| UN says 3 peacekeepers killed, 4 wounded in Mali attacks Posted: 10 May 2020 05:32 PM PDT |
| Rise in German virus infections spurs concern Posted: 10 May 2020 05:29 PM PDT  Germany's coronavirus spread appears to be picking up speed again, official data showed Sunday, just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country could gradually return to normal. The Robert Koch Institute for public health said Germany's closely watched reproduction rate (R0) had climbed to 1.1, meaning 10 people with COVID-19 infect on average 11 others. The RKI has warned that for the infection rate to be deemed under control and slowing down, the R0 has to stay below one.
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| Coronavirus: How ‘secret burials’ in South Africa could help tackle Covid-19 Posted: 10 May 2020 05:02 PM PDT  South Africa's ban on large gatherings has meant the rediscovery of old traditions.
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| WHO Denies Report It Helped China Conceal Outbreak Posted: 10 May 2020 02:18 PM PDT  The World Health Organization is denying a report it was pressured by China to help cover up the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO called a German magazine's report allegations "unfounded and untrue." The magazine Der Spiegel reported Chinese President Xi Jinping called the WHO director-general in January, asking him to withhold information about the disease being transmittable between humans.
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| WHO Denies Report It Helped China Conceal Outbreak Posted: 10 May 2020 02:18 PM PDT The World Health Organization is denying a report it was pressured by China to help cover up the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO called a German magazine's report allegations "unfounded and untrue." The magazine Der Spiegel reported Chinese President Xi Jinping called the WHO director-general in January, asking him to withhold information about the disease being transmittable between humans.
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| Coronavirus: Zambia sex workers praised for contact tracing Posted: 10 May 2020 01:09 PM PDT  There has been a surge in infections, mainly among sex workers and lorry drivers, in a border town.
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| Sudan official: 3 killed, dozens wounded in tribal clashes Posted: 10 May 2020 01:09 PM PDT |
| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 10 May 2020 11:14 AM PDT  Nations struggled to balance public and economic health Sunday, feeling pressure to reopen shuttered businesses and aspects of life amid worries that relaxing restrictions too much could ignite a second wave of coronavirus infections. Britain, which has the continent's most deaths from the virus and a prime minister who came close to dying from it himself, announced a modest easing of its lockdown. In Washington, where three members of the Trump administration's coronavirus task force are in self-quarantine, some of the president's top economic advisers emphasized the importance of getting more businesses and offices opened.
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| Germany's Altmaier opposes active state role at Lufthansa Posted: 10 May 2020 10:24 AM PDT  Germany is working on a "concrete model" to aid Lufthansa, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Sunday, amid a political row over whether the state should take a strategic shareholding and play an active role in the stricken airline. Altmaier's comments followed calls by the Social Democratic Party, junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, to tie aid for Lufthansa to protecting jobs, cutting the dividend and giving the government a say on strategy.
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| Saudi to host Yemen donor conference on June 2 Posted: 10 May 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia will host a donor conference to support Yemen on June 2, state media reported on Sunday, as the conflict-torn country faces the threat of coronavirus. The conference will be held virtually in partnership with the United Nations, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, as the Arab world's poorest country also battles widespread hunger and disease. The kingdom, which counts itself as a top donor to Yemen since it led a 2015 military intervention against Iran-aligned Huthi rebels, did not say how much money was expected to be raised from the event.
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| Georgia AG requests federal probe in handling of Arbery case Posted: 10 May 2020 09:40 AM PDT  Georgia's attorney general on Sunday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who authorities say died at the hands of two white men as he ran through a neighborhood. Shortly after the video's leak, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. The arrests came hours after officials asked the GBI to start investigating.
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| Italian aid worker kidnapped in Kenya in 2018 returns home Posted: 10 May 2020 09:38 AM PDT  Silvia Romano, 25, was freed on Saturday in Somalia, in an operation by Italy's secret services.
