amid coronavirus quarantine
SAN CRISTOBAL/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's fuel shortages are causing growing complications for the production and delivery of food to a crisis-stricken nation that is in quarantine to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to ten food industry sources. President Nicolas Maduro's government is struggling to provide fuel to the OPEC nation's service stations due to chronic refinery problems and U.S. sanctions that have left most trading firms unwilling to ship gasoline to Venezuela. Venezuela's food production has plummeted after years of heavy state control over the farming sector, contributing to malnutrition and a humanitarian crisis during six years of economic recession.
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