Most of U.S. House urges more diplomacy at U.N. to renew Iran arms embargo: sources

Nearly 90% of U.S. House of Representatives members have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to increase its diplomatic action at the United Nations to renew an arms embargo on Iran, congressional sources said on Thursday. In a rare show of bipartisanship, at least 382 of the 429 members of the Democratic-controlled House - Democrats and Republicans - have signed the letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to work with U.S. allies and partners to extend the embargo, as well as U.N. travel restrictions on Iranians involved with arms proliferation. "The U.N. arms embargo is set to expire in October, and we are concerned that the ban's expiration will lead to more states buying and selling weapons to and from Iran," said the letter, seen by Reuters and led by Representatives Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike McCaul, the committee's top Republican.

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80,000 cruise workers are still stuck aboard ships in US waters. Staff members say it's 'embarrassing' they're not allowed to disembark.

Up to 80,000 crew members are stuck on 120 cruise ships on US waters, and it's unclear when they'll touch land again.

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30 Easy Side Dishes For Lasagna

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FDA reportedly plans to authorize emergency use of largely untested drug to treat coronavirus

The Food and Drug Administration will authorize the emergency use of the antiviral remdesivir on COVID-19 patients as soon as Wednesday, a senior administration official told The New York Times. Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences revealed promising study results involving remdesivir on Wednesday, but the FDA's reported move would still sidestep the usual testing required to authorize a drug's usage.Gilead said Wednesday that its own trial, as well one overseen by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, met its goals. Of the study's 397 severe COVID-19 patients, at least 50 percent of patients treated with a 5-day dosage of remdesivir improved and more than half were discharged from the hospital within two weeks. The overall mortality rate of the study was 7 percent, and relatively few patients developed bad side effects. But the study wasn't evaluated against a control group, and it's unclear if those recoveries were natural or if remdesivir actually had something to do with them. Hard data from the study also hasn't been released yet.Anecdotal reports, including two published in The New England Journal of Medicine, provided more credibility for remdesivir in the coronavirus fight. But they also didn't compared the drug against a placebo. A study published in The Lancet concluded remdesivir was "safe and adequately tolerated" but "did not provide significant benefits over placebo."More stories from theweek.com Trump's 'mission accomplished' moment Gun-toting protesters' dramatic stand inside Michigan's statehouse, in 5 photos and videos The Justice Department is apparently working with conservative Christian groups to fight COVID-19 policies

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Satellite images of luxury boats further suggest North Korea's Kim at favoured villa: experts

Satellite imagery showing recent movements of luxury boats often used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his entourage near Wonsan provide further indications he has been at the coastal resort, according to experts who monitor the reclusive regime. Speculation about Kim's health and location erupted after his unprecedented absence from April 15 celebrations to mark the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. On Tuesday, North Korea-monitoring website NK PRO reported commercial satellite imagery showed boats often used by Kim had made movements in patterns that suggested he or his entourage may be in the Wonsan area.

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Most of U.S. House urges more diplomacy at U.N. to renew Iran arms embargo: sources

Nearly 90% of U.S. House of Representatives members have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to increase its diplomatic action at the United Nations to renew an arms embargo on Iran, congressional sources said on Thursday.

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Coronavirus: 'We go hungry so we can feed our children'

A growing number of families are struggling to put food on the table during the coronavirus lockdown.

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Ramadan and Coronavirus: Breaking my fast on Zoom

How fasting in lockdown and isolation has changed Ramadan for young Muslims this year.

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Quiz of the Week: On UFOs, lockdown loosening and more

How closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on during the past seven days?

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Coronavirus: What it's like to be shielding in your twenties

Grace, 26, doesn't look it but she's deemed extremely vulnerable - here's how she's dealing with having to shield.

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Nordic Islands seen in their 'surreal light'

The breathtaking landscapes of Iceland, Greenland, Norway and the Faroe Islands.

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Coronavirus: When your child's in intensive care with Covid-19

Two mothers tell the BBC about their experiences as their young children battled the virus.

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Coronavirus: Three continents, four lives, one day

The stories of people who died on one day, from an exile who returned home to a disaster survivor.

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Coronavirus: 'Many said goodbye to loved ones in an ambulance'

Dr Nigel Kennea describes his role supporting bereaved families at one London hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.

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How The Assistant exposes Hollywood's abuse silence

The movie which has roots in the exposure of power and abuse in the film industry after #MeToo.

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The worldwide race to make solar power more efficient

Scientists are working on better solar cells that will turn more of the sun's rays into electricity.

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‘Justice not charity’ - the blind marchers who made history

Remembering the maverick blind campaigners who walked to London a century ago to demand equality.

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Lockdown homeschooling: The parents who have forgotten what they learned at school

Parents have been turning to Google to help them teach the things they’ve forgotten.