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| Germany's infection rate rises above one after they ease lockdown Posted: 10 May 2020 09:37 AM PDT  Germany's coronavirus reproduction rate – the crucial measure shows how widely the virus is spreading in the community – has risen to 1.1, giving rise to fears that a second wave of infections may be imminent. The findings come just days after the country begun the first phase of relaxing its coronavirus lockdown measures, while anti-lockdown protests have been building across the country. Germany has been lauded internationally for its coordinated response to the virus and its corresponding low death rate, with 7,549 having fallen victim to the disease there until Saturday, compared with 31,587 in the UK, which has a much smaller population. But the rise in infections suggests that the lockdown relaxations may have been premature, and is a headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel who has limits on her powers in Germany's decentralised system. Britain will be watching the developments closely as it begins to move towards easing lockdown. When she announced a relaxation of lockdown measures on Wednesday, Germany's reproduction rate was at 0.65, before rising to 0.81 on Friday and 1.1 on Saturday. A rate of 1 or more means that each carrier of the virus infects at least one more person, ensuring it continues to spread. Germany's Robert Koch Institute which compiled the figures, said it that while the rate has been increasing rapidly since Wednesday, at this stage it cannot be determined whether the relaxed lockdowns were responsible. It said: "The increase in the estimated (reproduction) value makes it necessary to watch the development very carefully over the next few days.|" The findings come from data compiled on Saturday, and show that the infection rate has now effectively doubled in the three days since the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. On Saturday, outbreaks at several meatpacking plants in North Rhine-Westphalia – the country's most populous state - prompted the state leadership to promise to test each of the estimated 18-20,000 meatworkers in the state. In the western town of Coesfeld, where 151 of 200 slaughterhouse workers tested positive for the virus, authorities decided to suspend lockdown relaxations. Despite the outbreaks, Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for the country's border with France to be reopened in order to foster European solidarity. Merkel struck a different tone when announcing the first phase of relaxations midweek, reminding the German public "we still have a long fight against the virus ahead of us". It was a rare example of contradicting sentiments between the German leader and the man favoured to succeed her as leader of the Christian Democrats when she steps down next year. Despite the continued danger posed by Covid-19, protesters took to the streets across Germany at the weekend to criticise the lockdown measures. Thousands gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and other German cities, saying their rights were being infringed and complaining that the government and medical workers were spreading panic. In Munich, more than 3,000 people – many without masks and not respecting social distancing rules - gathered in the city's central Marienplatz, with signs critical of "health fascism" and proclaiming: "We want our lives back". Although there have been consistent protests against the measures since they were first put in place in March, the weekend's demonstrations were the biggest seen so far since the outbreak of the virus. The German Press Agency reports that although the group was well over the maximum of 50 people allowed to attend demonstrations under the government's coronavirus restrictions, police decided not to break up the largely peaceful demonstration in the interests of "proportionality". Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter was heavily critical of the protesters on Sunday. Despite saying he empathised with their desire "to return to a certain normality", Reiter told German media "I have absolutely no understanding of actions or demonstrations that, due to the lack of distance and mouth / nose protection, counteract any positive developments in the infection and more likely to jeopardise further loosening than to enable it." Reiter also said he found it "absolutely unbearable" that the protests had a heavy presence from known far-right groups.
