| Amid reports of White House clashes with CDC, experts raise alarms about lack of coronavirus screening at airports Posted: 16 May 2020 07:41 AM PDT  As the nation begins to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, some people are looking to the skies — and experts don't necessarily like what they see, arguing there are not enough safeguards in place to protect passengers and crew.
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| Trump pushes 'warp speed' effort on coronavirus vaccine, ignoring lessons from a long-ago drug calamity Posted: 16 May 2020 07:03 AM PDT  Along with everyone else in the world, President Trump wants a coronavirus vaccine now. The most optimistic time by which a coronavirus vaccine might be ready, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist on the president's coronavirus task force, is 12 to 18 months.
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| Biden plans to pick a female running mate. Would it make a difference if she's black? Posted: 17 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT  Analysis: The former vice president is undertaking a very public selection process.
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| Polish archbishop refers child abuse negligence case to Vatican Posted: 16 May 2020 11:29 AM PDT  The Polish Catholic Church's most senior archbishop notified the Vatican on Saturday of a Polish bishop accused of shielding priests known to have sexually abused children. The referral, unprecedented in the deeply religious country, will test procedures introduced by the Vatican last year to hold to account bishops accused of turning a blind eye to child sex abuse. The Vatican is now expected to assign an investigator to the case.
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| Report: Airstrikes in east Syria kill Iran-backed fighters Posted: 17 May 2020 09:56 AM PDT |
| A tourist from New York was arrested after violating Hawaii's self-quarantine orders and documenting the breach on Instagram Posted: 16 May 2020 10:59 AM PDT  The 23-year-old from New York City was arrested after locals saw him posting photos of himself around Waikiki tanning and spending time at the beach.
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| Gedhun Choekyi Niyima: Tibetan Buddhism's 'reincarnated' leader who disappeared aged six Posted: 16 May 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Twenty-five years after the Panchen Lama disappeared, Tibetans abroad urge China to reveal his fate.
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| Long queues as Thai malls reopen after virus shutdown Posted: 17 May 2020 03:01 AM PDT  Shoppers flocked to Thailand's top-end malls on Sunday, eager for retail therapy as shopping centres reopened in a gradual easing of restrictions to revive the virus-ravaged economy. Hundreds of masked customers passed through temperature checks, disinfection stations, and had their photos taken before they were allowed into plush malls in Bangkok. The shopping centre relaunch comes with Thailand's infection numbers slowing in recent weeks -- authorities announced three new cases Sunday, with the total at just over 3,000.
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| Up to 100,000 cruise workers stranded at sea amid pandemic, report claims Posted: 17 May 2020 12:17 PM PDT  An estimated 100,000 cruise ship crew members are currently stuck at sea amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was reported on Sunday. Two staff members are known to have taken their own lives by jumping overboard, the Miami Herald said. While passengers on the cruise ships were evacuated by April, many of the crews remain onboard ships docked around the world or anchored off the coast - some without pay. Rockford Weitz, director of the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University's Fletcher School, said there was "no excuse" for keeping the staff onboard, and that the cruise companies - already threatened by the virus - were risking significant reputational damage. "They have to be able to convince their customers they can find solutions and work constructively with public health authorities," he said. "There's no excuse for not finding the way home."
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| Harry Dunn's mother says UK must 'stand up to US' and refuse extradition requests Posted: 17 May 2020 05:24 AM PDT  The mother of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn has urged the British government to "stand up to" the US amid a continuing diplomatic row.Donald Trump's administration has refused to extradite suspect Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official, for prosecution over Mr Dunn's death.
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| ICE keeps kids detained because parents don't "wish to separate" Posted: 17 May 2020 06:07 AM PDT  A federal judge has ordered ICE to seek the prompt release of all minors in its custody. The agency detains migrant families with children.
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| 'No-knock' searches plus stand-your-ground laws: A deadly combo for civilians and police Posted: 16 May 2020 07:43 AM PDT  To keep suspects from flushing drugs down the toilet, police says they need to conduct no-knock searches. Is it worth the cost in injuries and deaths?
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| New Zealand's Ardern turned away from cafe under coronavirus rules Posted: 16 May 2020 10:32 PM PDT  Hailed for her leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner were turned away from a cafe on Saturday because it was too full under the physical distancing guidelines. Ardern's government relaxed many social distancing rules on Thursday, reopening cafes, cinemas and malls after two months of some of the tightest restrictions in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Ardern and Clarke Gayford walked for a brunch to a cafe in the country's capital, Wellington, where they were initially told it was too full, New Zealand media reported.