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Two Arrested in Killings of Transgender Women in Puerto Rico

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON AND SANDRA E. GARCIA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2YnU3CH

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Peter Hunt, Who Directed the Broadway Hit ‘1776,’ Dies at 81

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Scrambling the Political Divide: ‘No Normal Recession’

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In a Crisis, True Leaders Stand Out

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Amazon Sells More, but Warns of Much Higher Costs Ahead

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is Assassin’s Creed with vikings - The Verge

1. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is Assassin’s Creed with vikings  The Verge
2. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Ubisoft announces the Viking sequel  Polygon
3. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla confirmed, full reveal coming April 30  GamesRadar+
4. Ubisoft Reveals Assassin's Creed Valhalla With An 8-Hour Painting Livestream  Kotaku
5. New Assassin's Creed Game Setting Being Revealed on Twitch - IGN  IGN
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Kristin Cavallari is still living with Jay Cutler despite being 'blindsided' by divorce filing - Daily Mail

1. Kristin Cavallari is still living with Jay Cutler despite being 'blindsided' by divorce filing  Daily Mail
2. Kristin Cavallari accused Jay Cutler of 'marital misconduct' — but what does that mean?  Jimmys Post
3. Kristin Cavallari Files For Divorce From Jay Cutler | TMZ  TMZ
4. Kristin Cavallari Makes Bombshell Claims About Jay Cutler Marriage  E! NEWS
5. Jay Cutler Joining NFL Broadcast Booth Seems Like a Longshot  The Big Lead
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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New NCAA Football Game Unlikely As NCAA Working Group Deems Group Licenses “Unworkable in College Athletics� - Eleven Warriors

1. New NCAA Football Game Unlikely As NCAA Working Group Deems Group Licenses “Unworkable in College Athletics�  Eleven Warriors
2. NCAA group supports player endorsement plan  ESPN
3. NCAA takes biggest step yet toward allowing college athletes to be compensated for name, image and likeness  Yahoo Sports
4. Does NCAA decision about athlete earnings mean a 'new era' for college sports?  PBS NewsHour
5. Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes  Card Chronicle
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Sources: No Minor League Baseball in 2020; MLB Expanding Rosters Instead - Lookout Landing

1. Sources: No Minor League Baseball in 2020; MLB Expanding Rosters Instead  Lookout Landing
2. Here's what a 60-day MLB tournament could look like in 2020 | Get Up  ESPN
3. Washington-Baltimore region the perfect place for a salvaged Major League Baseball season | COMMENTARY  Baltimore Sun
4. MLB discussing plan to start season in late June, playing in home stadiums with realigned league  USA TODAY
5. This Local Virtual Reality Company is Shaping the Future of Major League Baseball  Austin Monthly
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Police: Palestinian stabs Israeli woman, is shot by witness

A Palestinian teenager stabbed an Israeli woman on Tuesday before being shot and wounded by a bystander, Israeli police said. The attack came on Israel's Memorial Day, when the country mourns those killed in wars and militant attacks. Israelis usually mark the occasion by visiting the graves of loved ones, but military cemeteries are closed this year and small ceremonies are being held without attendees as part of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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US 'hasn't seen' North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently, Mike Pompeo

The US secretary of state's comments come after speculation the North Korean leader might be ill.

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New York City Mayor de Blasio singles out the city's Jewish community for flouting coronavirus rules and said cops will start arresting people gathered in large groups

Though some members of the Hasidic community have disregarded lockdown rules, New York's large Jewish population has followed coronavirus measures.

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The US is 'slightly' past its first peak, but expert says the pandemic is far from over

Dr. Tom Inglesby said some states are experiencing a decline in cases, while half of the country is still seeing a rise in daily numbers.

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Biden already working with team on transition planning

Former Vice President Joe Biden is already working with a team to plan for his transition in preparation for winning the White House in November, he told donors during a virtual fundraiser Monday night. Biden said he has been meeting with former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman, his longtime top aide who was appointed to fill Biden’s Senate seat when he was elected vice president, to discuss his transition plans. Kaufman worked on Barack Obama's transition team in 2008, and helped author legislation formalizing the presidential transition process.

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Coronavirus: What African countries are doing to help people to eat amid the lockdowns

What African countries are doing to help people to eat amid the lockdowns.

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Coronavirus cases in India climb towards 30,000; Pakistan mosques a growing worry

India was nearing 30,000 coronavirus infections on Tuesday, second only to China in Asia, a steady rise that would make it difficult to lift a nearly six-week lockdown that ends this weekend, health officials and some government leaders said. Neighbouring Pakistan also recorded a jump in cases and deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, and there were concerns that many people were gathering in mosques for Ramadan prayers despite strict rules on distancing. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has allowed some farm and industrial activity to resume in less-affected rural areas after the shutdown of the economy left millions without work and short of food and shelter.

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Jared Kushner mocks the 'eternal-lockdown crowd,' says he hopes the US will be 'really rocking again' by July

Kushner leaned into optimism, saying that instead of focusing on why testing took so long "you should look at how did we do this so quickly."