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| Flynn's Exoneration Was the Latest in a Life Full of Reversals Posted: 10 May 2020 09:11 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- There have always been two sides to Michael Flynn. There was the rebellious teenager who surfed during hurricanes and spent a night in juvenile reformatory. Then there was the adult who buckled down, joined the Army and rose to become a three-star general.Flynn was a lifelong Democrat who served President Barack Obama as a top intelligence officer. He also called Obama a "liar" after being forced out of the job and reinvented himself as a Republican foreign policy adviser.Flynn criticized retired generals who used their stars "for themselves, for their businesses." He appeared to do the same thing as a consultant.But the two sides of Flynn were perhaps never so stark as in the criminal case against him that ended abruptly on Thursday to the astonishment of much of official Washington.After pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with a Russian diplomat, Flynn cooperated with the special counsel, saying he was "being a good soldier" and earning prosecutors' praise. Then he recanted his confession and began what some allies saw as a reckless gamble to recast himself as an innocent victim of a justice system run amok.That gamble paid off this past week when, in an extraordinary reversal, the Justice Department abandoned his prosecution, saying he never should have been charged. Current and former federal law enforcement officials expressed disbelief and dismay, calling the move an unprecedented blow to the Justice Department's integrity and independence. Obama, in remarks to former members of his administration, said he feared that "not just institutional norms, but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk."Flynn transformed his case into a political cause that resonated in the conservative echo chamber. Led by his lawyer, Sidney Powell, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. and a close ally of the president's, Flynn's backers worked to wipe away the mistrust of some Republicans over his cooperation with law enforcement and turn him into a right-wing hero. Powell dug up documents she insisted showed that her client was as much of a victim of malfeasance by the FBI as Trump had been.Ultimately Attorney General William Barr joined the battle, granting Flynn another turnabout in a life filled with them.A maverick in the military Michael T. Flynn, 61, grew up in Middleton, Rhode Island, the sixth of nine children. His father was an Army sergeant who became a banker. His mother ran a secretarial school before earning a law degree at age 63.The family was squeezed into a three-bedroom, one-bathroom oceanfront cottage. Finances were tight."I was one of those nasty tough kids, hellbent on breaking rules for the adrenaline high and hard-wired just enough not to care about the consequences," Flynn wrote in his 2016 book, "The Field of Fight." "Some serious and unlawful activity," he wrote, led to his arrest.He nearly flunked out of his freshman year at the University of Rhode Island, earning a 1.2 grade-point average. But the ROTC awarded him a three-year scholarship, and he found his calling in the military.For much of Flynn's career, former colleagues said, his mentors and superior officers let his talents flourish and kept his disruptive tendencies in check. In his book, he described himself as a rebel at heart. "I'm a maverick, an atypical square peg in a round hole," he wrote.As a young officer in 1983, he talked his way onto the military force that invaded Grenada. There, he dove off a 40-foot cliff to rescue two soldiers foundering in waters off the coast. He was scolded for the unauthorized rescue, but also earned respect.His boldness later translated into strategies that seemed fresh and welcome when the military was mired in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, he championed new ways to fuse intelligence gathering and military operations.His partnership with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of American-led forces in Afghanistan at the time, shielded him from critics. McChrystal also acted as a brake, ensuring that Flynn's most outlandish ideas were confined to brainstorming sessions.By the time Flynn arrived at the Defense Intelligence Agency as a three-star general in 2012, cracks were beginning to show. Obama had fired McChrystal, a move that deeply distressed Flynn.He executed a reorganization of the agency that is still in effect. But his chaotic management style and increasingly hard-edged views about counterterrorism gave colleagues pause, and his superiors viewed him as insubordinate, former Pentagon officials said. His defenders said the Obama administration bristled at his tough line on Iran.His two-year term was not extended, thrusting him into the civilian world at age 55, an embittered man.Flynn had flourished with the special operation forces in Iraq where his colleagues could "tolerate, adjust, and manage what was functional and dysfunctional with Mike Flynn," said Douglas Wise, a former CIA officer who became Flynn's deputy at the Defense Intelligence Agency."In the political arena," Wise said, "he no longer had this kind of adult supervision."Pivoting to the rightAs a military man, Flynn seemed oblivious to wealth, un-self-consciously parking his 1986 Buick Park Avenue in a Pentagon parking lot dotted with Cadillacs and Lexuses.But as a civilian, he founded a consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, that attracted high-paying clients. In a decision that appalled some friends, he agreed to give a speech in 2015 to RT, Russia's state-controlled television network, for about $45,000. He was seated at the head table next to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.The next year, he pulled in at least $1.8 million from private intelligence and security services, consulting and speeches. About $530,000 came for work to discredit an enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Flynn did not register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, as required under lobbying disclosure laws, until the following spring, when he was under federal scrutiny.Flynn's politics seemed to shift even more than his finances. He heavily criticized the Obama administration, especially over Iran policy.His pragmatic approach of old gave way in private conversations with reporters and students to almost hostile views to Islam. In his book, he called for the destruction of the Iranian government. Publicly, he sneered at Obama for avoiding the term "radical Islam"and implied that Obama was a secret Muslim."I'm not going to sit here and say he's Islamic," he told one of the country's largest anti-Muslim groups, ACT for America, in 2016. But, he said, the president "didn't grow up as an American kid," and held values "totally different than mine."Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, called Flynn "right-wing nutty." But his views resonated with Trump. Their initial mid-2015 meeting, scheduled for a half-hour, lasted 90 minutes and prompted Flynn to begin advising the campaign.He enthralled conservatives at the Republican National Convention in July 2016 when he led a chorus of "Lock her up!" chants against Hillary Clinton.Within weeks, Flynn became the subject of an FBI counterintelligence inquiry into the Trump campaign's links to Russia. His code name was "Razor."By January 2017, with Trump's inauguration imminent, the FBI had decided that insufficient evidence existed that Flynn conspired with the Russians, wittingly or unwittingly.But the FBI's interest was rekindled when agents learned that in late December during the presidential transition, Flynn had advised the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, that the Kremlin refrain from reacting to the Obama administration's imposition of sanctions for Russia's election interference. Flynn also asked that Russia delay or defeat an upcoming United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel.Those phone calls were problematic because Flynn was attempting to intervene in foreign policy as a private citizen, a potential violation of a federal law -- albeit one rarely enforced.Flynn also told the incoming vice president, Mike Pence, that he had not discussed sanctions with Russia. Pence repeated that assertion on television, raising concerns at the Justice Department that Flynn had lied to him and that the Russians could use the truth to blackmail Flynn.At the FBI, his file had lingered in abeyance, not yet formally closed. "Our utter incompetence actually helps us," Peter Strzok, an FBI counterintelligence agent, texted a bureau lawyer. Because of a bureaucratic oversight, agents would not have to justify a reopening of the inquiry.Four days after the inauguration, the FBI sent two agents to question Flynn at the White House. Caught off-guard, Justice Department officials "hit the roof" when they found out, one said.Flynn told the agents he had not asked Russia to act in any specific way in response to the U.N. resolution or the imposition of sanctions. Those denials did not save his job: He was soon forced to resign.Even then, Trump tried to protect him from further investigation. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," he told James Comey, then the FBI director whom Trump later fired.That December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his conversations with the Russian official and pledged to cooperate with the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, into Russia's 2016 election interference.Rebellion and resurrectionAbout a year later, Flynn had second thoughts. After a federal judge warned that he might not be sentenced to probation, he fired his legal team. His legal bills had amounted to nearly $3 million, forcing him to sell his Alexandria, Virginia, house and move to his Rhode Island homeIn a court filing, Flynn said he had only pleaded guilty because his lawyers advised him to. "One of the ways a person becomes a three-star general is by being a good soldier, taking orders, being part of a team and trusting people who provide information and support," he wrote.Even before she formally took over Flynn's defense last June, Powell put together a public relations and legal campaign to exonerate him, making the case on Capitol Hill and in conservative media.In appearances on Fox News, Powell linked her client's plight to other examples of what she saw as government overreach. She also stitched Flynn's story to conspiracy theories about career government officials' efforts to undermine Trump, both in court filings and conversations with journalists.Nunes, a longtime friend of Flynn and close ally of Trump, joined Powell in a full-throated defense. Together, they reoriented the view of Flynn on the right from an object of suspicion for cooperating with the special counsel into a conservative cause."Sidney Powell brilliantly shifted the narrative and shrewdly found new allies in the House Freedom Caucus and Fox News commentators," said Michael Pillsbury, an informal adviser to Trump and a scholar at the Hudson Institute.In a letter to Barr, Powell accused prosecutors and investigators of withholding documents, improperly leaking to the media and seeking to entrap her client.Her evidence included what Flynn's backers called a smoking gun: handwritten notes from Bill Priestap, then the head of FBI counterintelligence. "What is our goal?" he asked before the White House interview. "Truth/admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?"The bureau's defenders said the notes proved the FBI's impartiality, not its bias. But they provoked a fresh wave of indignation from the right.The campaign shifted Trump's thinking, as well. Initially he seemed inclined to believe that Flynn had done something wrong -- at least by lying to Pence. More recently, he has privately voiced regrets about firing him.By the time the Justice Department dropped the charges against Flynn on Thursday, Trump was calling the investigators who pursued Flynn "human scum." The next day, he praised Nunes' relentless efforts to take them on."Devin Nunes, he wouldn't stop," Trump said. "He saw it before anybody."The president has begun musing about rehiring Flynn. But some advisers to Trump said they viewed Flynn as too much of a loose cannon for the campaign trail or the White House.In the end, that side of Flynn may prevent him from finding that final bit of redemption.