| Ultraviolet light can be used against coronavirus — just not in the way Trump imagines Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Researchers have shown that ultraviolet light can be used to disinfect surfaces and kill viruses in ambient air in ways that could be used to reduce transmission in public spaces.
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| I'm a postal worker. In the coronavirus pandemic, I am my customers' link to the world. Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT  A California postal worker talks about his interactions with customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Democrats Eye Cold, Hard Cash In Next Stimulus Round Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT |
| 'Extensive search' for missing soldier after keys, wallet found Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:09 PM PDT  Vanessa Guillen, 20, was last seen Wednesday in a parking lot at Fort Hood in Texas.
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| Woman in India gang-raped after being quarantined alone in school: Police Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:59 AM PDT  A woman was allegedly gang-raped while being quarantined alone in a school amid India's strict coronavirus lockdown, a police official said.
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| Police arrest 3 people protesting closed beaches at SoCal beach set to reopen Monday Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:05 PM PDT  Encinitas mayor Catherine Blakespear said she believed the protesters "were trying to make a political point" at a beach scheduled to reopen Monday.
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| China 'sought to block EU report that claimed it was spreading coronavirus disinformation' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:03 PM PDT  China sought to block a European Union report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to four sources and diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. The report was eventually released, albeit just before the start of the weekend Europe time and with some criticism of the Chinese government rearranged or removed, a sign of the balancing act Brussels is trying to pull off as the coronavirus outbreak scrambles international relations. The Chinese Mission to the EU was not immediately available for comment and China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the exchange. An EU spokeswoman said "we never comment on content or alleged content of internal diplomatic contacts and communication with our partners from another countries." Another EU official said the disinformation report had been published as usual and denied any of it had been watered down. Four diplomatic sources told Reuters that the report had initially been slated for release on April 21, but was delayed after Chinese officials picked up on a Politico news report that previewed its findings. A senior Chinese official contacted European officials in Beijing the same day to tell them that, "if the report is as described and it is released today it will be very bad for cooperation", according to EU diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. READ MORE: How China is rewriting the coronavirus narrative to distract from mistakes at home Will the coronavirus crisis tear the European Union apart? Donald Trump warns of consequences if China was knowingly responsible for coronavirus Trump's top diplomat claims China not sharing Covid-19 sample with world scientists The correspondence quoted senior Chinese foreign ministry official Yang Xiaoguang as saying that publishing the report would make Beijing "very angry" and accused European officials of trying to please "someone else" - something the EU diplomats understood to be a reference to Washington. The four sources said the report had been delayed as a result, and a comparison of the internal version of the report obtained by Reuters and the final version published late on Friday showed several differences. For example, on the first page of the internal report shared with EU governments on April 20, the EU's foreign policy arm said: "China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed." The public summary posted on Friday to the bloc's disinformation portal, euvsdisinfo.eu, attributed the disinformation to "state-backed sources from various governments, including Russia and – to a lesser extent – China". The public summary did note "significant evidence of covert Chinese operations on social media", but the reference was left to the final six paragraphs of the document. Disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak is emerging as a flashpoint between the United States and China, and officials on both sides have traded allegations of hiding information about the pandemic.
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| Cuomo on coronavirus stay-home sacrifices: 'What you're doing is actually saving lives' Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:17 PM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged frustration with coronavirus stay-at-home orders but compared them with past sacrifices during national crises.
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| Train likely belonging to North Korea's Kim seen at resort town: US monitor Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:51 AM PDT  A train likely belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been spotted at a resort town in the country's east, satellite photos reviewed by a US-based think tank showed, as speculation persists over his health. The train was parked at a station reserved for the Kim family in Wonsan on April 21 and April 23, the respected 38North website said in a report published Saturday. 38North cautioned that the train's presence "does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health".