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The U.S. and Iran Are Headed for a New Proxy War in Afghanistan

KARACHI—While the United States military and the White House are girding for a confrontation with Iran on the high seas or in Iraq, Afghanistan is an even more likely battleground.U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted last week, "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea." The tweet followed the dangerous maneuvers on April 15 by Iranian naval vessels near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. The leader of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) promised a “crushing response” to any such action.The incident and the threats that followed show that even if most of the world’s attention is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on both Iran and the United States, the symptoms of a war in the making grow stronger by the day.Almost forgotten by the general public is the rocket attack on Camp Taji in Iraq last month that killed two American soldiers and one British serviceman. The camp hosts anti-ISIS coalition troops and NATO personnel. On the ground, the U.S retaliatory strikes against weapons storage sites in Iraq belonging to the pro-Iranian militia Kata'ib Hezbollah kept the war-fever high.On April 1, Trump said Iran was planning to attack American troops in Iraq."Upon information and belief,” he tweeted, echoing FBI legalese, “Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!"But Americans are even more vulnerable in Afghanistan, and it is likely to be the favored theater for Iran’s proxy attacks on U.S. personnel for several reasons.Trump, Afghanistan, and ‘The Tweet of Damocles’One of the first is that the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force, General Ismail Qaani, has experience there dating back almost a quarter of a century. The Quds Force spearheads Iran’s operations outside its borders, most often by training and organizing militias which are used in combat, covert ops, and terrorist activities to support Iran’s regional objectives. These include the influence, subversion, intimidation, or control of potentially hostile neighbors and the expulsion of outside forces.For years, the head of the Quds Force was Gen. Qassem Soleimani, known for his high-profile activities in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon—and his cult of personality inside Iran itself. When he was blown away by an American drone while on a visit to Baghdad in early January, Trump gloated, “He should have been taken out many years ago!”Qaani was appointed immediately to succeed Soleimani, whom he had served as deputy commander since the late 1990s. But while Soleimani had focused mainly on the countries to the west of Iran, Qaani worked on those to the east, especially Afghanistan.Today, Qaani is unlikely to miss the opportunity to strike the U.S. at such a vulnerable point. The Americans are currently battling to salvage the peace deal with the Afghan Taliban that would give Trump an exit from the “endless war” there before the U.S. elections in November. But the Taliban already have warned that the peace deal announced in February is near the breaking point. Iran does not have to push too hard to shatter the agreement amid growing violence and bitter differences between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Qaani, appointed as the deputy commander of the Quds Force in 1997, worked to back the Northern Alliance in the civil war against the Taliban in the 1990s at a time when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to work with Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud as well. Al Qaeda’s murder of Massoud two days before its September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States turned all these relationships upside down. It’s not clear what role Qaani or Soleimani played at a time when Iran was cooperating with Washington to try to stabilize the Afghan situation in late 2001, but after then-President George W. Bush declared in early 2002 that Iran was part of the “Axis of Evil,” diplomatic rapprochement came to an end, and covert action, if it ever subsided, was renewed.More recently, Qaani made some trips to Afghanistan when the Liwa Fatemiyoun, sometimes known as the Fatemiyoun Brigade or Afghan Hezbollah, were at their height in 2018. Organized four years earlier, they were deployed by Iran to fight in the Syria war supporting Tehran’s ally Bashar al-Assad. Qaani visited Kabul in 2018 and held talks with Afghan government leaders President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, formerly of the Northern Alliance.Following the signing of the peace accord forged in Doha, Qatar, the U.S. has struggled to push the peace process forward. The U.S. and NATO allies agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months in return for security assurances by the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be allowed to become a launching pad for global terrorist attacks. The U.S. has to reduce its forces in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 within the first 135 days of the accord, but as the New York Times reported last month, that schedule has been complicated by coronavirus and quarantine concerns.On its face, the Quds Force-Taliban relationship is complicated given Iran’s previous backing for the Northern Alliance, but that was a long time ago, and ever since 9/11 Afghanistan has seen changing client and proxy relationships, some of them public, some not.“An open alliance between Iran and the Taliban would surely be viewed as a betrayal by many Afghans, even if shifting alliances is the nature of Afghanistan,” Sam Hendricks of the Lowy Institute in Sydney told The Daily Beast.“On the whole,” Hendricks said, “Iran has been remarkably restrained in its dealings in Afghanistan since 2001—and its own betrayal by the U.S. after Iranian support in defeating the Taliban and convening the Bonn process [to build a stable government], soon after which it was labeled part of the Axis of Evil.”Now, said Hendricks, Iran “seems to have an opportunity to strike the U.S. at a very vulnerable point.” Among Qaani’s tools are the thousands of fighters from the battle hardened Liwa Fatemiyoun, made up mainly of members of Afghanistan’s Shi’ite Hazara minority, in addition to any tacit or covert cooperation with the Taliban themselves.More than in Iraq, more than in the waters of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, Iran is positioned in its eastern neighbor to make the Americans suffer as they try to extract themselves. The only real question is whether Iran wants them out of Afghanistan sooner or later.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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'A drug can block this virus': Fauci hails Covid-19 treatment breakthrough

Positive data from the NIAID trial would be a landmark in the race to find a coronavirus treatment.