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Outcry in Afghanistan after Iran border guards accused of forcing drowned migrants into river Posted: 10 May 2020 09:08 AM PDT  The drowning of at least 18 young Afghans allegedly forced at gunpoint into a river by Iranian border guards has caused a diplomatic strain between Kabul and Tehran and international calls for an investigation. Hanif Atmar, Afghan foreign minister, has pledged to use "all diplomatic affords to bring justice and investigate this unforgivable crime" and said he had held "tense" meetings with Iranian officials. Accounts of the incident and video of the bodies laid out in desert have provoked outcry across Afghanistan. The US State department said: "Iran's cruel treatment and abuse of Afghan migrants alleged in these reports is horrifying. We support calls for a thorough investigation. Those found guilty of such abuse must be held accountable." Tehran has denied its border guards had any involvement in the deaths, but has agreed to cooperate in any investigation. Survivors told the Telegraph that a party of more than 50 young men were caught north of the Western city of Herat as they tried to smuggle themselves into Iran earlier this month. Iranian guards beat them, then forced them into the Harirod river.
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| World Health Organisation denies China influence allegations Posted: 10 May 2020 08:30 AM PDT  The World Health Organization on Sunday denied allegations that the president of China asked it to delay issuing a global warning about the Covid-19 virus amid an intensifying war of words between Beijing and Washington over the handling of the pandemic. Der Speigel on Friday cited sources in Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) saying that Xi Jinping, China's head of state, had asked Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, to withhold information about human-to-human transmission and delay sounding a global alarm. The WHO said in a statement that the report was "unfounded and untrue." "Dr Tedros and President Xi did not speak on 21 January and they have never spoken by telephone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO's and the world's efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic," it said in a statement. China publicly confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 January. Der Speigel did not explain why president Xi would ask Dr Tedros to suppress information China had already released. The WHO declared the outbreak had become a pandemic on March 12. The same report said the BND believed Donald Trump had fabricated a claim that the virus escaped from a Wuhan research laboratory as a "diversion." Mr Trump and Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, have claimed to have seen intelligence and "enormous evidence" that the Wuhan lab was responsible for the pandemic. They have not made the alleged evidence public. Most scientists believe the virus jumped from bats to humans via an animal host at a food market in Wuhan. No Western intelligence agency has said there is evidence that the virus escaped from a lab, although they have expressed concern over a lack of transparency in China's response. China on Sunday issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous allegations" by some leading U.S. politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. The document included references to media reports that there were infections in America before the outbreak in Wuhan, a claim for which there is no evidence. China has also been accused of pressuring the European Union to delay and change a report that accused China or spreading disinformation about the virus. Donald Trump suspended US funding for the WHO on April 15 over what he called its "mismanagement" of the epidemic and alleged influence by China.
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| US census stirs uncertainty for those displaced by virus Posted: 10 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT  It's not meant to be a trick question, but many filling out their 2020 U.S. census form struggle to answer: How many people were staying at your home on April 1? The pandemic has fostered sudden, unexpected dislocation, making a typically easy question confusing for the newly displaced. Fran Kunitz left St. Louis to visit her sister and brother-in-law in Fort Myers, Florida, in mid-March.
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| Parole grants spark criticism from prosecutors, families Posted: 10 May 2020 08:00 AM PDT  During a push to accelerate the review of parole-eligible inmates because of the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia released dozens of violent offenders, including killers, rapists and kidnappers, blindsiding prosecutors and victims' families who say they were not properly notified as required by law, a review by The Associated Press has found. Thomas Runyon's killer, Dwayne Markee Reid, was among at least 35 people convicted in killings who were granted parole in March, according to an Associated Press review of parole board records, court records and interviews with prosecutors. "The Parole Board, already inclined to grant parole prior to the pandemic, felt that expediting certain cases was appropriate due to age of the offender, underlying health conditions, and the Board was confident that the release was compatible with public safety," board chair Tonya Chapman, who took over that role in April, wrote in an email.