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| Philip Kahn, 100, Dies; Spanish Flu Took His Twin a Century Ago Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Philip Kahn believed that history repeats itself, a truism that has hit home for his family in extraordinary fashion.His twin brother, Samuel, died as an infant during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. Now Kahn himself has died of the coronavirus. He was 100."He was a very healthy 100," Warren Zysman, one of his grandsons, said in a phone interview. "He watched the news, he was completely aware of the pandemic. When he started coughing, he knew he might have it, and he knew the irony of what was going on."Zysman added: "And he would say, 'Warren my boy, I told you history always repeats itself. We could have been much better prepared for this.'"Philip Kahn, a decorated World War II veteran, died April 17 at his home in Westbury, New York, on Long Island. "Tests confirmed he had COVID-19," his doctor, Sandeep Jauhar, a cardiologist in nearby New Hyde Park, wrote on Facebook."Lovely man, wry wit, a kind soul," Jauhar added. "His twin brother succumbed in a different pandemic, the Spanish flu ... 101 years ago."The chances of siblings dying a century apart in global pandemics seem beyond remote, but the Kahns are not the only ones. Selma Ryan, 96, who died of the virus in San Antonio, Texas, on April 14, lost her older sister, Esther, to the Spanish Flu 102 years earlier, according to News4SA, a local television station. The sisters never knew each other.Philip Felix Kahn did not know his brother either. The twins, whose father ran a bakery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, were born Dec. 15, 1919, also in Manhattan, while the Spanish flu was still raging. The boys were just a few weeks old when Samuel died."He had this level of sadness about it because, while he was born a twin, he never got to experience being a twin," said Zysman, who is himself a twin."He always told me how hard the loss of his brother was for his parents," he added, "and that he carried this void with him his entire life."Kahn served in an Army aerial unit in the Pacific during World War II, participating in the Battle of Iwo Jima and later in firebombing raids over Japan. He also helped make aerial surveys after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He earned two Bronze Stars.After the war, he worked as an electrical foreman and helped build the World Trade Center and the first New York City blood bank. He was always active, enjoying swimming and dancing. He would even dance on roller skates.In addition to Zysman, Kahn is survived by his daughter, Lynn Zysman; five other grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.Zysman said that his grandfather loved to talk about the war and history, and that almost every story he told began with his brother, Samuel, and ended with the same point: It was important to learn from experience. Toward the end of his life he spoke often of Samuel.Zysman's wife, Dr. Corey Karlin-Zysman, who has been treating coronavirus patients around the clock at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, called the brothers "pandemic bookends."The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people worldwide; so far, the coronavirus has killed 191,000.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| A 57-page memo urged GOP campaigns to blame China for the coronavirus pandemic and insist the term 'Chinese virus' isn't racist Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:36 AM PDT  The memo said Republicans shouldn't defend Trump's handling of the pandemic but should shift the conversation to blaming China.
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| California heat wave draws large crowds to beaches despite stay-at-home order Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:30 PM PDT  "We've had very good compliance," a lifeguard said. "People are spreading out."
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| Six new symptoms have been added to the CDC's COVID-19 list, including muscle pain, chills and headaches Posted: 25 Apr 2020 09:07 AM PDT  The CDC has added 6 new recognized symptoms to its list for COVID-19: sore throat, headache, chills, muscle pain, loss of smell or taste, and shaking.
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| Coronavirus: Cuban doctors go to South Africa Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:28 AM PDT  The medics are among 1,200 sent to countries that requested help from the communist state.
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| Saudi Arabia ends death penalty for minors and floggings Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered an end to the death penalty for crimes committed by minors, according to a statement Sunday by a top official. The decision comes on the heels of another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail time, fines or community service and bringing one of the kingdom's most controversial forms of public punishment to a close. King Salman's son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seen as the force behind the kingdom's loosening of restrictions and its pivot away from ultraconservative interpretations of Islamic law known as Wahhabism, which many in the country still closely adhere to.
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| Women in ICE custody plead for release amid pandemic Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:59 PM PDT  Immigrant women detained in rural Louisiana feel powerless to shield themselves from the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. They're asking the U.S. not to forget about them.
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| Israel reopens some businesses and considers resuming school year Posted: 26 Apr 2020 01:11 AM PDT  Israel allowed some businesses to reopen on Sunday and said it was considering letting children return to school as part of trial efforts to ease coronavirus restrictions and help the country's struggling economy. In Jerusalem's popular Mahane Yehuda market, angry vendors wearing face masks demonstrated to demand their stalls be reopened. "There is no sense in shops or groceries being open just around the corner from Mahane Yehuda market while this market stays closed," said Tali Friedman, who heads its committee of vendors.