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| Nevada Rep. Horsford acknowledges he had extramarital affair Posted: 16 May 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Democratic Congressman Steven Horsford of Nevada on Saturday acknowledged he had an extramarital affair with a woman who said the on-and-off relationship began in 2009 before ending last September. Horsford, 47, in a statement released to The Associated Press responded to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had an affair with Gabriela Linder, who previously had shared her story on podcasts and Twitter posts through a pseudonym before she was interviewed Friday by the newspaper. "It is true that I had a previous consensual relationship with another adult outside of my marriage, over the course of several years," Horsford said the statement.
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| New York might have avoided becoming the US epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak if Gov. Cuomo hadn't reportedly dismissed shelter-at-home advice Posted: 17 May 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Gov. Cuomo reportedly said 'shelter in place' sounded 'like it was in response to a nuclear apocalypse,' and he had no plan of locking down cities.
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| Jorge Armenta: Mexican journalist killed in 'armed attack' Posted: 17 May 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Jorge Armenta, director of Medios Obson, had received threats and was under government protection.
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| Egypt tightens measures during celebrations marking Ramadan's end Posted: 17 May 2020 07:36 AM PDT  Egypt on Sunday announced a lengthening of its night-time curfew and other measures to prevent large gatherings during Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "All shops, malls, restaurants, entertainment facilities, beaches and public parks will be closed for six days from May 24-29," said Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli. Public transport will be halted and the nationwide curfew in force from 5 pm during that period, he told a Cairo press conference.
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| Legal experts say Trump's emergency powers are worrisome Posted: 16 May 2020 09:35 AM PDT  The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.
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| Immigration agency asks for emergency funds, will raise fees Posted: 17 May 2020 03:30 PM PDT |
| Felicien Kabuga captured: Africa's most wanted and the mastermind behind Rwandan genocide seized in Paris Posted: 17 May 2020 03:26 AM PDT  French police seized the man regarded as the intellectual and financial mastermind behind the Rwandan genocide on Saturday, ending a transcontinental 26-year manhunt for "the Eichmann of Africa". Félicien Kabuga, Africa's most wanted fugitive, was arrested in the northern outskirts of Paris after a dawn raid on his flat in the commune of Asnières-sur-Seine. Officers said the 84 year-old had been living there under an assumed identity. French authorities released few details about the operation, beyond hailing the capture of "one of the world's most wanted fugitives". It is believed that a series of simultaneous raids were carried out on addresses across France, some linked to Kabuga's children, to ensure that he did not escape. Those familiar with the investigation suggested that the operation, at least in terms of the painstaking intelligence work involved, had echoes of the Mossad mission to seize the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann from Buenos Aires in 1960. The British security services played an "essential" role in the operation that led to Kabuga's capture, according to United Nations prosecutors. So, too, did investigators in the United States, which has long had a $5 million (£4.1m) bounty on his head, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Kabuga will not be sedated and spirited away to Rwanda in the way Eichmann was smuggled into Israel, where he was tried and hanged for his role as a primary architect of the Final Solution. Instead he will eventually be handed over to a United Nations tribunal to answer longstanding charges of crimes against humanity.
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| How many people are dying of coronavirus in Mexico? It's hard to say Posted: 16 May 2020 02:11 PM PDT  In cities across Mexico, morgues are full and funeral homes are jammed but nobody knows for sure how many people have died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| New COVID-19 cases in New York coming from people leaving home, Cuomo says Posted: 16 May 2020 10:14 AM PDT  "That person got infected and went to the hospital or that person got infected and went home and infected the other people at home," Cuomo said during his daily news conference on the coronavirus outbreak. State data showed the number of new cases statewide has fluctuated between 2,100 and 2,500 per day.
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| Israel swears in unity govt, PM insists on West Bank annexation Posted: 17 May 2020 10:41 AM PDT  Israel's parliament swore in a new unity government on Sunday led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz, ending the longest political crisis in the nation's history. After more than 500 days without a stable government and three inconclusive elections, lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament approved a three-year coalition, with 73 voting for and 46 against. The new government was set to confront serious crises in its first weeks, including the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus and a looming battle over Israel's possible annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank.
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| 3 clues in coronavirus patients' blood could help doctors predict their risk of death 10 days in advance, with 90% accuracy Posted: 16 May 2020 04:51 AM PDT  A study suggests three biomarkers in blood can be used to predict which coronavirus patients have the highest risk of death, with 90% accuracy.
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| Merced County sheriff declares he won't enforce California's 'stay at home' order Posted: 16 May 2020 07:40 PM PDT  In a message posted to Facebook, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said he no longer believes the COVID-19 threat is as serious as Governor Gavin Newsom has stated.
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| NY widens testing eligibility as social distancing hits snag Posted: 17 May 2020 09:15 AM PDT  New York City residents who flouted social distancing restrictions for a night on the town got the mayor's wrath Sunday. The city's embattled health commissioner is staying on the job. Gov. Andrew Cuomo played the part of a model patient, getting swabbed for coronavirus on live TV as he announced all people experiencing flu-like symptoms are now eligible for testing.
