| Push for virus vaccine as Trump disinfectant theory sparks uproar Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:31 PM PDT  The United Nations on Friday launched a global push for a coronavirus vaccine as President Donald Trump triggered an uproar by suggesting patients be treated with disinfectant and the US death toll passed 50,000. With effective medical treatments still far away, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said defeating the pandemic will require global organizations and world leaders joining forces with the private sector to develop and distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine. "We face a global public enemy like no other," Guterres said.
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| China sends experts to advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, sources say Posted: 24 Apr 2020 05:36 PM PDT |
| China Sends Team to North Korea to Advise on Kim, Reuters Says Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:26 PM PDT |
| Brazil becoming coronavirus hot spot as testing falters Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:24 PM PDT  Cases of the new coronavirus are overwhelming hospitals, morgues and cemeteries across Brazil as Latin America's largest nation veers closer to becoming one of the world's pandemic hot spots. Medical officials in Rio de Janeiro and at least four other major cities have warned that their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse, or already too overwhelmed to take any more patients. Health experts expect the number of infections in the country of 211 million people will be much higher than what has been reported because of insufficient, delayed testing.
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| How do you fight a locust invasion amid coronavirus? Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:06 PM PDT  A second locust invasion hits East Africa, raising fears of more hunger amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
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| Gift of the Mask: Cuomo lauds retired farmer's gesture Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:27 PM PDT  A retired farmer in Kansas mailed the mask to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying the couple hoped it could be used by a doctor or nurse. Cuomo read the entire letter at his daily briefing as an example of courage and generosity in dark times. "I am a retired farmer hunkered down in N.E. Kansas with my wife who has but one lung and occasional problems with her remaining lung," read the hand-written letter from Dennis Ruhnke, also signed by his wife, Sharon.
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| NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:45 PM PDT  None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. THE FACTS: Members of Congress aren't taking a vacation while millions of Americans lose their jobs, as false posts circulating on Facebook and Twitter claim. Congressional leaders from both parties — including Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — have been in Washington to hammer out deals in recent days, The Associated Press reported.
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| Where Is America’s Jacinda Ardern? She’s Hiding In Plain Sight. Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Many of the world's women leaders are causing a surge in "leadership envy" across the U.S. Their swift and effective responses to the COVID-19 crisis have been a striking contrast to the Trump administration's failure to scale up testing and meet demands for essential medical and personal protective equipment – even as infection rates surge past 800,000 and deaths approach 50,000.There has been much speculation on why many women leaders have handled the crisis so well. Not only have they led the world in containing – and possibly eliminating – the virus through early lockdowns, travel restrictions, and widespread testing and contact tracing, they have demonstrated resolve, empathy, and a strong commitment to science-based straight talk. Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen acted early and decisively, introducing 124 measures to contain the virus and protect public health and limiting country's current COVID-19 death toll to six. Angela Merkel has calmly emphasized the severity of the virus in her public addresses, cautioning Germans that despite plans to re-open, the nation was still very much "at the beginning." New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern has won high praise for her Facebook Live chats, in which she outlines government policy while juggling her own family caregiving responsibilities, and for injecting a dose of humor and compassion in the crisis by deeming the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy "essential workers."But as impressive as their actions have been, their political leadership – as well as that of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway's women leaders – is not unique to those countries. It's also hiding here in plain sight.Elizabeth Warren was the first Democratic presidential candidate out of the gate with a detailed COVID-19 response plan in January. And yet, she and the other Democratic women presidential candidates failed to gain traction. The barriers they faced – fundraising challenges, a dominant media narrative fixated on "electability" – remains all too much the norm. Even though studies have found that women candidates in the U.S. are, on average, higher quality (as measured by ratings on a number of dimensions, such as grasp of the issues, public speaking ability, and constituency service), work harder to get elected, and are more likely to collaborate across the aisle, we spent much of the last two years listening to political pundits dog whistle how 'risky' the leading women presidential contenders were (Kirsten Gillibrand: too mean to Al Franken! Kamala Harris: too prosecutorial! Amy Klobuchar: too angry, yet bland! Elizabeth Warren: too strident and schoolmarm-ish!).Such one-dimensional portrayals fly in the face of women leaders' actual political achievements. Women have spent much of the past three years transforming politics from the bottom up. They organized the anti-Trump resistance, they canvassed, they ran for office in record numbers, and they won – at rates equal to men's.States have been the sites for some of the most dramatic political transformations. Women's representation in state legislatures increased nearly four percentage points post-2018 to an all-time high of nearly 30 percent. Nevada elected the first majority women legislature in 2018, and Colorado's legislature is nearing gender parity. Women of color, who remain severely underrepresented at every level of government, increased their representation in state legislatures by 38 percent since 2015.And just as we're seeing worldwide, women's political leadership didn't end on Election Day. According to a recent analysis by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and Quorum, Democratic women – those responsible for 2018's historic gains – had the highest rates of legislative productivity of any group of state legislators over the past two legislative sessions. They were also the most likely group of state legislators to introduce and successfully enact bills on paid family leave, child care, sexual harassment, and minimum wage. These are issues that directly benefit women and their families – and that have become even more urgent amidst the COVID-19 crisis.What will it take for women to be viewed as political assets, not risks, especially at the highest levels of elective office? The current crisis gives us an opening, but deeper work is needed.First, we must challenge the widespread gender bias that affects women candidates and the ways it is amplified by talking heads (including some with personal histories of offensive or demeaning behavior towards women). As philosopher Kate Manne has noted, women political candidates are held to higher standards to be deemed 'competent,' viewed as less 'likable' when they are, and punished for failing to appear sufficiently warm and compassionate. Black women experience particularly heightened bias, with voters viewing them as less competent than their opponents on economic and security issues.Second, we must work to reform our political institutions. Cultural attitudes about electability are reflections of who political systems and practices were designed to include – and who they were not.In a series of interviews I conducted with Democratic women state legislators, I heard concrete examples of how policies and practices affected political representation. Georgia State Senator Nikema Williams said, "serving in the [Georgia] legislature is a part-time job. I earn $17,000 a year…The current rules make it very difficult for people who don't have means to serve." Moreover, the long, irregular hours of political campaigns and legislative sessions can be challenging for parents of young children. Reforms like allowing campaign funds to be used for child care – something Liuba Grechen Shirley pioneered in her 2018 New York congressional race when she successfully petitioned the FEC – helps individuals with significant caregiving responsibilities to participate in public life.It is imperative that we emerge from this crisis not making the same mistakes we made going in. The time has come to double down on eradicating the barriers to reflective and inclusive democracy.There are immediate steps we can take to "widen the funnel" and invite more people into the political process. We should make state legislative service a full-time job (as 10 states already do) and pay all elected officeholders a living wage. Congress should enact the Help America Run Act, which would authorize the use of campaign funds for health insurance premiums and child, elder, or dependent care expenses. And we should work to ensure that no election is uncontested by running candidates for every race and relying more on organizations such as EMERGE, New American Leaders, and Run for Something to identify potential candidates than on traditional party "gatekeepers."The sooner we do, the sooner we'll start to recognize the Jacinda Arderns, Angela Merkels, and Tsai Ing-wen's who are already changing our democracy for the better.Julie Kohler is a fellow at the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and a senior advisor at the Democracy Alliance. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Jacinda Ardern Promises Tougher Gun Laws New Zealand's Prime Minister Is PregnantWhy America Has Never Had A Female President
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| Peru indigenous warn of 'ethnocide by inaction' as coronavirus hits Amazon tribes Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:22 PM PDT |
| Navy admiral advises reinstatement of fired carrier captain Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:34 PM PDT  The top Navy officer has recommended the reinstatement of the aircraft carrier captain fired for sending a fraught email to commanders pleading for faster action to protect his crew from a coronavirus outbreak, officials familiar with the investigation said Friday. Adm. Mike Gilday recommended that Navy Capt. Brett Crozier be returned to his ship, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the results of an investigation that have not yet been made public. If approved, his recommendation would end a drama that has rocked the Navy leadership, sent thousands of USS Theodore Roosevelt crew members ashore in Guam for quarantine and impacted the fleet across the Pacific, a region critical to America's national security interests.