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| Re-Opening Politics, North Korea’s Future Draw Scrutiny: Weekend Reads Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- How and when to ease lockdowns to fight the coronavirus — along with government efforts to ramp up testing capacity — were the key questions across the globe this week as the pandemic spread.In the U.S., small bands of protesters — driven by the social-media tactics of a coalition of gun-rights activists and far-right groups — staged demonstrations over government-ordered closures of businesses and schools, particularly in Democratic-led states. Elsewhere the impact of the virus on the world's poorest people is coming into focus. And uncertainty swirled around the state of Kim Jong Un's health after reports the North Korean leader was in critical condition following cardiovascular surgery. Dig deeper into these and other topics with the latest edition of Weekend Reads. Patchwork Approach to Reopening States Reveals a Red-Blue DivideAs Amanda Hurley reports, the gap between how Republican- and Democratic-controlled states seek to ease social distacing measures and restart their economies will likely grow wider as the pandemic grinds on.Inside the Dystopian, Post-Lockdown World of WuhanThe first epicenter is coming back to life, but not as anyone knew it. Sharon Chen and Matthew Campbell — with the help of Claire Che and Sarah Chen — tell what it's like for some of the millions of people in Wuhan trying to come to grips with the economic and social fallout from the worst pandemic in a century.The Week Coronavirus Got Away From Boris Johnson's GovernmentBritain had time. Academics, disease specialists and critics say the prime minister wasted it. Alex Morales, Suzi Ring, Robert Hutton and James Paton take you inside a critical week in March. Kim Jong Un Has Put North Korea in Position to Outlast His ReignWhatever the state of Kim's health, he's already put North Korea in its strongest position to resist U.S. pressure in decades. Eight years after Kim filled the power vacuum left by the death of his reclusive father, Kim Jong Il, North Korea is more secure and less isolated. Jihye Lee and Jon Herskovitz explain why that matters right now. Workers Who Make the World's Clothes Are Facing Abject PovertyRozina Begum is worried that she and her husband and two children will starve. Rozina — along with 300 other workers at the Ultimate Fashions plant on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital lost their jobs March 25. She's one of the millions of people who are on the lowest rung of a global supply chain that has been shattered by the virus, Marvin G. Perez and Arun Devnath report. Virus Care Disruptions Raise Infant Death Risk in Poor NationsThe Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse years of progress in reducing maternal and child mortality worldwide by impairing access to medical care in poorer countries. Anne Pollak takes a closer look. Hope Turns to Doubt, Then Gunfire, as Saudi Megacity EmergesWhen Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans for Neom, a futuristic megacity on the Red Sea coast, residents rejoiced. Jobs and investment would surely accompany the $500 billion development at the center of the young leader's plan to transform his conservative kingdom. But that optimism has faded. Vivian Nereim explores why. High-Seas Energy Fight Off Malaysia Draws U.S., Chinese WarshipsMalaysia's push to explore energy blocks off its coast has turned into a five-nation face-off involving U.S. and Chinese warships. That's raised the risk of a direct confrontation as broader tensions grow between the world's biggest economies, Philip J. Heijmans reports.Religious Group's Mass Gatherings Spark Asian Virus ClustersA conservative religious group's gatherings have emerged as virus hotspots in Malaysia, India and now Pakistan, with authorities tracking people who attended an event with as many as 70,000 worshipers. Faseeh Mangi has more.Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally … Sushen Dang, 26, and his fiancee, Keerti Narang, dreamed of making their wedding an affair to remember — but not like this. Instead of hundreds of guests descending on a wildlife resort for a multi-day revelry with cocktail parties and elaborate feasts, the couple got married over the video conferencing app Zoom amid a stringent national lockdown. It's just one example of how India's $70-billion wedding industry has skidded to a stop in the midst of peak marriage season. 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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| Lebanon bank attacked with explosive amid economic crisis Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Assailants lobbed an explosive device at a bank in Lebanon Saturday, in the latest attack on financial institutions in a country facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The official National News Agency said the night-time assault targeted a branch of Fransabank in the southern port city of Sidon, damaging its glass facade. The attack came a day after Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Lebanese bank deposits had plunged $5.7 billion in the first two months of the year, despite curbs on withdrawals and a ban on transfers abroad.
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| How USNS Comfort went from a symbol of hope with the president's blessing, to heading back from NYC having treated fewer than 180 patients Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:22 AM PDT  The Navy hospital ship arrived in New York City to great fanfare. Less than a month later, it is being sent home to Virginia.