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| House passes $3T 'HEROES' aid package as U.S. death toll nears 90,000 Posted: 16 May 2020 12:08 AM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| Germany's far-Right AfD party splinters as Chancellor Angela Merkel climbs in the polls Posted: 17 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Bitter divisions within Germany's far-Right AfD party spilled out into the open over the weekend, when the party's more moderate faction succeeded in ejecting a high-profile extremist from their ranks. The rift comes as Angela Merkel's popularity climbs due to what is seen as her calm and efficient handling of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the AfD's popularity sinks. Andreas Kalbitz, AfD leader in Brandenburg, was stripped of his party membership on Friday after the national leadership voted narrowly to dispel him after discovering his previous association with an extremist movement. Mr Kalbitz was found to have concealed from the party that he once attended meetings of the Loyal German Youth, a movement considered by Berlin to be neo-Nazi. His ejection signalled victory for the moderates under party co-leader Jörg Meuthen who have been attempting to position the party as a conservative alternative to Mrs Merkel's centre-Right Christian Democrats.
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| Chinese state media slams "lawless" Hong Kong schools after history test row Posted: 16 May 2020 09:01 PM PDT |
| One dead after Canadian Snowbirds acrobatic jet crashes into home Posted: 17 May 2020 05:13 PM PDT  The Snowbirds jet was on a mission to boost the morale of Canadians fighting the spread of Covid-19.
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| Gantz: Israeli ex-general becomes defence minister, alternate PM Posted: 17 May 2020 07:41 AM PDT  Israel's former army chief Benny Gantz, sworn in as alternate prime minister in a unity government on Sunday, acquired a reputation as an elite military officer with a relaxed, deliberate manner. The 60-year-old, also Israel's new defence minister, has been in the public eye since first declaring political ambitions and running for office against right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2018. Within months, his centrist Blue and White party shocked Israeli politics by matching Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in polls last April and then edging slightly ahead of it in September.
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| At least 6 countries reimposed lockdown measures as new coronavirus cases flared up again. Here's what they looked like. Posted: 17 May 2020 01:18 AM PDT  China, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia all reimposed partial new measures after discovering a spike in infections.
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| Beaches in N.Y., N.J., Connecticut, Delaware to open Memorial Day weekend Posted: 17 May 2020 05:46 PM PDT  They will open on the Friday before Memorial Day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
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| Tibetans demand China disclose fate of boy taken away in '95 Posted: 16 May 2020 10:51 PM PDT  Tibet's self-declared government-in-exile marked the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of a boy named as Tibetan Buddhism's second highest figure by calling on China on Sunday to account for his whereabouts. The Tibetan parliament in northern India, known as the Kashag, said the boy named the 11th Panchen Lama who was taken away at age 6 along with his family in 1995 continued to be recognized as the sole legitimate holder of his title. China, which claims Tibet as its own territory, named another boy, Gyaltsen Norbu, to the position and he is believed to live under close government control in mainland China and is rarely seen in public.
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| 'A good kid': Ahmaud Arbery remembered as 'humble guy' with plans to become an electrician Posted: 16 May 2020 06:14 AM PDT  Loved ones say Ahmaud Arbery -- who many say was racially profiled when he was shot to death while jogging -- didn't live life in fear of racism.
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| US ramps up military pressure on Beijing Posted: 16 May 2020 03:14 PM PDT  Gen. Jack Keane joins Arthel Neville to discuss U.S. military pressure on Beijing amid tensions in the South China Sea.
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| Navy grants waiver allowing transgender sailor to serve openly Posted: 16 May 2020 01:38 PM PDT  The service member, known only as Jane Doe, will be permitted to serve in accordance with her gender identity, as opposed to her sex assigned at birth.