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| Iranians fearful as virus infections rebound amid eased lockdown Posted: 10 May 2020 07:13 AM PDT  While many people in Iran's capital are taking advantage of loosened COVID-19 controls, some worry about a new spike in infections in what remains the Middle East's deadliest virus epicentre. The government began paring back coronavirus controls outside Tehran a month ago, arguing that the economy -- already sagging under punitive US sanctions -- needed to get back to bare bones operations. At 802, declared daily infections in Iran on May 2 had reached their lowest level since early March.
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| Militants attack Syrian troops on edge of rebel stronghold Posted: 10 May 2020 07:05 AM PDT |
| Champagne heir 'conned' out of fizz and fortune after swallowing offer to be 'secret agent' Posted: 10 May 2020 06:47 AM PDT  A French policeman tasked with protecting VIPs is among five charged with swindling a Champagne heir out of his bubbly and fortune by convincing him he had been recruited as a secret agent. The five, including an interior ministry staffer, are accused of luring the gullible producer of 450,000 bottles per year into handing over tens of thousands in fizz and cash. The money was supposed to pay for a raft of increasingly outlandish "missions" they claimed involved the Moroccan royal family, ex-US president Barack Obama, the United Nations and a part in a film with Alain Delon. The men face charges of "abuse of weakness" and "extortion" of Hugues B (whose full name has not been disclosed) - a psychologically frail individual with "megalomaniac delusions" who they mockingly referred to as VIM (Very Important Madman), according to the indictment seen by Le Parisien. Prosecuting judges say the plaintiff squandered his fortune on being fooled into buying fast cars and a plane the gang said was a gift from Mr Obama, as well as handing over crates of his best champagne to secure "massive deals" with top international figures that never materialised. He only broke the "spell" when facing bankruptcy, they say. In all, the group are accused of bamboozling the Champagne heir into handing over €135,000 (£120,000) over five years. They deny wrongdoing and claim the whole thing was a vast "joke".
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| US virus patients and businesses sue China over outbreak Posted: 10 May 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Before the coronavirus outbreak, Saundra Andringa-Meuer was a healthy 61-year-old mother of six who never smoked or drank alcohol. Now Andringa-Meuer has joined with dozens of other American virus patients and some U.S. businesses in taking a new legal step: They are attempting to sue China over the spread of the virus, which has killed at least 75,000 people in the United States.
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| Schumer calls on VA to explain use of unproven drug on vets Posted: 10 May 2020 06:15 AM PDT  The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine. President Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19.
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| Coronavirus complicates safety for families living together Posted: 10 May 2020 06:00 AM PDT  At the age of 24, Francy Sandoval has unwittingly become the sole breadwinner for her family, after her mom, dad and brother — a nanny, a painter and a server — all lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. Sandoval, an immigrant from Colombia, is among tens of millions of Americans living in multigenerational homes where one of the main strategies for avoiding infection — following social distancing protocols — can be near impossible.
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| As Trump pulls back from virus, Congress races to fill void Posted: 10 May 2020 05:44 AM PDT  As President Donald Trump tries to move on from the coronavirus, Congress is rushing to fill the void and prepare the country for the long fight ahead. Compelled by the lack of comprehensive federal planning as states begin to reopen, lawmakers of both parties, from the senior-most senators to the newest House member, are jumping in to develop policies and unleash resources to prevent a second wave. In the House and Senate, lawmakers are pushing sweeping proposals for a national virus testing strategy.