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| Asian-Americans seek to deter hateful attacks amid pandemic Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:40 AM PDT  As the coronavirus first seen in China now ravages the U.S., Asian-Americans are wrestling with a second epidemic: hate. Hundreds of attacks on Asian people have been reported, with few signs of decline. Many are filming their interactions or carrying guns.
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| Spanish flu-era diaries give Ohio family hope Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:42 AM PDT  "While a global pandemic shuttering schools and businesses feels like new territory, many of our families still bear the scars of the 1918 influenza pandemic," Amy Patterson says.
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| Fact check: Is the economy still in a better place than when Obama left office? Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:31 PM PDT  Some are comparing the pandemic-hit Trump economy still favorably to its high point under the Obama administration. That claim is partly false.
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| Coronavirus: US death toll passes 50,000 in world's deadliest outbreak Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:54 PM PDT  A grim milestone is passed by the world's deadliest outbreak, although US mortality rate is comparatively low.
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| Mexico returns Central Americans, empties migrant centers Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:17 PM PDT |
| Sturgeon Sees Chance to Reshape Scots Economy on Virus Outbreak Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:19 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Scotland has the opportunity to reshape its economy as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, according to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, even as she reiterated her warning that Scots are likely to face an extended period of restrictions on movement and social contact."When things come apart – when the kaleidoscope of our lives is shaken – there is an opportunity to see them put back together differently, and see a new way of doing things," Sturgeon wrote in the Herald on Sunday newspaper. "We can start to think together, and work together, to decide the kind of Scotland we want to emerge from this crisis."Reform of Scotland's 170 billion-pound ($210 billion) economy could be accelerated as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, which like in the rest of the U.K., has led to tough restrictions on the movement of people and the ability of businesses to keep operating, Sturgeon wrote in the Glasgow-based newspaper. The country's chief economist, Gary Gillespie, estimates that Scotland's economy could shrink by 12% this year, and he has warned that not all businesses would be able to survive the lockdown."Before this crisis, we were focused on our mission of making Scotland a greener, fairer and more prosperous country," Sturgeon wrote. "That has not changed. But the place from where we are starting has."Sturgeon, who leads Scotland's pro-independence government, didn't mention separation from the rest of the U.K. in her editorial in the Glasgow-based newspaper. There have been signs in recent weeks, however, that the Edinburgh-based government is starting to diverge from the rest of the U.K. in its handling of the crisis.The Scottish government last week published its 24-page strategy detailing how it intends to ease restrictions on people and reopen the economy. At the time, Sturgeon said Scotland would go its own way if it deems that to be appropriate. Plans could include lifting restrictions on a geographical basis or for different groups of the population, it said.The U.K. government, which has set out five tests for lifting the nationwide lockdown, hasn't yet produced a detailed strategy because of concern doing so would encourage people to ignore the restrictions."It is important to be clear at the outset that the current lockdown remains vital – it is only because of it, that we are now seeing some progress against the virus," Sturgeon wrote. "These restrictions may need to continue in the current form beyond this three-week period."More than 10,000 people have so far tested positive for Covid-19 in Scotland, with 1,230 confirmed as having died from the virus. Separate figures, which include deaths that are suspected of being related to the illness, show the number of fatalities at more than 1,600."We still all face major challenges. Challenges in navigating the uncertainties that the virus has created, as well as rebuilding our economy and public services," Sturgeon wrote. "But we can go further than rebuilding, and look seriously at social and economic reform."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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| Gov. Cuomo says novel coronavirus can live on bus and subway surfaces for 72 hours, posing an ongoing concern for transit employees and riders Posted: 25 Apr 2020 10:59 AM PDT  "Think about this from a transit point of view or from your car point of view," NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said of the virus' threat in high-traffic areas.
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| Back from COVID-19, Johnson urged to reveal UK lockdown exit strategy Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:34 AM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to his Downing Street residence on Sunday after recovering from COVID-19, ready to take the helm again with pressure growing for the government to explain how it will ease a month-old coronavirus lockdown. On his desk, Johnson will find a letter from opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer urging him to set out when and how an economic and social lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus might be eased, one of many demanding more information. Raab, the foreign secretary, said speculation about this risked diluting the message that people should stay at home.