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| DR Congo's 'prophet' leader of Bundu Dia Kongo arrested Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:19 PM PDT  Police seize leader of sect that wants to revive pre-colonial Kongo kingdom, following deadly clashes.
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| Frantic for Coronavirus Gear, Americans in Need Turn to China's Elite Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:14 PM PDT  HONG KONG -- U.S. hospitals and state officials face desperate shortages of the masks, ventilators and other gear they need to fight the coronavirus. Chinese factories can make it and sell it to them, but huge obstacles stand in the way -- and Washington's stumbles and growing hostility with Beijing aren't helping.Now some of China's elite -- and others with big stakes in keeping the U.S.-China relationship alive -- are stepping in to help.An ad hoc network of companies, wealthy individuals, academics and former diplomats has emerged to help the United States get the Chinese-made goods it needs to save patients and protect front-line workers -- and, perhaps, help polish China's dented image along the way. They are trying to navigate snarled supply chains, connect wary buyers and sellers and help overwhelmed local officials in desperate need of equipment.The group includes people like Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, co-founders of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant; Marc Benioff, co-founder of Salesforce, who struck a pact with Alibaba last year to sell its services in China; and Yichen Zhang, chairman of CITIC Capital, a major Chinese investment firm affiliated with a state-run conglomerate.Responding to calls for help from doctors, Zhang saw a chance to help one of CITIC Capital's portfolio companies, which got into the business of making protective gear for China during its own outbreak, and Yale University, which his daughter attends. He donated 10,000 masks and 40 protective gowns to Yale's health clinic."It's a business opportunity and a social responsibility," said Henry Yin, Zhang's assistant.Altruism may be just one factor for the others as well. Under pressure to deflect criticism of its own performance, the Trump administration has blamed China for the global spread of the devastating virus. President Donald Trump has also accused China of taking American jobs and launched a trade war against Beijing. Two-thirds of Americans now hold unfavorable views of China, according to a Pew Research Center survey released this week, the highest level since it began asking the question in 2005.The companies and individuals are acting at a time of yawning gaps, both in the vast and important U.S.-China relationship and in the U.S. government's own response. The Trump administration has frustrated states by telling them to buy their own equipment and has struggled to meet the nation's growing demand."It's a new feudalism in America," said Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society. "China recognizes this and China, too, they've had their talk with Trump, but they're also trying to stitch into the American fabric at the subnational and the corporate level."Filling those gaps could help the image of Chinese business in the eyes of the American public.Ma of Alibaba, China's richest person, chartered a plane to New York in March to deliver more than 1 million masks and testing kits, among other donations around the world. This week, Fortune magazine placed Ma at No. 3 on a list titled "Heroes of the pandemic." Alibaba's shares trade in both New York and Hong Kong.While Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, assailed the federal response to the New York's plea for ventilators and protective gear, Tsai of Alibaba and his wife, Clara, together with Ma arranged for the delivery of 2,000 ventilators and millions of masks and goggles to the state. Tsai owns the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty basketball teams.This week, the Tsais organized another shipment of half a million masks and goggles to the University of San Diego, which is in the city where Clara Tsai and their children live. Joseph Tsai also owns the local indoor lacrosse team, the San Diego Seals.Cuomo appealed to the Asia Society for help when he called into the group's remote March board meeting, said the institution's president, Josette Sheeran. She worked with a community of former diplomats to get connections, she said, while Michael Evans, an Alibaba executive, helped pinpoint and vet reliable manufacturers.Chinese companies can also burnish their image at home, where the country's leaders have been eager to paper over their own mistakes early in the outbreak and show China as a leader in the coronavirus fight. Shipments of protective gear by Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment giant that U.S. officials have accused of spying for the Communist Party, have been heavily covered by Chinese state-run media. Huawei has said it would never allow spying on its customers.Some Chinese donors bristle at questions of the motives behind donations. Yin, of CITIC Capital, said the Chinese government and public warmly received donations early in the outbreak from U.S. companies with big business interests in China like Honeywell, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors and Ford, all of which they announced publicly."Helping out is helping out," Yin said. "If you have to tell everyone to donate anonymously, that is a pretty high bar to ask."In CITIC Capital's case, the donations both met real needs and offered business opportunities. CITIC owns a stake in a company called Harbin Pharmaceutical, which began producing its own masks in February when it could not purchase enough for its employees or local medical personnel. Selling those masks soon began to look promising. "In the medium term, this becomes a business for us," said Helen Chui, Harbin's chief executive officer.Donating to the United States could help Harbin make a name in a new market. But to get around the stricter regulations, Yin had to divide Harbin's masks into 30 separate boxes addressed to his friends in the United States. Citic then used its ties to SF Express, a logistics company it is invested in, to get the company to bend its limit of only 100 masks per box. Zhang, of CITIC, sent another 5,000 to his sister in New York to distribute to local hospitals.In many cases, Chinese entrepreneurs and their allies are stepping in to untangle logistical problems and shifting regulations in both countries -- problems that the deteriorating relationship has made even more difficult to solve. Donations from China began to flow more easily only after Trump and Xi Jinping, China's top leader, spoke by phone March 27, according to several people involved in getting the goods moving.Even then, problems stood in the way.Weiqi Zhang, the founder of Blue Oak Education, a Shanghai-based startup, has been working with an anonymous donor who wants to send masks to the network of hospitals at Harvard University, where Zhang is an alumnus.First, he had to determine which hospital had the biggest need for masks. Then he had to sort out regulation. The donor originally wanted to send 40,000 KN95 masks -- China's version of the N95 mask used by front-line medical workers -- but at the time the standard was not compliant with U.S. regulations. So Zhang could only purchase 10,000 N95 masks with the money he had for the donation.There was also the issue of limited cargo space, as well as concerns that U.S. officials would seize the masks."To be honest, we shouldn't have to do anything," Zhang said. "They should be there to help facilitate the donations."Some governments have complained about the quality of equipment from China, making many Chinese companies leery of U.S. orders."Many factories are scared by rumors that Trump will sue them if they sell to the U.S.," said Zhou Hua, who runs a mask factory in the China's Anhui province.When the University of California, San Francisco, anticipated a shortage of protective gear in March, it turned to Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce and one of the school's benefactors. In an interview, Benioff said he called Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba, which Salesforce has a strategic partnership with.Alibaba worked with the Salesforce team to identify trustworthy suppliers, ultimately helping them deliver millions of masks, face shields and swabs to UCSF.But even the two well-connected tech companies faced challenges. Once, a 747 loaded with supplies was held up for several days in Zhengzhou, China, before it was cleared to leave for New York.At another point, the Salesforce team thought it had 2 million surgical masks from a source in Shenzhen, China. But as the truck made its way from the warehouse to the airport, some 1.5 million went missing. (The supplier eventually fulfilled the entire order.)"They were sold right off the truck," said Ryan Aytay, co-chief executive of Quip, a Salesforce collaboration tool, who was also pulled into the effort. "It was the wild, wild West."