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Religious freedom watchdog pitches adding India to blacklist

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is urging that the State Department add India to its list of nations with uniquely poor records on protecting freedom to worship — while proposing to remove Sudan and Uzbekistan from that list. The bipartisan commission, created in 1998 by Congress to make policy recommendations about global religious freedom, proposed designating India as a “country of particular concern” in the annual report it released Tuesday. President Donald Trump declined to criticize the citizenship measure during his February visit to India, where his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was punctuated by skirmishes between Hindus and Muslims.

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Inmate who gave birth on ventilator dies of Covid-19

The 30-year-old appears to be the the first US federal female prisoner to die from coronavirus.

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Germany's Merkel wants green recovery from coronavirus crisis

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Costco to require face coverings for shoppers

Starting Monday, customers will be required to wear masks covering their nose and mouth at all times while inside the store.

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South Korea minister, U.S. sources, say Kim may be sheltering from virus

Fear of the coronavirus could have been keeping North Korean leader Kim Jong Un out of public sight, a South Korean minister and U.S. sources said on Tuesday, following intense speculation and concern as to his whereabouts and health. Under Kim's rule since 2011, North Korea has expanded its arsenal of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and with no obvious successor, any change in leadership in the secretive, authoritarian state would raise concerns about instability that could impact other North Asian countries and the United States. Speculation about Kim's health erupted after his unprecedented absence from April 15 celebrations to mark the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung.

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New Model Shows How Deadly Lifting Georgia’s Lockdown May Be