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| Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Covid-19 (trial version 7) Translated by Medical Universities of China Posted: 10 May 2020 05:40 AM PDT |
| Becoming 'King of Ventilators' may result in unexpected glut Posted: 10 May 2020 05:38 AM PDT  As requests for ventilators from the national stockpile reached a crescendo in late March, President Donald Trump made what seemed like a bold claim: His administration would have 100,000 within 100 days. At the time, the Department of Health and Human Services had not ordered any new ventilators since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January. An analysis of federal contracting data by The Associated Press shows the agency is now on track to exceed 100,000 new ventilators by around July 13, about a week later than the 100-day deadline Trump first gave on March 27.
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| Iran warns of virus resurgence after 51 new deaths Posted: 10 May 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Iran warned Sunday of a resurgence of the novel coronavirus as it reported 51 new deaths, almost a month after it started to relax a nationwide lockdown. Authorities reimposed more stringent measures in the southwestern Khuzestan province, reversing a phased return to work meant to revitalise the battered economy. "The situation should in no way be considered normal" in Iran, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in televised remarks.
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| New Iraq PM releases protesters, promotes respected general Posted: 10 May 2020 04:28 AM PDT  Iraq's judiciary ordered courts on Sunday to release anti-government protesters, carrying out one of the first decisions of the recently inaugurated prime minister just as dozens of demonstrators burned tires in renewed protests against the new leadership. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also promoted a well-respected Iraqi general, who played a key role in the military campaign against the Islamic State, to lead counter-terrorism operations. Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi was mysteriously demoted last year by former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, prompting outrage and sparking popular protests in northern Iraq and Baghdad.
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| Citing virus, Iran says it's ready for prisoner swap with US Posted: 10 May 2020 02:25 AM PDT |
| French parents anguish over sending children back to school Posted: 10 May 2020 12:42 AM PDT  As France prepares to start letting public life resume after eight weeks under a coronavirus lockdown, many parents are deeply torn over a question without a clear or correct answer: Should I send my child back to school? The French government is easing some of the closure and home-confinement orders it imposed March 17 to curb infections, with businesses permitted to reopen, residents cleared to return to workplaces and schools welcoming some students again starting Monday. Only preschools and elementary schools are set to start up at first, and classes will be capped at 10 students at preschools and 15 elsewhere.
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| Pakistan police: Cross-border firing from India kills woman Posted: 10 May 2020 12:01 AM PDT |
| Virus delay, early ice melt challenge Arctic science mission Posted: 09 May 2020 11:28 PM PDT  Now dozens of scientists are waiting in quarantine for the all-clear to join a year-long Arctic research mission aimed at improving the models used for forecasting climate change, just as the expedition reaches a crucial phase. News of the pandemic caused jitters among those already on board, said Matthew Shupe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado and co-leader of the MOSAiC expedition. The rest of the crew will be exchanged with the help of two other German research ships that will meet the Polarstern on the sea ice edge.
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| Iran Is Losing Its Grip in Iraq Posted: 09 May 2020 10:00 PM PDT |
| Taliban say they don't have missing US contractor Posted: 09 May 2020 09:26 PM PDT  Taliban leaders searched their ranks, including in the much-feared Haqqani network, and on Sunday told The Associated Press they are not holding Mark R. Frerichs, a Navy veteran turned contractor who disappeared in Afghanistan in late January. "We don't have any information about the missing American," Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman, told the AP. A second Taliban official familiar with the talks with the United States said "formally and informally" the Taliban have notified U.S. officials they are not holding Frerichs.
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| Virus prevents diaspora Venezuelans from sending money home Posted: 09 May 2020 09:01 PM PDT  After fleeing Venezuela along with millions of others amid the country's grueling humanitarian crisis, Misael Cocho made his way by bus to Peru — where he got odd jobs and sent money home monthly to support his mother and his 5-year-old son. The pandemic's economic fallout left many Venezuelans abroad and the relatives back home who rely on them in dire straits.
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| In Japan, pandemic brings outbreaks of bullying, ostracism Posted: 09 May 2020 07:18 PM PDT  The coronavirus in Japan has brought not just an epidemic of infections, but also an onslaught of bullying and discrimination against the sick, their families and health workers. A government campaign to raise awareness seems to be helping, at least for medical workers. When Arisa Kadono tested positive and was hospitalized in early April, she was only identified as a woman in her 20s in food business.
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