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| El Paso Walmart shooting victim dies, raising death toll to 23 Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:46 PM PDT  A hospital official said Guillermo "Memo" Garcia died after a nine-month fight.
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| Yemen crisis deepens as separatists declare self-governance Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Yemeni separatists early Sunday declared self-rule of the country's south as a peace deal with the government crumbled, complicating a long and separate conflict with Huthi rebels who control much of the north. The Southern Transitional Council (STC) accused the government of failing to perform its duties and of "conspiring" against the southern cause, and said self-governance had begun at midnight. The government condemned the move and said the separatists -- who have long agitated for independence in the south -- would be responsible for the "catastrophic and dangerous" outcome.
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| Coronavirus: India allows small shops to reopen Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:40 AM PDT  Only half of staff are allowed to work and must take precautions such as wearing face masks.
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| Body of murdered student tracked down using Apple's Find My Friends app Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:50 AM PDT  The body of a nursing student who was strangled to death by her classmate was discovered by her friends after they used Apple's Find My Friends app to track her down.Binghampton University student Haley Anderson, 22, went missing in March 2018, and it later emerged she had been killed by Orlando Tercero, 23.
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| Out of pandemic crisis, what could a new New Deal look like? Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:58 AM PDT  The New Deal was really a series of new deals, spread out over more than six years during the Great Depression — a menu of nationally scaled projects that were one part make-work and many parts lasting impact. Writers and artists were dispatched to chronicle the hardship, employing authors like Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison.
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| Brazil Deserves Better Than Jair Bolsonaro Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:00 AM PDT |
| Could a 'controlled avalanche' stop the coronavirus faster, and with fewer deaths? Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Israeli scientists say they can mimic the effects of a vaccination campaign if certain people willingly get infected with the coronavirus and recover.
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| A top public health expert says US coronavirus pandemic is 'near the end of the beginning' as states are set to reopen Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:51 AM PDT  Despite promising indicators of new cases and deaths from the virus, Tom Inglesby said that the US is "not out of the woods by any means."
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| Judge: California can't require background checks for ammo Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:07 PM PDT  "California's new ammunition background check law misfires," wrote U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez.
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| Saudi ramps up virus testing as lockdown relaxed Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia announced Sunday a $265 million deal with a Chinese firm to ramp up coronavirus testing as the kingdom eased a 24-hour curfew, except in hotspots including Islam's holy city of Mecca. The agreement with China's Beijing Genome Institute (BGI) will provide for nine million COVID-19 tests, the government said in a statement. Earlier the government decided to relax a nationwide curfew between 9am and 5pm, with malls and retailers allowed to reopen until May 13, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
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| Embraer hits out after Boeing scraps $4.2 billion tie-up Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:26 AM PDT  Boeing Co on Saturday pulled out of a $4.2 billion deal to buy Embraer's commercial jets division, sparking a furious response from its jilted partner and leaving plans for a U.S.-Brazil alliance from regional jets to jumbos in tatters. The collapse, first reported by Reuters, came hours after a midnight deadline expired with no agreement on how to implement a deal first aired in 2018, partially in response to a similar Canadian acquisition by Europe's Airbus. Boeing accused Embraer of failing to meet conditions for closing the transaction, but Embraer said Boeing had torpedoed it because of wider financial problems it faces as a result of the coronavirus crisis and the grounding of its 737 MAX.
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| Trump: Postal Service must charge Amazon more, or won't receive loan Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:39 AM PDT  President Trump said on Friday that he won't approve a $10 billion loan for the U.S. Postal Service unless it raises charges for Amazon and other big shippers to four to five times current rates.
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| Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China's reputation) Posted: 26 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  How Jack Ma's growing clout during the coronavirus crisis may put him in the sights of China's jealous leaders.
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| Israel's once-mighty Labor party weighs unity with Netanyahu Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:18 AM PDT  Israel's Labor party voted on Sunday to join the incoming government headed by arch-rival Benjamin Netanyahu, despite repeated campaign promises to never sit with a prime minister facing criminal indictments. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud is the largest faction, with 36. Around 3,800 members of Labor's central committee were eligible to vote electronically on party leader Amir Peretz's proposal to join the unity government headed by Netanyahu and his main political adversary, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party.