Gov. Brian Kemp’s aggressive scheme to lift Georgia out of COVID-19 lockdown may cost many thousands of lives, according to models prepared by epidemiologists and computer scientists at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in partnership with The Daily Beast.The findings come as governors across the United States aim to restore economic activity following months of pandemic-related infections and over 50,000 deaths—a number widely understood to be an undercount. Meanwhile, over 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in recent weeks, a number that is itself a likely undercount of the economic toll.Georgia’s Kemp has perhaps been the boldest of any governor about moving on, issuing a pair of executive orders allowing fitness centers, tattoo and massage parlors, bowling alleys, and hair salons to reopen last Friday with some mitigation measures. Other businesses, like restaurants and theaters, began opening Monday. The state’s shelter-in-place decree, meanwhile, was slated to expire on Thursday.Those policies are placing Georgians at spectacular risk, the new models found. ‘Dying to Bowl’: Georgia Flirts With Disaster as Lockdown EasesAs of Friday, by official counts in Georgia, at least 871 people statewide had lost their lives to COVID-19. If Georgia had maintained its pre-Friday lockdown policy, the Harvard/MIT team’s simulation—which used data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center and accounts for local demographics and health conditions based on Census and survey data—estimated the state would have logged a total of between 1,004 and 2,922 coronavirus fatalities by June 15. That fatality range, like all such ranges detailed in this article, includes deaths that had already been documented (in this case, 871).By contrast, under Kemp’s current plan to reopen, if approved businesses returned to just 50 percent of their pre-pandemic activity (or “contact”) levels, that range could reach 1,604 to 4,236 deaths. At 100 percent of pre-shutdown activity, the projected final body count could soar to a range between 4,279 and 9,748.Even if employee-on-employee contact returned to just one-quarter of what it was before the disease hit, and interactions among the general public—beginning April 30—reached 20 percent of the old norm, the researchers projected that deaths in the state could hit 3,563.“What we find, no matter what we assume, is that reopening on Monday was just too early,” said Jackson Killian, Ph.D. student at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who worked on the models. “If you let people go out and have contact again now, you end up causing deaths that could have been avoided.”Based on the nature and speed of COVID-19’s spread through Georgia, Killian and his team estimated the virus may have arrived in the state as early as Feb. 1, or at least weeks before the first diagnosed cases—a possibility Kemp himself has acknowledged. To be clear, the models cannot prove or verify that the first infection happened on that date, but used it as an assumed start date based on the available information and the spread to date. The governor’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.For their part, the team behind the models framed their approach not as an argument for absolutes, but a testament to dire stakes. “The stay-at-home orders cannot go on indefinitely,” said Maimuna Majumder, faculty member at the Computational Health Informatics Program and Harvard Medical School who led the creation of the models in partnership with Milind Tambe, a professor of computer science and director of Harvard’s Center for Research on Computation and Society. Instead, she emphasized the need for a “new normal [that] still allows people to go back to work” and that acknowledges “each of us can make a difference by physically distancing ourselves at, for example, grocery stores.”Turgay Ayer, an associate professor at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, recently released a state-by-state COVID-19 simulator with colleagues at Harvard and researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital that he said found results “in line” with the estimations from the Harvard- MIT group.Ayer’s simulator showed that—under minimal restrictions, with no other interventions—there could be up to 20,000 deaths by Aug. 30 in Georgia, but he noted that was a worst-case scenario he didn’t expect to see. That’s because he believes politicians like Kemp will reimplement some restrictions once a resurgence of infections appears.“Once we start to see a second spike in infections in late July and early August, the policymakers will put some of these social distancing measurements back in place,” said Ayer. But the numbers do show one thing very clearly, he said: “If you lift the restriction too soon, a second wave will come, and the damage will be substantial both medically and economically. We don’t want to throw away the sacrifices we have made for weeks now.”The Harvard and MIT modelers working with The Daily Beast also looked at two neighboring states that, like Georgia, were hesitant to implement shutdowns in the first place, and are now mulling their own reopening plans: Florida and Mississippi. The results were similarly alarming.To be sure, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves have been more cautious than Kemp. DeSantis has, so far, mostly kept his state’s social distancing measures in place, while allowing localities to reopen beaches. He has also convened a Re-Open Florida Task Force to present a program for resuscitating commerce in the Sunshine State. The shelter-in-place order in Florida, like that in its neighbor to the north, was scheduled to sunset at month’s end. As of Friday, 987 Florida residents had been identified by the state as having died from COVID-19. Should DeSantis back off plans to reopen businesses and renew his stay-at-home decree through June 15, the Harvard/MIT/Daily Beast model projected his state would witness a total number of deaths as small as 988 or as large as 3,014 due to the virus.But if DeSantis had implemented Kemp’s aggressive reopening policies in recent days, the loss of life might have escalated to a range of 1,273 to 4,106 fatalities in the lowest-contact scenario, or even as high as 15,523 deaths if businesses returned to their pre-COVID-19 levels. DeSantis’ office did not reply to repeated inquiries from The Daily Beast.Reeves, meanwhile, appears to be plotting a course between Kemp’s attempted renaissance and a more prolonged shutdown. The Mississippi governor inked a decree on April 24—by which point 201 of his constituents had been identified as having died of COVID-19-related causes—that will keep the state’s gyms, salons, and theaters mostly closed and continue to limit eateries to take-out and delivery. But it will enable other retail stores to reopen at 50 percent capacity and for elective surgeries to resume. This fiat superseded an earlier shelter-in-place order with a looser “safer at home” policy, which is scheduled to remain in effect through May 11. The group from Harvard and MIT did not have the opportunity to model that new agenda in their simulation.Still, the team determined that had Reeves left his old order in place he could have contained the death toll to a range between 213 and 640 by June 15. Were he instead to have followed Kemp’s lead, the range of deaths might have spiked to between 1,865 to 3,463, assuming Mississippi businesses and patrons returned to their pre-pandemic habits.“There is no higher priority for Governor Reeves than ensuring the health and well-being of all Mississippians,” said a spokeswoman for his office, Renae Eze, noting the virus’ present impact on the state has been substantially less severe than the worst projections. “Thanks to the strategy executed by the governor and our state health officials, our testing is robust, our numbers are low, and our curve is flattening.”Regardless of how credible claims of flattening curves may be when testing remains so scant, the analysis performed by the Harvard and MIT team showed these same governors could have saved many of their constituents had they ordered social distancing sooner. Had Kemp instated his shelter-in-place order on March 23 (when New York City instituted its policy) instead of the date he actually did—April 3—the analysis found his state could have seen as few as 148 COVID-19 deaths by April 24 and possibly no more than 427, far lower than the actual documented count of 871.Likewise, the simulation projected that had DeSantis locked down Florida on March 23 instead of April 3, the tally of fatalities in his state on Friday could have fallen to somewhere between 103 and 376, rather than the actual total of 987. If Reeves had acted on the earlier date, only 36 to 111 Mississippians might have died because of the virus as of April 24, instead of 201.Of course, the Harvard and MIT models—like all such models—has critics. Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles who previously worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged the analysis and similar simulations “can help policy-makers frame a response.” But he argued such projections “overinterpret the benefit of stay-at-home orders” and underestimate the impact of other factors that go into determining the infection’s reproduction number.“It’s very difficult to input the right assumptions to get a useful outcome,” added Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and an expert on U.S. readiness for pandemics. “The infectivity of the virus, people following these rules, containment—you don’t really know what you’re dealing with.”Southern Tourist Hotspot Terrified of Post-Lockdown ExplosionStill, Redlener said, it’s too soon to reopen states without enough tests and contact-tracing to keep track of a resurgence of infections. “It’s not responsible of governors to rush into a return to business as usual, even if it’s relatively slow,“ he said. “This is a serious risk. We’re playing with fire.”Tambe, who co-created the models with Majumder and their team, acknowledged they may not map precisely onto reality. Still, he questioned whether the other factors model detractors cited—more diligent hand-washing and mask-wearing—would improve broadly enough in the weeks ahead to have an impact comparable to government orders. And he asserted that the purpose of the simulations was less to provide flawless predictions than to inform elected leaders and health officials as they consider methods to revive sedated economies.“We’re not saying this is the answer,” he said, acknowledging that a permanent lockdown was impracticable. “It’s one in the arsenal of tools that policymakers may employ.”When presented with doubts about the benefits of projecting pandemic death, Ayer—the Georgia Tech modeler—responded by quoting British statistician George E. P. Box, who famously said: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” In an absence of sufficient data to look back on—a real problem for a pandemic experts are still learning about every day—no model will be perfect, Ayer said. But a careful and meticulous one is a much better alternative for policy-makers to “having no models and relying on gut feeling.”The idea, Ayer added, is to look at the dozens of models currently available and see where the similarities lie, what the trends are, and what is likely to happen over time, as opposed to focusing on specific numbers.“A lot of experts have said that lifting restrictions too soon would lead to a second wave, and that’s what a lot of the research has shown,” said Ayer. “All of the modelers are using the best available evidence out there, but our understanding of the disease is evolving over time.”Or as Majumder put it, “A model is only as good as the assumptions we put into it, and when we have a novel pandemic, our knowledge is changing every second.”The models provided for this story were created by Jackson A. Killian, a Ph.D. student at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Marie Charpignon, a Ph.D. student at MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society; Bryan Wilder, a Ph.D. student at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Andrew Perrault, a Postdoctoral researcher at Harvard’s Center for Research on Computation and Society; Milind Tambe, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Director of Harvard’s Center for Research on Computation and Society; and Maimuna S. Majumder, faculty at the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) based out of Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.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. Learn more.