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Europe’s Virus Deaths Fall in Signal for Leaders Eager to Reopen Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:10 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Italy and France reported the fewest coronavirus deaths in weeks and Germany's sick beds continued to empty, providing welcome signs for European leaders ahead of wider steps to restart the economy.Spain, which has the most cases in Europe and remains on an almost-total lockdown, reported 367 new deaths on Friday, the least since March 21, though confirmed cases rose by the most in almost three weeks. Italy's daily death toll was the lowest since March 17 and France's declined to the lowest in almost four weeks.With European governments eager to ease confinement measures that have crushed the economy, the latest data also hinted at the volatility that makes relaxing restrictions difficult. Italy's new cases reported on Friday outstripped the number of recovered patients, reversing a trend begun the day before."We have to maintain our vigilance," Jerome Salomon, France's director general for health, said at a briefing. "The epidemic is not over."In Germany, about 103,000 of some 148,000 people reported to have contracted the virus have recovered. Europe's largest economy kept its so-called reproduction number below 1, according to official data, meaning the number of new Covid-19 infections is declining."Testing is one of the keys to why we have been able to come through this crisis in relatively good shape until now," German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday on broadcaster ZDF. "We tested very widely from the start and therefore had a very early picture of the development in Germany."German SlumpEurope's more than 110,000 deaths in the pandemic account for almost 60% of the worldwide total but as new infections decline, regional leaders are starting to loosen social-distancing curbs to try to revive business activity. Vice President Mike Pence said he thinks the U.S. "will have this coronavirus epidemic behind us" by the Memorial Day holiday on May 25.European economic woes were on display at a European Union summit this week where EU leaders failed to agree on a longer-term recovery plan. Afterward, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced plans to expand the budget deficit by 55 billion euros ($59 billion) in emergency spending. Germany's economy is expected to shrink by 6.3% in 2020, the worst contraction since at least 1950, Handelsblatt reported, citing draft government projections.Italian civil defense authorities reported 420 deaths linked to the virus for the latest 24-hour period, compared with 464 the day before, bringing the total to 25,969. Confirmed cases now total 192,994. While 2,922 patients in Italy were listed as recovered, there were 3,021 new cases.Italy's shutdown since early March has closed factories, confined people to their homes and brought daily life for 60 million people in the euro area's third-biggest economy to a near standstill. An initial reopening of businesses is planned for May 4, provided Italians observe protective and social-distancing guidelines. France is working on plans to gradually reopen the economy starting May 11.Austrian ReopeningAustria's first round of easing, which started April 14, hasn't spurred new infections, which have been below 100 for six days in a row. Hospitalizations, including intensive care, have been on a downward trajectory for two weeks.Spain has yet to publish detailed plans on lifting restrictions that have brought the nation to an almost complete standstill for more than a month. Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez has said a cautious easing may begin next month.Germany's new cases and deaths rose the most in nearly a week. There were 2,481 new infections in the 24 hours through Friday morning, bringing the total to 153,129, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Fatalities rose to 5,575 and the death rate — one of the world's lowest — rose to 3.6%.After Germany allowed small shops and hardware stores to reopen on Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated her warning of the risks of second-wave infections. Germany is "far from being out of the woods," she said in a speech to parliament on Thursday.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Libya's east-based forces shell country's capital, killing 3 Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:02 PM PDT |
| Anderson Cooper Dumbfounded by Trump’s ‘Sarcasm’ Excuse: Does He Think We’re ‘Morons’ Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:11 AM PDT  "What you just heard is the president of the United States just lying, right there," Anderson Cooper said after playing footage from the Oval Office of President Donald Trump attempting to walk back his dangerous suggestion that injecting disinfectants could help cure the coronavirus. When reporters asked him to clarify his comments on Friday, Trump claimed, "I was asking a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside, but it does kill it and it would kill it on the hands and it would make things much better." "It's fascinating because he's lying about something that we all witnessed, just yesterday, of him talking to his own coronavirus task force about doing research into injecting bleach, disinfectants into people, somehow cleaning them from the inside," the CNN anchor continued. "And now the president is claiming he was speaking sarcastically to reporters. There was no sarcasm. We have the tape." Cooper went on to call Trump's original comments "dangerous and idiotic" and lambasted him for "raising the ludicrous idea that somehow injecting disinfectant" could be an effective treatment, "which to anyone who is out there is not something any human being should do." He accused Trump of trying, "in Soviet fashion," to "rewrite what we all know and saw as though we are all morons." As CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins pointed out, "This is a tactic we've seen the president take before," claiming his comments were "sarcastic" after they have been "widely criticized." Notable examples include the times Trump called former President Barack Obama the "founder of ISIS" and when he publicly thanked Vladimir Putin for expelling U.S. diplomats from Russia. Before Trump used that excuse once again on Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany put out a statement that accused reporters of taking his comments "out of context." She did not mention his supposed sarcasm. 'The View' Blows Up Over Nancy Pelosi's Ice Cream-Filled RefrigeratorRead 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.
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| Answers to questions about new coronavirus antibody studies Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:11 AM PDT  Studies have begun to emerge that try to determine how many Americans have been infected by the new coronavirus. For instance, a study in New York state, one of the nation's most infected, estimated that the true number of infections is about 10 times the official count. In Santa Clara County, California, which includes San Jose, research indicated infections were at least 50 times greater.
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| Fires near Chernobyl pose 'no risk to human health', IAEA says Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:51 AM PDT |
| DR Congo's Virunga National Park hit by 'deadliest' attack Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  At least 12 rangers died in an ambush by suspected Rwandan rebels, the deadliest attack in recent years.