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| 'Hambergers' and 'Noble prizes': Trump attacks press in furious Twitter rant riddled with spelling errors Posted: 26 Apr 2020 06:58 AM PDT  Donald Trump has threatened to strip reporters of "Noble prizes" and sue media outlets over reporting that confirmed Russian interference in US elections and within the president's 2016 campaign.In a furious, misspelled Twitter rant on Sunday, after refusing to host White House coronavirus press briefings following his deadly suggestions that American could inject disinfectant to ward off coronavirus, the president lashed out at The New York Times over what he called a "phony story" about his daily routine, which doesn't begin until noon, after spending his mornings watching Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, The Times reported.
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| U.K.’s Raab Rejects Fresh Calls for Early Easing of Lockdown Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:55 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will return to work Monday as pressure mounts from his own Conservative Party to relax social-distancing measures amid concern over the damage they're doing to the economy.On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputizing for Johnson while the premier recovered from Covid-19, rejected calls for an early easing of the lockdown, telling Sky News the outbreak was still at a "delicate and dangerous" stage. More than 20,700 people have died in the pandemic in U.K. hospitals, including 413 reported Sunday.Six business leaders, including Conservative Party donor billionaires Michael Spencer and Peter Hargreaves, have written to the government asking them to ease restrictions, according to the Sunday Times."We should really begin to offer a narrative of how and when it's going to stop," Spencer told the newspaper. Three unidentified Cabinet ministers told the paper they questioned how much more the public would stand.In a series of television interviews on Sunday, Raab would not be drawn on how and when the U.K. would scale back restrictions. "Until we can be confident -- based on the scientific advice -- that we are making sure-footed steps going forward that protect life, but also preserve our way of life, frankly it is not responsible to start speculating," he told Sky."We will need to move to a new normal," Raab later told BBC TV, saying it's "inconceivable" that schools will be able to go back without social distancing.In the daily news briefing Environment Secretary George Eustice said workers taking advantage of the government's furlough program -- where up to 80% of their salary is paid by the taxpayer -- will be asked to take second jobs in the agricultural sector to help farmers bring in the harvest, as migrant numbers are down.Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer wrote a letter to Johnson, published in the Sunday Mirror, calling on the premier to set out an "exit strategy" explaining how the lockdown could eventually be lifted. Meanwhile, Tories including former Cabinet minister David Davis told the Observer newspaper the scientific advice supplied to the government should be published.Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies that's advising the government, said that the U.K. should look to implement a strategy similar to South Korea in order to ease lockdown measures. The Asian country has one of the lowest mortality rates from coronavirus anywhere in the world, with fewer than 250 deaths."If we can move case numbers down low enough, then I think we can look to the Korean model of how we sustain control of transmission long term," Ferguson said in an interview with news website UnHerd on Saturday. "You need to start from a position of relatively low case numbers to implement that sort of policy."Asked if younger workers should be allowed to return to work, while shielding more vulnerable groups, Ferguson said he was "skeptical that it's achievable." "If you just achieve for instance 80% shielding, 80% reduction in infection risk in those groups, we'd still predict you'd get well over 100,000 deaths later this year through that sort of strategy."Johnson's return comes at another critical juncture for the government, which has found itself on the defensive since the Covid-19 crisis began. The country's death toll, from hospitals only, is the fifth-highest in the world, and business has slowed to a crawl. Johnson has spent the past fortnight recuperating at his official country residence, Chequers."He is in good spirits," Raab told Sky News. "He is raring to go. He is looking forward to getting back at the reins on Monday."The government has ordered the production of as many as 50 million new antibody tests, designed to allow those who have already contracted the virus and developed immunity to return to work, according to the Mail on Sunday. However, the World Health Organization has questioned whether catching the disease provides protection from re-infection.Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, in an editorial to the mass-circulation Sun newspaper on Saturday, sought to explain how the central bank was supporting the economy.There's some evidence that Johnson's experience in St. Thomas' Hospital -- he was admitted to the intensive care unit, and credited staff there with saving his life -- has made him less gung-ho in his attitude to the virus.When some European countries were beginning lockdown procedures in mid-March, Johnson said at the time that such a reaction was unnecessary.Fast-forward a few weeks, and he's said to be particularly cautious about whether lifting social-distancing measures would risk a second wave of the virus at a time daily cases have leveled off.Raab said the government is examining plans for travelers arriving in Britain to be placed in quarantine for as long as two weeks.