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Will thermal cameras help to end the lockdown?

Thermal cameras can spot people with a temperature. Will they help to end the lockdown?

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Coronavirus: Why the fashion industry faces an 'existential crisis'

"No-one wants to buy clothes to sit at home in," as Next's chief executive Simon Wolfson puts it.

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Coronavirus: 'My cafe's going bust before it's even opened'

A car factory worker turned cafe owner explains how coronavirus is affecting his business dream.

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The Valentine's Day snake puzzle

Why were 29 snakes left in pillowcases in a Sunderland dustbin the day before and the day after Valentine's Day?

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India coronavirus: The man giving dignified burial to Covid-19 victims

Abdul Malabari has taken on the task of burying those who died with the virus in one Indian city.

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Coronavirus: Transgender people 'extremely vulnerable' during lockdown

Rights groups say coronavirus restrictions are leaving vulnerable trans people even more exposed.

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Nova Scotia gunman killed 9 of his 22 victims by setting fire to their houses, police say

Nine of the 22 victims killed in Canada's Nova Scotia province earlier this month in a weekend shooting rampage died in house fires set by the gunman, Canadian police told reporters on Tuesday.

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Pompeo says U.S. 'concerned' over south Yemen separatist self-rule declaration

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday Washington was 'concerned' over the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group, declaring self-rule in Yemen's south, warning such actions threatened efforts to revive talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.

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Carrie Severino calls out 'egregious' double standard from Kamala Harris, Democrats on Biden sexual assault... - Fox News

1. Carrie Severino calls out 'egregious' double standard from Kamala Harris, Democrats on Biden sexual assault...  Fox News
2. Donald Trump Jr.: Media mute on Tara Reade while giving dad 'do you beat your wife?' coverage  Washington Times
3. Joe Biden supporter Alyssa Milano changes tune on his accuser Tara Reade amid new developments  Fox News
4. Column: Trump unleashes #PresidentLysol scorn — and upstages allies’ efforts to boost Tara Reade story  Chicago Tribune
5. #MeToo is on the Democratic foot. What does that mean for November?  The Washington Post
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Amid Pandemic, New Poll Shows Growing Support Mail-In Voting - NPR

1. Amid Pandemic, New Poll Shows Growing Support Mail-In Voting  NPR
2. Ohio's vote-by-mail experiment could serve as model for general election  CBS News
3. ‘Republicans need to get serious’: 2020 vote-by-mail battle heats up  POLITICO
4. A very interesting number on GOP support for vote-by-mail  The Washington Post
5. 1 key number to watch in the 2020 race  CNN
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Are the Courts Finally Ready to Compel Don McGahn to Testify? - Slate

1. Are the Courts Finally Ready to Compel Don McGahn to Testify?  Slate
2. Judges worry Trump position on McGahn testimony could force Congress into extreme measures  POLITICO
3. Appeals court grills Trump administration over McGahn case | TheHill  The Hill
4. Appeals court takes up Trump border wall and Donald McGahn subpoena cases  The Washington Post
5. U.S. judges press Trump administration over subpoena fight  Reuters
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Coronavirus death toll 54% higher in England and Wales than daily stats showed - CNN

1. Coronavirus death toll 54% higher in England and Wales than daily stats showed  CNN
2. Coronavirus: Care home deaths up as hospital cases fall  BBC News
3. UK care homes death toll rises sharply amid warning 'peak not reached'  Channel 4 News
4. UK on track for one of Europe's worst virus death tolls  Reuters
5. Coronavirus: a third of deaths taking place in care homes - BBC News  BBC News
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Apple Maps now shows COVID-19 testing sites across the US - Engadget