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| Brexit Talks Marred by Accusation U.K. Is Running Down the Clock Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:12 AM PDT |
| China and Russia Are Struggling Under Covid-19, Too Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:05 AM PDT |
| China and Russia Are Struggling Under Covid-19, Too Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:05 AM PDT |
| Suddenly, Singapore’s Coronavirus Cases Skyrocketed. Here’s Why. Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:53 AM PDT  This article was published originally by PassBlue, a partner of The Daily Beast which provides independent coverage of the United Nations. It was written by Noeleen Heyzer. SINGAPORE — Singapore now has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, at 11,178, as of April 23. The daily coronavirus infection rate reached a new high of 1,426 as I write. Just over a month ago, Singapore, with 5.7 million people living in the limited space of 720 square kilometers (447 square miles), was praised for its response to the pandemic.My city-state is known for its world-class health system, public housing, infrastructure, and effective governance. The government and our public institutions learned from their coordinated, collective response to the SARS epidemic of 2003, and the situation seemed fully under control regarding COVID-19. So what happened?Coronavirus Shows We Need an Apollo Project for Public HealthI had returned to Singapore from Thailand and Malaysia to take care of my aging relatives because of COVID-19. Malaysia, where my daughters live, was beginning to experience its worse coronavirus outbreak due to the tabligh gathering attended by 16,000 people in February. I crossed the border in mid-March just before Malaysia announced its lockdown.When I arrived in Singapore on March 15, it was on top of the outbreak, with only 226 confirmed cases. The government had instituted strict border controls to keep imported cases out. It had effective cluster-and-contact tracing systems in place with strict quarantine and "stay home notices."Our doctors and front-line health workers labored around the clock, attending to the infected and keeping death rates low. Our leaders used a "whole of society" approach and communicated constantly with the public. The government was fully aware of the economic and social crisis brought on by the pandemic and wanted to prevent a crisis within a crisis.Three generous Unity, Resilience, and Solidarity budgets of $59.9 billion were rolled out to families, low-income households, small businesses and the self-employed, and employers and their businesses, to support the vulnerable and enable the socioeconomic conditions to bounce back after this unprecedented crisis.Despite all these efforts, the invisible virus attacked our society at its weakest links and made visible those whom we depended upon but had undervalued and forgotten. Singapore is highly dependent on foreign labor for its prosperity, for the building of its infrastructure and for many essential services. As the borders between Singapore and Malaysia shut, with movement controlled by the Malaysian government, thousands of migrants crossed the causeway into Singapore from Johor, one of the busiest border crossings in the world, with 350,000 travelers passing the checkpoints daily.Too many migrant workers who crossed the border every day found themselves stranded and homeless as the cost of even the cheapest room was far too expensive for them. The Singapore government, civil society, and employers did their best to provide temporary shelter and food.But this was not the reason for the surge in local transmissions. There was another equally large group of migrants workers, mostly construction workers from South Asia, even more forgotten, housed in tightly packed dormitories. Many of us over the years had advocated for better working and living conditions for migrant workers, to little avail, as this would increase the cost of foreign labor for employers.The situation needed a wake-up call from Prof. Tommy Koh, a former Singapore ambassador to the United Nations, who wrote in his widely shared Facebook post recently:"The government has allowed their employers to transport them in flat-bed trucks with no seats. They stay in overcrowded dormitories and are packed likes sardines with 12 persons to a room. The dormitories are not clean or sanitary. The dormitories were like a time bomb waiting to explode. They have now exploded with many infected workers. Singapore should treat this as a wake up call to treat our indispensable foreign workers like a First World country should and not in the disgraceful way in which they are treated now."The Singapore government has taken serious action to deal with the confirmed cases in the dormitories and the rising infections among foreign workers. Its interagency task force has transferred workers to alternative living areas from the dormitories, particularly foreign workers in essential services, and also carried out a medical-support plan at all dormitories. The task force has also deployed support teams to all foreign-worker dormitories to work closely with dormitory operators to set up medical facilities for massive screening and testing and quarantine centers; to bring in supplies and food; and to manage lockdowns, logistics, and housekeeping.Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has taken personal responsibility, saying, "We are paying close attention to the welfare of the foreign workers... They have played an important part, building our HDB flats, Changi Airport, MRT lines... We will provide them with the medical care and treatment that they need."He added that he will ensure that employers pay workers their salaries to remit money home. (HDB flats refer to public housing by the Housing Development Board; MRT lines refer to Mass Rapid Transport.)Singapore has paid a heavy price in the crisis because its thinking on public health and COVID-19 management did not integrate the migrant population from the start. But Singapore is not alone in the recent spike of cases. The world is entering an extremely dangerous period, currently with at least 2.6 million cases. The United States and major European countries are the epicenters. The virus knows no geographical or political borders, political systems or ethnic, class, and religious divides. It does not discriminate, and hits everywhere and everyone. Global action and partnership are so vital now, to deal with the global pandemic and its aftermath.We need to raise the bar for economic, social, environmental, and gender justice to shape a post-Covid world that will be better prepared to prevent a medical crisis from turning into another human tragedy. My hope is that this pandemic will force a profound mind-set change for people and our planet.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.
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| Donald Trump reportedly owes tens of millions to the Bank of China Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Debt derives from 30% share the US president owns in a Manhattan building that was refinanced in 2012Donald Trump is reported to owe tens of millions of dollars to China, through a real estate debt which falls due in 2022, offering "astonishing leverage" to Beijing.The debt derives from a 30% share the US president owns in a billion-dollar building on the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, which was refinanced in 2012, with $211m of the funding coming from the state-owned Bank of China, Politico reported on Friday.The Chinese debt complicates Trump's emerging election strategy of portraying his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, as being soft on China. In a briefing on Saturday, Trump said that "China will own the United States" if Biden was elected in November.But China is heavily involved in the Trump business empire. A Chinese state-owned construction company is helping build the Trump World Golf Club in Dubai, and Beijing has awarded trademarks to the president's daughter, Ivanka. In the past, Ivanka's husband (and a White House adviser), Jared Kushner, has sought Chinese finance for at least one major real estate deal.The president is a passive minority investor in the 1290 Avenue of the Americas office tower. The main investor is Vornado Realty Trust, which owns 70%.Neither the White House nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment. Trump has officially handed over the day-to-day running of his business empire to his sons, but he benefits financially from its profits, producing multiple conflicts of interest. The Trump Organization has recently applied for coronavirus compensation from the government.Trump's approach to China has alternated between combative and unctuous, particularly in relation to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, with whom Trump has consistently claimed to have an excellent personal relationship.Trump tweeted on 24 January, in the early stages of the pandemic: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!""I study Beijing's influence on America, and this is the most problematic conflict of interest I've seen," Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society, wrote on Twitter. "The Bank of China is a state-owned bank, controlled by China's State Council, the country's major administrative body, chaired by the Premier Li Keqiang."The leverage this presents is astonishing. What if the Bank of China cancels the loan, or requires Trump to pay it back earlier?" Fish asked. "Is this why Trump often praises Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping? Does this cause him to temper his policies or his public remarks? This raises so many questions."