(Adds comment from Environment Secretary from seventh 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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| Bill Maher Believes People Should ‘Want’ to Get Coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:39 PM PDT  On Friday night, instead of opting for a despicably racist rant against China over the novel coronavirus or blaming the media, Bill Maher welcomed Dr. David Katz, a doctor and ex-instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, onto his show Real Time. Dr. Katz, who consistently flaunts his Yale ties despite the fact that they were severed in 2016, has become something of a right-wing darling after penning a controversial New York Times op-ed on March 20 titled "Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?" In it, Katz argues against the self-isolation policies put in place by most of the U.S., instead saying the country should isolate the elderly and infirm, which would thus "allow most of society to return to life as usual and perhaps prevent vast segments of the economy from collapsing. Healthy children could return to school and healthy adults go back to their jobs. Theaters and restaurants could reopen, though we might be wise to avoid very large social gatherings like stadium sporting events and concerts." John Oliver Exposes Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh's Coronavirus BSBen Affleck Smoking in a Mask Might Be the Ultimate Coronavirus MemeFollowing his op-ed, Katz has made appearances on Fox News touting his hole-filled theory, thereby co-signing a network that's called the pandemic a "hoax"; repeatedly downplayed it; and spent hours and hours pushing hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure, even though it's been determined by most of the medical community to do way more harm than good following a series of poisonings and deaths. On top of that, a convincing refutation of Katz's ill-advised piece was published in The New York Times from those currently at the Yale School of Public Health that read, in part: First, it is not yet known who all of the most vulnerable people are. We believe that it is easier, quicker and more efficient to reduce transmission over all than to permit high levels of transmission in the community but somehow keep it from afflicting susceptible people in our highly networked world.Second, it is likely that more intense transmission among younger people, who Dr. Katz suggests should be freed of most social-distancing restrictions, would result in many more of their deaths, especially as hospitals become overwhelmed.Third, allowing the virus to spread uninhibited across a wide swath of our country might eliminate any hope we might have of snuffing out viral transmission into a new respiratory virus season next winter.Despite all this, there Katz was on Maher's HBO show regurgitating the arguments he made in his ridiculed Times piece—which he wrote when we were at 200 deaths nationwide; we're now at 52,400 deaths and climbing with strict shutdowns and social distancing in place. He said America should take "the middle path," wherein "high-risk people are protected from exposure, low-risk people go out in the world early," before saying something truly wild: "We actually kind of want to get this, and get over with, and be immune, because that is the path to the all-clear that doesn't require us to wait for a vaccine." To Katz's argument that everyone should want to get infected with COVID-19, Maher replied, "Yeah, I think you make a lot of sense there. And I think it's a shame—you talk about politicization, that people like you who sound reasonable, maybe it's not the exact one true opinion you hear somewhere else, has to go on Fox News." Further, Katz claimed that it's "the liberal ideology that seems to be so resistant to talking about unemployment and the economy," when amid the COVID-19 crisis, the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party—Bernie Sanders, AOC and the like—have been fighting hard for workers and arguing for rent cancellation as well as giving $2,000 a month to each household during the shutdown (similar to the policies instituted in Canada, which has done a fine job containing the virus' spread), while Republicans in Congress pushed for tax language in the stimulus bill that overwhelmingly benefits millionaires. But far be it from Bill Maher, a supposed Sanders supporter, to disagree with that dubious claim. Here are some things Katz conveniently left out: as we've seen in New York City, the epicenter of the crisis, approximately 20 percent of deaths have been people under the age of 64. And while people under the age of 44 have only accounted for a comparatively small number of deaths, they've accounted for a high number of hospitalizations, which has not only overwhelmed hospitals (causing many sick people to die due to a lack of supplies or staff) but will also inevitably land many in serious financial debt. I'll leave you with the current leadership of the Yale School of Public Health who, in their letter repudiating Katz, wrote: Until we have a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 and effective antiviral drugs, it is essential to engage in aggressive personal hygiene, social distancing, increased testing, isolation of exposed people, and strategies to avoid transmission in health settings. We must buy time for these advances and save lives in the interim.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. 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| Small businesses say they need more than 2 months of help to survive coronavirus crisis Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:24 AM PDT  Strict restrictions on federal assistance could hinder their bid for long-term survival.
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