1. Apple Maps now shows COVID-19 testing sites across the US  Engadget
2. Apple adds COVID-19 testing sites to Maps across the US, and shares more mobility data  TechCrunch
3. Apple Maps now displays COVID-19 testing sites in your area  AppleInsider
4. Apple Maps: How to find COVID-19 testing locations on iPhone, iPad, and Mac  9to5Mac
5. Apple Maps Now Displaying COVID-19 Testing Locations in the U.S.  MacRumors
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Tom Brady did not violate NFL rules by visiting Bucs offensive coordinator: report - Fox News

1. Tom Brady did not violate NFL rules by visiting Bucs offensive coordinator: report  Fox News
2. NFL says Tom Brady's house call to Bucs offensive coordinator didn't violate league rules  ESPN
3. Will NFL's explanation that Tom Brady, Bucs didn't break league rules satisfy opposing teams?  Yahoo Sports
4. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor reached out to Tom Brady with a pun-heavy welcome letter  Creative Loafing Tampa
5. Colin Cowherd Selects His Biggest Winners and Losers of 2020 NFL Offseason  Fox Sports Radio
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Australia asks China to explain 'economic coercion' threat in coronavirus row

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El Salvador gangs: 'No ray of sunlight for inmates'

El Salvador, already criticised by rights groups, cracks down further on imprisoned gang members.

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Hillary Clinton endorses Joe Biden: 'Think of what it would mean if we had a real president'

Hillary Clinton joined former Vice President Joe Biden for a virtual town hall event on Tuesday to officially offer her endorsement.The former secretary of state and Democratic candidate for president was Biden's guest during a live stream on Tuesday focused on the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on women, and Biden introduced Clinton as the "woman who should be president of the United States right now.""Think of what it would mean if we had a real president, not just somebody who plays one on TV, but somebody who gets up every morning worried about the people that he's responsible for leading during this crisis," Clinton said after officially endorsing Biden.Biden, Clinton went on to say, "has been preparing for this moment his entire life," describing her experiences working with him during the Obama administration."I've been not only a colleague of Joe Biden's, I've been a friend, and I can tell you that I wish he were president right now, but I can't wait until he is, if all of us do our part to support the kind of person that we want back in the White House," Clinton said.This is the latest in a series of Democratic endorsements Biden has received since becoming the party's presumptive nominee including from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). As news of the Clinton endorsement broke, President Trump's 2020 campaign manager said in a statement, "There is no greater concentration of Democrat establishment than Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton together. President Trump beat her once and now he'll beat her chosen candidate."More stories from theweek.com Scientists are perplexed by the low rate of coronavirus hospitalizations among smokers. Nicotine may hold the answer. Movies that debut on streaming and not in theaters can be eligible for the Oscars next year How Democrats blew up MeToo

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Ignorance, fear, whispers: North Korean defectors say contacts in the dark about Kim

Defectors from North Korea say many of their relatives and contacts were unaware of the international speculation over leader Kim Jong Un's health or were unwilling to discuss the issue in clandestine calls made from the South. Two defectors told Reuters their relatives in North Korea did not know that Kim has been missing from public view for almost two weeks, said they didn't want to discuss the issue, or abruptly hung up when the supreme leader was mentioned. Kim's health is a state secret in insular North Korea and speculation about him or his family can invite swift retribution.

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Catholic Church angry after Italian government refuses to lift ban on religious services

The Catholic Church in Italy is angry over the government’s refusal to allow the faithful to attend religious services, as the country edges towards a cautious relaxation of coronavirus lockdown rules. Under a new decree announced on Sunday night by the prime minister, businesses, factories and building sites will be allowed to restart on May 4 and people will be allowed out of their homes to exercise. Public parks will be reopened and children will be allowed out for fresh air and exercise, Giuseppe Conte said. But the government said churches and cathedrals would remain closed to congregations because there remained a high risk of the virus being spread. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and make up a high proportion of Italy’s dwindling churchgoers. "I understand that freedom of worship is a fundamental people's right," the prime minister said. "I understand your suffering. But we must continue discussing this further with the scientific committee." The Italian Bishops’ Conference accused the government of “arbitrarily” compromising religious freedom. The decree also exposed divisions within the government, with some ministers calling for congregations to be allowed to return to churches. "So, we can safely visit a museum but we can't celebrate a religious service? This decision is incomprehensible. It must be changed," tweeted Elena Bonetti, the equal opportunities minister. Catholic leaders said the Church was working hard to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the marginalised during the coronavirus emergency. “It should be clear to all that the commitment to serving the poor, [which is] so significant in this emergency, stems from a faith that must be nourished at its source, especially the sacramental life”, the bishops’ conference said.