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| From guns to GoPros, Asian Americans seek to deter attacks Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:39 AM PDT  When Eddie Song leaves his Manhattan home, it can feel like heading into battle. The Korean American startup founder and avid rider dons his armored motorcycle jacket, motorcycle gloves, a skull face mask and a GoPro camera. As the coronavirus first seen in China now ravages the U.S., Asian Americans are continuing to wrestle with a second epidemic: hate.
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| Despite pandemic, global geopolitical currents stay strong Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:59 AM PDT  Pandemic or not, are there some global currents whose flows are too strong to stop? Most countries in the world have been consumed with how to contain the coronavirus, including hard-hit Iran and its enemy, Israel. When Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump gripped and grinned for the first time in Singapore two years ago, the world stopped and watched the jaw-dropping moment.
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| Rouhani urges Iran military to seek regional stability, remain vigilant -TV Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:45 AM PDT |
| Nations back UN plan to speed wide rollout of COVID response Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:45 AM PDT |
| FDA warns of heart risks with Trump-promoted malaria drug Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:44 AM PDT  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned doctors against prescribing a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus except in hospitals and research studies. In an alert, regulators flagged reports of sometimes fatal heart side effects among coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine. The decades-old drugs, also prescribed for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can cause a number of side effects, including heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage.
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| Swedish group: Imprisoned Saudi activist dies in custody Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:14 AM PDT |
| One Good Thing: Inspirational messages bloom amid outbreak Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:32 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic has brought an outpouring of messages from stranger to stranger — in windows, on front doors, across walls, and colored onto driveways and sidewalks. In Covington, Kentucky, 16-year-old twins Mallory and Kelly Glynn were toying around with colored chalk on their driveway, waiting for an idea. "I saw all the chalk art people were creating all over social media and wanted to give it a shot, but wasn't sure what to draw," Mallory said by text message.
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| Iraqi on genocide charges in Germany for IS killing of child Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:03 AM PDT  An Iraqi man went on trial in Frankfurt on Friday for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, on allegations that as an Islamic State member he was part of an effort to exterminate the Yazidi religious minority, and killed a five-year-old girl he purchased as a slave by chaining her in the hot sun to die of thirst. Taha Al-J., 27, whose full last name wasn't given in line with German privacy laws, faces a possible life in prison if convicted of the charges, and others including murder for the death of the Yazidi girl and membership in a terrorist organization. Al-J.'s wife, a German convert to Islam identified only as 28-year-old Jennifer W., has been on trial separately in Munich since last April on charges of murder, war crimes and membership in a terrorist organization.
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| VIRUS DIARY: Kept inside for weeks, triplets emerge in Spain Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:30 AM PDT  It will be only an hour. On Sunday, for the first time in nearly six weeks, my 12-year-old triplets will step out of our three-bedroom apartment in Madrid. Spain was one of the few countries where children had been prohibited from going out at all times during the lockdown.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:28 AM PDT  Also Friday, President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill that aids employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic. Here are some of AP's top stories Friday on the world's coronavirus pandemic. — There have been discussions within the White House about changing the format of the briefings to curtail President Donald Trump's role. The briefings often stretch well beyond an hour and feature combative exchanges between the president and reporters.
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| Coronavirus: South Africa allows cigarette sales as lockdown restrictions eased Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Alcohol sales remain banned but people can soon exercise outside and some businesses reopen.
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| Coronavirus: China investing millions in WHO to make up for Trump cuts and boost its influence, officials say Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:14 AM PDT  China has pledged to invest millions of additional dollars into the World Health Organisation (WHO) after Donald Trump announced he was cutting off US funding for the group while reviewing its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.Beijing said it would contribute an additional $30m as the United Nations organisation battles the Covid-19 pandemic, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang saying in a press briefing on Thursday the money would support those efforts as well as "the construction of public health systems in developing countries".
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| Ocean plastic was choking Chile’s shores. Now it’s in Patagonia’s hats Posted: 24 Apr 2020 06:00 AM PDT  A startup is recycling tonnes of discarded fishing nets throughout Chile. Is this a template for tackling the global plastic waste problem? In Tumbes, a village in southern Chile, discarded plastic fishing nets are crammed into gaps between parked cars and market stalls, evidence of a global waste problem that the town is working to resolve.Until recently, most discarded fishing nets in this coastal fishing village were dumped straight into the sea – contributing to the massive plastic pollution crisis that's choking the planet's oceans.ccn box"If you have a broken net, you throw it anywhere you can," says Ramon Maldonado, a fisherman in Tumbes.But a startup called Bureo – founded by three North American surfers – is collaborating with fishermen like Maldonado to keep hundreds of tonnes of discarded nets out of the ocean each year.Nets are sorted, cleaned, and cut in Bureo's warehouse in Concepción, a city a few miles from Tumbes. Here they are turned into 100% recycled polyester and nylon pellets, called NetPlus, which are sold to companies as a sustainable alternative to first-use plastics.Today NetPlus is used in Patagonia's hat brims, Trek bike parts, Humanscale office chairs – and even sustainable Jenga sets.Bureo joins dozens of initiatives addressing an urgent environmental question: how do we tackle our ocean plastic problem? And can we do it without reducing plastic use?While it is challenging to gauge exactly how much plastic has accumulated in the world's oceans, an estimated 8m tonnes of new plastic pollution enters oceans every year. The oil industry is investing in a huge surge of plastic production, which is expected to grow by 40% by 2030. Studies have also shown the proliferation of single-use plastic is accelerating climate change through greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle.If current trends continue, by 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.Northern Point, Girlfriend Collective and Rothy's are all budding companies producing clothing entirely from ocean plastics. Larger brands such as Nike, Adidas and Fjallraven have also launched garments from recycled ocean plastic.The plastics industry has long pushed recycling as the solution to pollution. In reality, less than 10% of the plastic produced in the US each year is recycled. This is in part because it is hard to make recycling initiatives profitable, as Bureo learned firsthand when they tried to produce sustainable skateboards in 2013."Ocean plastic is not one type of plastic that can be used for high-value products, it is mixed and degraded and needs to be separated," says David Stover, who founded Bureo alongside Ben Kneppers and Kevin Ahearn.Durable products need to be made from quality substances. Wading through masses of ocean trash and sourcing key material is time-consuming and financially draining.The company met with scientists and coastal communities in Chile to vet different materials. They found that rather than smaller plastics such as bottles and six-pack rings, coastal communities were particularly burdened by fishing nets piling up on beaches.Nets account for 10% of the ocean's plastics, according to a United Nations report. Heavy and cumbersome, they choke land mammals and pollute sea beds and beaches. And fishermen in Chile were desperate to get rid of them."It was a burden and they had no solution for it," says Kneppers.Kneppers spent two years living in Chilean coastal villages, working directly with fishermen to flesh out how to collect and process the nets. Bureo compensates artisanal fishermen for their collaboration, while industrial vessels can earn environmental certifications by participating.> Replacing virgin plastics in the market with recycled materials is important to get to a circular economy> > Luisa SantiagoCurbing global plastic production, however, may prove the bigger challenge, especially given a likely surge in cheap new plastics resulting from falling oil prices."Replacing virgin plastics in the market with recycled materials is important to get to a circular economy," says Luisa Santiago, who leads Latin American operations at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The ultimate goal, she stresses, must come from solutions that eradicate waste production, rather than rely on it. "We can't recycle our way out of the problem."In the meantime, Bureo is making a dent in Chile's net waste problem. The Concepción facility processes 800 tonnes of nets annually, clocking 2m lb of recycled raw plastic to date. They reached profitability in 2019.The team has scaled production, launching sites in Peru and Argentina. They have also entered an agreement with Chile's National Commercial Fishing Industry Association, and are on track to recycle 100% of the country's wild-caught net waste.All Patagonia's hat brims now use Netplus, accounting for 60 tonnes of recycled material. Matt Dwyer, who leads Patagonia's materials innovation and development team, says the hats are just the beginning."We have to provide whatever economic incentive we can for these materials to get recycled into high-quality durable goods, like a jacket you're going to wear for 25 or 30 years," he explains. "It's about proving it can be done."This story is a part of Covering Climate Now's week of coverage focused on climate solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.