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| Japan slips into recession, worst yet to come as pandemic wreaks havoc Posted: 17 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Japan's economy slipped into recession for the first time in 4-1/2 years, GDP data showed on Monday, putting the nation on course for its deepest postwar slump as the coronavirus crisis takes a heavy toll on businesses and consumers. The world's third-largest economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter in the three months to March, intensifying the challenge for policymakers battling a once-in-a-century pandemic that has already caused widespread disruptions. Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted an annualised 3.4% in the first quarter as private consumption, capital expenditure and exports fell, preliminary official data showed, following a revised 7.3 decline in the October-December period, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
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| 'Llamas are the real unicorns': why they could be our secret weapon against coronavirus Posted: 16 May 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Researchers hope llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updatesThe solution to the coronavirus may have been staring us in the face this whole time, lazily chewing on a carrot. All we need, it seems, is llamas.A study published last week in the journal Cell found that antibodies in llamas' blood could offer a defense against the coronavirus. In addition to larger antibodies like ours, llamas have small ones that can sneak into spaces on viral proteins that are too tiny for human antibodies, helping them to fend off the threat. The hope is that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected.International researchers owe their findings to a llama named Winter, a four-year-old resident of Belgium. Her antibodies had already proven themselves able to fight Sars and Mers, leading researchers to speculate that they could work against the virus behind Covid-19 – and indeed, in cell cultures at least, they were effective against it. Researchers are now working towards clinical trials. "If it works, llama Winter deserves a statue," Dr Xavier Saelens, a Ghent University virologist and study author, told the New York Times.To any llama aficionado, this news should come as no surprise. The animals have developed a reputation for healing. Llama antibodies have been a fixture in the fight against disease for years, with researchers investigating their potency against HIV and other viruses.And their soothing powers go beyond the microscopic. Llamas have become exam-season fixtures at a number of top US colleges. George Caldwell, who raises llamas in Sonora, California, brings his trusted associates to the University of California, Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford, and other northern California universities and high schools, where their tranquility is contagious, helping students overcome end-of-term anxiety. "When you're around a llama, you become very calm and at peace," one Berkeley senior said at a campus event last year.At that event, I joined the ranks of the converted, having had the good fortune to receive a "llama greeting", which involves warm llama breath hitting one's face. It was the most pleasant nostril-based salutation I have ever received – all my anxieties seemed to dissipate in the llama-generated air. (This was long before the pandemic, which has largely ruined the appeal of being breathed on.)Humans and llamas are natural allies, said Caldwell, though too few realize it. "People see the llamas, they all light up," he said. "Llamas just have that ability – it's programmed right into us." Their hair can be used to make clothing, their manure benefits crops, and as Winter's antibodies reaffirm, "even their blood can help us". And they are known as pack animals, a skill currently serving them well in Wales, where these hairy essential workers are delivering groceries."Everything about these guys – you'd think that they'd be the most valued creature in the world," Caldwell said. His goal is to spread the word about their gifts: "Llamas are the real unicorns."Now they are doing their part inside and outside the laboratory. Caldwell has discussed collecting antibodies with his vet, but it is not an easy process, he says, especially for an older person: some llamas are less than eager to become blood donors, and they can be "ruffians" when the situation calls for it.They are offering their services elsewhere, however. The pandemic has halted campus visits for now, so Caldwell has moved some operations online. This month he offered a live-streamed tour of his llamas' residence, hosted by UC Davis.The creatures' enclosure was a picture of peace, where Quinoa, Joolz, McSlick and friends sat munching and gazing out at the world, blissfully unaware of the global pandemic, or perhaps simply confident that better times lie ahead.With Winter on our side, they could be right.
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| Tensions rise as Germans clamour to return to Mallorcan homes Posted: 16 May 2020 08:13 PM PDT  Germans with holiday homes in Mallorca are clamouring to return to the sun-soaked island as the coronavirus lockdowns ease, but Spanish authorities are pushing back. Several hundred Germans have in recent weeks sent pleading, sometimes angry letters to the regional government of the Balearic Islands asking them to allow foreign property owners to return to their second homes. The campaign was started by German national and Mallorca resident Ralf Becker, 55, who believes the travel restrictions aimed at halting the pandemic are "completely over the top".
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| Italy announced that foreign travelers can visit again from June 3, as it seeks to revive its battered tourism industry Posted: 16 May 2020 07:36 AM PDT  Italy suffered the first major coronavirus outbreak outside of Asia. After more than 30,000 deaths, it is gradually reopening.
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| Officials: Chinese ambassador to Israel found dead in home Posted: 17 May 2020 12:58 AM PDT  The Chinese ambassador to Israel was found dead in his home north of Tel Aviv on Sunday, Israel's Foreign Ministry said. Israeli Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the ambassador's death was believed to be from natural causes. Israel enjoys good relations with China.
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| Mom gives birth in parking lot, dad uses face mask to cut cord Posted: 16 May 2020 01:37 PM PDT  David Patrick said he rolled the face mask "up tightly like a tortilla and tied a knot around our son's umbilical cord."
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| 13 People Shot, With One in Critical Condition, at Louisiana Memorial Service Posted: 17 May 2020 11:18 AM PDT  The memorial service was apparently for Dominique James, who was recently murdered
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| Pole dancing and hand sanitizer: Wyoming strip club reopens with 'masks on, clothes off' party Posted: 17 May 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Welcome to The Den, one of the first strip clubs in the country to reopen. The club on Friday night threw a "masks on, clothes off" party.
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| Major Supreme Court opinions set to be released: DACA, Trump's taxes, gay rights, abortion Posted: 16 May 2020 04:55 AM PDT  Due to the coronavirus, the potentially landmark rulings will be posted online, not distributed at the court, which is closed.
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