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Trump news: President denies responsibility for people drinking bleach to fight coronavirus as tweetstorm branded ‘indecent and obscene’

As the number of US coronavirus cases climbs above 1 million and the nation's death toll surpasses deaths from the Vietnam War, Donald Trump claims the country is "very close" to testing 5 million people daily, as he continues to pressure states and local governments to begin "reopening" as the economy flounders.The president also suggested during a briefing on Tuesday that states with financial deficits could be forced to give undocumented people in custody over to federal immigration authorities if they want financial relief in the wake of the public health crisis.

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Whitmer Says She and Biden Are Cut From ‘Similar Cloth’

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The US is 'slightly' past its first peak, but expert says the pandemic is far from over

Dr. Tom Inglesby said some states are experiencing a decline in cases, while half of the country is still seeing a rise in daily numbers.

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Australia rejects Chinese 'economic coercion' threat amid planned coronavirus probe

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has cautioned China against attempts at "economic coercion" as Australia pushes for an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic that China opposes. Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said in a newspaper interview on Monday the "Chinese public" could avoid Australian products and universities. Australia last week called for all members of the World Health Organization (WHO) to support an independent review into the origins and spread of the coronavirus, and is lobbying world leaders.

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Possible link between COVID-19 and rare illness in children

British doctors raised alarms about Kawasaki disease after a number of children diagnosed with COVID-19 died despite having no underlying health issues, according to a U.K. official.

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North Korea's Kim 'alive and well': Seoul

Conjecture over Kim has grown since his conspicuous no-show at April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North's founder -- the most important day in the country's political calendar. "Our government position is firm," said Moon's special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "Kim Jong Un is alive and well."

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'Naked concerns': Doctors strip down to protest lack of protective equipment

In one of the photos a doctor holds up a sign which reads in German, “I learned to sew wounds. Why do I now need to know how to sew masks?”

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After initially backing federal aid to states, Trump questions ‘bailing out poorly run states’ like Illinois - Chicago Tribune

1. After initially backing federal aid to states, Trump questions ‘bailing out poorly run states’ like Illinois  Chicago Tribune
2. Republicans' Senate majority is now in very real jeopardy  CNN
3. Trump throws shade at ‘poorly run states’ seeking aid, as McConnell floats bankruptcy option  Fox News
4. For Trump, Lying Is a Super Power  The New York Times
5. The Coronavirus Leaves the State of the States Dire  The New York Times
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Cuomo says coronavirus may have infected around 25 percent of NYC residents - New York Post

1. Cuomo says coronavirus may have infected around 25 percent of NYC residents  New York Post
2. Coronavirus live updates: NY cancels primary; states evaluate stay-at-home, will Trump's signature appear on future stimulus checks?  USA TODAY
3. Cuomo says parts of upstate New York could open as soon as May 15  CBS News
4. Cuomo doubles down on ordering nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients  New York Post
5. Conservative New Yorkers Trust Cuomo Over Trump On State Reopening, Poll Finds  NPR
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Nevada, Colorado join West Coast reopening alliance - POLITICO

1. Nevada, Colorado join West Coast reopening alliance  POLITICO
2. Colorado and Nevada join Western States Pact as states work on unified coronavirus strategy  CNN
3. In CA: Colorado and Nevada join forces with the West Coast  USA TODAY
4. Colorado, Nevada Join Western States Pact to Fight Coronavirus Outbreak  U.S. News & World Report
5. Colorado and Nevada join western states cooperating on reopening | TheHill  The Hill
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Tesla stock falls as extended shelter order dampens hope for California factory - MarketWatch

1. Tesla stock falls as extended shelter order dampens hope for California factory  MarketWatch
2. Tesla cancels plans to bring workers back to US car plant this week  CNBC
3. Tesla eyes Fremont factory restart despite stay-at-home order  Digital Trends
4. Coronavirus: Tesla might re-start some Fremont factory production on Wednesday  The Mercury News
5. Tesla stock rallies on hopes factory reopen is around the corner  MarketWatch
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UK National Health Service releasing coronavirus contact tracing app … without using Apple API - 9to5Mac

UK National Health Service releasing coronavirus contact tracing app … without using Apple API  9to5MacView Full Coverage on Google News

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Casio unveils a NASA-themed G-Shock watch for space fans - Engadget

1. Casio unveils a NASA-themed G-Shock watch for space fans  Engadget
2. Introducing: The Casio G-Shock DW5600 NASA Limited Edition  HODINKEE
3. G-Shock's New NASA Watch Will Awaken Your Inner Space Nerd  Gear Patrol
4. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Duck Dynasty star Sadie Robertson calls drive-by shooting 'scary' - Daily Mail

1. Duck Dynasty star Sadie Robertson calls drive-by shooting 'scary'  Daily Mail
2. Man arrested in drive-by shooting at 'Duck Dynasty' star's home as family says they are 'pretty shook up'  Fox News
3. Man charged in drive-by shooting at 'Duck Dynasty' estate  Yahoo Entertainment
4. 'Duck Dynasty' star drive-by shooting results in man's arrest  CNN
5. 'Duck Dynasty' star Willie Robertson's estate targeted with gunfire, family says  Fox News
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