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| Germany Braces for Worst Economic Slump in Its Post-War History Posted: 24 Apr 2020 05:40 AM PDT |
| Georgia businesses reopen cautiously amid coronavirus worry Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:53 AM PDT  Four customers clutching masks were waiting outside David Huynh's nail salon as he opened his Georgia business for the first time in four weeks Friday. Nearby, the lights were still off in clothing and jewelry stores closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, and many residents stayed locked inside their homes. Georgia's economy began a cautious, high-stakes reopening as Gov. Brian Kemp relaxed a monthlong shutdown amid experts' warnings of a potential surge in infections and objections from President Donald Trump.
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| Britain has set tight deadline, not moving in talks -EU's Barnier Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:46 AM PDT |
| Lebanon tightens security around refugee camp over virus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 04:01 AM PDT  Authorities closed all entrances to a Palestinian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon on Friday after four more people tested positive for the coronavirus, heightening concerns the virus could further spread among its overcrowded population. The four infected with the virus are relatives of a woman who tested positive earlier this week and are isolating inside their home, according to a statement from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian woman who was taken to a hospital in Beirut this week became the first refugee living in a camp in Lebanon to contract the virus, a finding that triggered a spate of testing in the camp.
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| Coronavirus: What misinformation has spread in Africa? Posted: 24 Apr 2020 03:57 AM PDT  We look at some of the claims about coronavirus circulating in African countries.
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| UK says Iran’s ballistic missile launch is of significant concern Posted: 24 Apr 2020 03:44 AM PDT |
| Muslims begin marking a subdued Ramadan under virus closures Posted: 24 Apr 2020 03:05 AM PDT  Muslims worldwide began Ramadan on Friday with dawn-to-dusk fasting, but many will have to forgo the communal prayers and family gatherings that make the holy month special, as authorities maintain lockdowns aimed at slowing the coronavirus pandemic. Ramadan is usually a festive season, with the daylong fast followed by lavish meals and evening get-togethers. "This is too sad to be remembered in history," said Belm Febriansyah, a resident in the capital of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
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| Virus Path Littered With Missed Opportunities Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:57 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- When the history of the coronavirus is written, it will be a litany of what ifs.What if China hadn't silenced early reports of the outbreak in Wuhan; what if Europe had responded faster to the first cases; what if countries had heeded scientific warnings that such a widespread epidemic was even possible.Politics was the Achilles heel that cut across the ideological divide. Chinese president Xi Jinping's Communist Party saw emergence of the virus as a risk to its image. Western leaders such as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who initially dismissed the pandemic as something that could be controlled without stringent containment measures, feared what a u-turn would do to their economies and their credibility with the public.U.S. President Donald Trump's pronouncements, with a constant eye on the November election, have been a dizzying roller coaster ride — from denial of the Covid-19 threat to recognizing it could claim tens of thousands of lives.His latest suggestion, as Kristen V. Brown and Justin Sink report, is the possibility of hitting the body with ultraviolet light or injecting people's lungs with bleach, which is a toxic chemical.Recent months have been story of missed opportunities: delays in isolating patients and testing, acquiring protective equipment for health workers, taking economically painful but needed action to stem the spread.With more than 2.7 million confirmed infections, 190,000 dead and much of the global economy in free-fall, the world isn't close to seeing the end of this.As governments face pressure to restore some semblance of normal life, the threat of a second wave is looming. It's unclear if we are any better prepared for that.Global HeadlinesLast chance | Congress has pumped out almost $3 trillion to limit the economic fallout of the pandemic. But there's a bruising confrontation ahead over the next, and perhaps final, round of aid before the 2020 elections, with control of the Senate, House and White House at stake.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is weighing a plan to steer aid to oil drillers that could set up a clash with Democrats. Click here for more from our interview with Mnuchin, who has won bipartisan praise for quickly pump-priming the economy.Trillion euro question | European leaders are inching toward a plan for rebuilding their economies after coronavirus, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsing a huge spending program. But the bloc is divided over whether the funds should come as loans — piling more liabilities onto ailing sovereigns like Italy — or grants. The EU Commission was given till May 6 to come up with an answer.Staying power | Whatever the state of Kim Jong Un's health may be, he has already put North Korea in its strongest position to resist U.S. pressure in decades by building a credible nuclear threat and finding ways to dodge sanctions. Trump has cast doubt on the reports of a health scare, calling one by CNN "fake."Wave of anger | The newspaper advertisement by a cancer hospital in India's most populous state didn't mince words: any Muslim patients seeking treatment must prove they didn't have Covid-19. The privately owned hospital apologized a day later but as Muneeza Naqvi and Upmanyu Trivedi report, the message shows the hostility against the Muslim minority as virus infections surge. Hashtags like "corona jihad" have been trending on social media, prompting a backlash from Gulf states where millions of Indians work.Standing alone | As governments around the world pour money into their economies to cushion the blow from the coronavirus, Mexico's president is going the other way. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insists that past bailouts worsened problems and is refusing to implement significant stimulus measures even if it means suffering for small businesses and millions of Mexican workers who are at risk of losing their jobs.What to WatchAfter two days of delays in finalizing spending plans, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's cabinet meets today to approve the 2020 budget. Hong Kong's protesters staged a small demonstration today, challenging rules that ban gatherings of more than four people and vowing to resume their pro-democracy movement. The fate of Sergio Moro, the former star judge behind Brazil's biggest corruption investigation and a key member of President Jair Bolsonaro's cabinet, is unclear hours after local media reported he had resigned as justice minister. South Africa will begin next week easing a nationwide lockdown that's devastated the economy, while retaining restrictions to curb the coronavirus.Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). In which African nation have gangs declared a cease-fire because of the virus? Send us your answers and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... The Philippines is known for training nurses and sending them around the world, but now the nation finds itself shorthanded as its coronavirus infections and deaths rise. With more Filipinos becoming sick, the consequences of this medical brain drain are weighing heavily, with most dying without seeing a medical professional, one lawmaker says. Meanwhile, about 150,000 Filipino nurses work in the U.S. alone. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Sen. McConnell the Elder and the fall of the American Republic Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:45 AM PDT  GENEVA, 2147 — The North American territory between Canada and Mexico is, as everyone knows, a blighted dystopian hellscape. Just last month United Nations peacekeepers attempting to mediate between the Fuddruckers Free State and the New Virginia Republic were attacked by "coal bandits" — part of a primitive nomadic tribe that practices a ritual in which this type of rock is set ablaze in great heaps to appease the gods. Luckily, the troops were able to withdraw before the heavily-armed irregulars, operating an early 21st-century type of wheeled transportation known as an "F-350 Super Duty," could cut them off.A century and a half ago, this region was home to by far the most powerful nation on Earth: the United States. Many have attempted to explain its downfall — suggesting a decline in civic virtue, an inability to move past filthy fossil fuel energy sources, a poor diet, or other reasons.But modern scholars have settled on a political explanation. The United States partly based its constitutional system on an even older nation, the Roman Republic. In the end it collapsed for roughly the same reason its ancient ancestor did — a wealthy aristocratic elite strangled vitally-needed reforms for so long that the national government lost all legitimacy and fell apart.The rapid decline of the U.S. accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. In almost all countries this caused tremendous economic problems, because to control the virus as many people as possible had to stay at home to avoid becoming infected. Poor countries were especially hard-hit, as they struggled to afford rescue measures. However, almost all rich countries eventually weathered the storm. The strategy was simple — national governments kept their citizenry solvent through direct payments, or by paying businesses to maintain their employees on staff, while they built up their health care system to prevent the virus from spreading.The U.S. was the one significant exception. Its legislative Congress (divided into two parts, a House of Representatives and a Senate) did pass economic rescue measures, but they were weeks late, heavily slanted towards wealthy elites, and even then plainly short of what was necessary. Meanwhile, the U.S. president at the time was Donald Trump, an unhinged former television celebrity, and he did almost nothing to control the epidemic, which would continue to grip the U.S. more than a year after it had been controlled in every other rich country. United States citizens were banned from traveling to most countries, and it was around this time that Mexico began constructing the famous "Gran Muralla" across its northern border to keep infection (and later, armed extremist militias) out.More importantly, after the initial rush of panic, the Senate, led by Mitch McConnell "the Elder" (so named because he remained in politics until 2032 at age 90), blocked all further rescue measures. This branch of Congress had two seats for every state regardless of population, meaning the 40 million residents of California had the same influence as the 600,000 residents of Wyoming. As a result, states representing just 16 percent of the population could form a Senate majority.The framers of the U.S. Constitution thought the Senate would forestall power grabs from the more democratic House, following Roman thinking that it was important to have a separation of powers. Instead the Senate evolved into a near-insurmountable roadblock before any decent policy. Even though the United States controlled the world's reserve currency and could borrow or print money virtually without limit, McConnell refused to help city and state governments whose tax revenues had collapsed due to the economic crisis, suggesting they declare bankruptcy instead. Scholars suspect he wanted to leverage the crisis to force these places to slash their public welfare systems and privatize their pensions for state employees. Elite aristocrats either despised these handouts to the non-rich, or wanted to get their hands on the money.If that was McConnell's goal it was a success. Even in his own state of Kentucky the social support system was gutted. But the side effects would prove disastrous for his greedy aristocratic power base. Unemployment was over 30 percent going into the November 2020 elections, and while Trump was defeated in a landslide, he refused to concede. The opposition candidate, an elderly former vice president named Joe Biden, suddenly died in December, and the rest of his Democratic Party did little to contest Trump's seizure of power. However, at this point the enormous U.S. military, which had been ravaged by the virus only for Trump to fire commanders who begged for help for their troops, turned on the president. Some Marine divisions remained loyal to the president, but they were routed in a battle outside Richmond. Trump attempted to flee to Slovenia, but he was captured by Interpol after being betrayed by his son-in-law and put on trial at the Hague.This in turn prompted several blocs of states, which had formed to coordinate haphazard coronavirus responses, to declare independence. After two more decades of grinding wars, that brought us more or less to the current reality of nine separate states — four democratic republics, two military dictatorships, one kingdom, and two failed states. All are constantly squabbling with one another and all are places where civilized people fear to tread.All this bears a marked similarity to the downfall of the Roman Republic. As historian Mike Duncan wrote in his book on the subject, the Roman Senate sowed the seeds of its own destruction by clinging to their wealth and privileges even when doing so threatened the republican system. The optimates faction of wealthy conservative senators, led by men like Lucius Opimius and Cato the Younger, constantly bottled up crucial reforms from the more-egalitarian populares faction — using tactics ranging from McConnell-style filibustering to mass murder to do so.The ambitious general Julius Caesar leveraged this situation to march on Rome itself and overthrow the Senate's power, after which he granted citizenship to millions of residents of Rome's provinces, implemented a sweeping redistribution of land, and rationalized Rome's administrative system. The optimates eventually assassinated him, but this sparked violent fury among the lower classes and another civil war, after which Caesar's adopted son Octavian consolidated power and permanently abolished republican government.It is rather baffling to modern audiences why the framers of the U.S. Constitution would view such a goofy, proven failure of a system as a source of inspiration. But the dire fate of such a powerful state drives home the danger of a political system in which it is nearly impossible to do anything. It is indeed dangerous to concentrate too much power in one person's hands, but it is equally risky to allow a tiny faction of aristocrats to throttle the democratic majority.More stories from theweek.com The president is unwell The Trump administration reportedly wants control over U.S. Postal Service in return for emergency loan Even Fox News wasn't convinced when Trump claimed his disinfectant injection comments were 'sarcasm'
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| AP FACT CHECK: Veterans Affairs chief plugs unproven drug Posted: 24 Apr 2020 02:30 AM PDT |
| Merkel’s Stimulus Vow Sets Up EU Battle for Recovery Funds Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:20 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's pledge to back a huge reconstruction package for the European Union left officials in Brussels to settle a dispute over how more than 1 trillion euros of funds should be disbursed.EU leaders inched toward an agreement on their rebuilding plans during a videoconference on Thursday but haven't yet resolved their differences over whether member states will be given grants or loans. France and Spain are leading a group demanding the recovery is funded via handouts from a supercharged EU budget while the Netherlands and Austria are among those insisting the additional funds should take the form of low-interest loans."Real budget transfers will be needed, not just loans," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters afterward. "If we let down a whole part of Europe, it's Europe as a whole that will fall."With more than 100,000 fatalities in the region, Europe has been hard hit by Covid-19 and the fallout from the crisis has exposed longstanding divisions over who pays for what. Strict lockdowns have shuttered factories and halted travel, pitching the bloc into the worst recession in living memory while leaders have been arguing over how to spread the financial burden of the rebuilding effort.Italy, one of the hardest hit countries in the EU, saw its bonds slide after the meeting. Yields on Italian 10-year debt jumped by as many as 12 basis points Friday to 2.10%, taking the week's increase to more than 30 basis points.Read More: EU Eyes $2.2 Trillion Plan as ECB Accepts Some Junk-Rated BondsCommission President Ursula von der Leyen told leaders that not even in World War II was there such a deep contraction in output as the one expected this year and only in the Great Depression did anything of similar magnitude occur, according to two officials. The commission was asked to come up with a compromise proposal by May 6, she said."There will certainly be a sound balance between grants and loans and this is a matter of negotiation within the group," she said.According to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, four nations were staunchly opposed to including any kind of grants in the recovery plan, though Germany was not among them. "It was a country that had an open and constructive posture in this negotiation," he said.Merkel's commitment to expanding the EU's seven-year budget came after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told heads of government that the euro-area economy could shrink by as much as 15% this year as a result of the pandemic and they risk doing too little, too late, according to three people familiar with the remarks."We'll have to expect higher contributions to the next budget," the chancellor told reporters afterward in Berlin. "Substantial investments will be necessary."The group endorsed a short-term 540 billion-euro ($580 billion) plan to support businesses and economies from the immediate fallout from the coronavirus, EU Council President Charles Michel said in a press conference. But leaders still failed to make much progress on the longer term rebuilding program with member states split on how to spread the financial strains.Macron and Spain's Pedro Sanchez insisted that any aid would need to be grants, not loans, which would just contribute to member states' debt load, officials said. Sanchez said that grants would avoid overburdening the public finances of countries worst hit by the virus and would bolster European solidarity, one of the officials said.History LessonsOn the 10th anniversary of Greece's first request for a bailout from the EU, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged leaders to take their cue from Lagarde and avoid the mistakes of the past, according to officials. He said authorities responded too slowly back then and it had proved to be an error to pile more debt onto the Greek state.One sign that the countries are nevertheless inching toward a compromise came from Italy's Giuseppe Conte. Conte's country has been the hardest hit so far by the coronavirus and its public finances were already in the most perilous state before the infections began.But in a divergence from his allies in Paris and Madrid, Conte signaled he'd be prepared to accept at least some of the aid provided as loans.Economic data earlier on Thursday illustrated the challenge leaders face. Measures of private-sector business activity plunged more than expected to an all-time low and signaled record job cuts. Corporate and consumer confidence slumped in the bloc's biggest economies."We cannot continue like we did before," Merkel said.(Updates with Italian bonds in the fifth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Merkel’s Stimulus Vow Sets Up EU Battle for Reconstruction Funds Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:57 AM PDT (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's pledge to back a huge reconstruction package for the European Union left officials in Brussels to settle a dispute over how more than 1 trillion euros of funds should be disbursed.EU leaders inched toward an agreement on their rebuilding plans during a videoconference on Thursday but haven't yet resolved their differences over whether member states will be given grants or loans. France and Spain are leading a group demanding the recovery is funded via handouts from a supercharged EU budget while the Netherlands and Austria are among those insisting the additional funds should take the form of low-interest loans."Real budget transfers will be needed, not just loans," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters afterward. "If we let down a whole part of Europe, it's Europe as a whole that will fall."With more than 100,000 fatalities in the region, Europe has been hard hit by Covid-19 and the fallout from the crisis has exposed longstanding divisions over who pays for what. Strict lockdowns have shuttered factories and halted travel, pitching the bloc into the worst recession in living memory while leaders have been arguing over how to spread the financial burden of the rebuilding effort.Read More: EU Eyes $2.2 Trillion Plan as ECB Accepts Some Junk-Rated BondsCommission President Ursula von der Leyen told the call that not even in World War II there was such deep contraction in output as the one expected this year and only in the Great Depression would they see anything of similar magnitude, according to two officials. The commission was asked to come up with a compromise proposal by May 6, she said."There will certainly be a sound balance between grants and loans and this is a matter of negotiation within the group," she said.According to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, four nations were staunchly opposed to including any kind of grants in the recovery plan, though Germany was not among them. "It was a country that had an open and constructive posture in this negotiation," he said.Merkel's commitment to expanding the EU's seven-year budget came after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told heads of government that the euro-area economy could shrink by as much as 15% this year as a result of the pandemic and they risk doing too little, too late, according to three people familiar with the remarks."We'll have to expect higher contributions to the next budget," the chancellor told reporters afterward in Berlin. "Substantial investments will be necessary."The group endorsed a short-term 540 billion-euro ($580 billion) plan to support businesses and economies from the immediate fallout from the coronavirus, EU Council President Charles Michel said in a press conference. But leaders still failed to make much progress on the longer term rebuilding program with member states split on how to spread the financial strains.Macron and Spain's Pedro Sanchez insisted that any aid would need to be grants, not loans, which would just contribute to member states' debt load, officials said. Sanchez said that grants would avoid overburdening the public finances of countries worst hit by the virus and would bolster European solidarity, one of the officials said.History LessonsOn the 10th anniversary of Greece's first request for a bailout from the EU, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged leaders to take their cue from Lagarde and avoid the mistakes of the past, according to officials. He said authorities responded too slowly back then and it had proved to be an error to pile more debt onto the Greek state.One sign that the countries are nevertheless inching toward a compromise came from Italy's Giuseppe Conte. Conte's country has been the hardest hit so far by the coronavirus and its public finances were already in the most perilous state before the infections began.But in a divergence from his allies in Paris and Madrid, Conte signaled he'd be prepared to accept at least some of the aid provided as loans.Economic data earlier on Thursday illustrated the challenge leaders face. Measures of private-sector business activity plunged more than expected to an all-time low and signaled record job cuts. Corporate and consumer confidence slumped in the bloc's biggest economies."We cannot continue like we did before," Merkel said.(Updates with comments from leaders throughout)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Tiptoeing back to normality, Germany gears up for 2nd virus wave Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:22 AM PDT  Left empty as the coronavirus pandemic forced events to be cancelled, Berlin's exhibition centre Messe is getting a makeover with the help of German soldiers -- to reemerge as a hospital in a few weeks' time. Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly warned that Germany must not rest on its laurels even if the infection rate has dropped, saying it is still "on thin ice". Virologist Christian Drosten of Berlin's Charite hospital has also warned that the virus could return with a "totally different force".
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| China's diplomats show teeth in defending virus response Posted: 24 Apr 2020 12:04 AM PDT  From Asia to Africa, London to Berlin, Chinese envoys have set off diplomatic firestorms with a combative defense whenever their country is accused of not acting quickly enough to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The tougher approach has been building for several years under President Xi Jinping, who has effectively jettisoned former leader Deng Xiaoping's approach of hiding China's ambitions and biding its time. "The days when China can be put in a submissive position are long gone," said an editorial in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper known for its outspoken views.
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