10 cruise ships that are still at sea as the coronavirus shuts down the cruise industry

Ships from cruise lines like Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Cunard Line are still at sea.

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AOC Drifts Away from Activist Left, Toward a More Conventional Staff and Political Strategy

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken steps recently to collaborate more with the Democratic establishment, taking a less contentious approach and allying with fellow Democratic members.After urging fellow progressives in 2018 to run for office with the support of the progressive group the Justice Democrats, which supported her, the New York Democrat has declined to endorse most of the candidates the group is backing to oust incumbent Democrats in 2020.Of the six candidates the group is backing this time around, Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Jessica Cisneros in Texas and Marie Newman in Illinois, both of whom are running against conservative Democrats who oppose abortion and were subsequently supported by several other high-profile Democrats.The move comes as the Justice Democrats are recruiting progressive candidates to run against liberals and moderate Democrats."We don’t usually endorse so far out," Ocasio-Cortez's communications director, Lauren Hitt said of the congresswoman's lack of endorsements for the group of candidates, according to Politico.Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, who shot to notoriety in 2018 when she ousted powerful Democratic congressman Joe Crowley, is also replacing some of her more radical, progressive top aides with more conventional political professionals, Politico reported.The freshman congresswoman has also struck a more conciliatory tone towards Democratic leadership in recent months, in February calling Pelosi the “mama bear of the Democratic Party.”She also criticized supporters of her progressive ally, 2020 presidential contender Bernie Sanders, for their antagonistic behavior online.“There’s so much emphasis on making outreach as conflict-based as possible,” she said. “And sometimes I even feel miscast and understood. Because it’s about what tools you use, and conflict is one tool but not the only tool.”Nevertheless, Ocasio-Cortez has largely maintained her status as a progressive standard-bearer. Earlier this year, she endorsed a group of progressive women running for Congress on Friday through her political action committee, Courage to Change.In January, she announced that she would not pay dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the House.

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Trump now says if 100,000 Americans die from coronavirus he will have done 'a very good job'

The president repeatedly cited a projection that as many as 2.2 million people would have died if the administration had “done nothing” to mitigate COVID-19’s spread.

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New Zealand, a country of about 5 million, has 18 million masks in its reserves, with 80,000 being made every day

New Zealand's prime minister posted a video of masks being made in a factory and said, "I'll admit, I have watched this video more than once."

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Saudis Start to Unleash Oil Wave Despite U.S. Pressure

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has made good on its pledge to ramp up oil exports in April, with a first wave of crude already on its way toward Europe and the U.S., a clear sign the price war remains in full swing.The kingdom has loaded several of the supertankers it hired earlier this month to boost its ability to increase exports, according to ship-tracking data. In addition, Riyadh has used the last few weeks to shuttle large amounts of crude into storage in Egypt, a stepping stone to the European market.The movements suggest that Riyadh is ramping up its oil production toward its target of supplying a record 12.3 million barrels a day in April, up from about 9.7 million in February, despite American pressure to end the price war.Saudi Arabia earlier this month slashed its official selling prices and announced the output hike after Russia refused to join other nations inside the OPEC+ alliance to cut output. The announcement, interpreted in the market as an oil price war, sent Brent and West Texas Intermediate crudes tumbling. Since then, the collapse in oil demand due to lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus has depressed prices even more.In a sign that Riyadh is opening the valves, oil shipments have already surged in late March. For the first three weeks of March, Saudi Arabia was exporting at a rate of around 7 million barrels a day, but that jumped to more than 9 million barrels a day in the fourth week of the month.With oil prices at the lowest in nearly two decades, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo last week directly asked the kingdom to “rise to the occasion and reassure” the energy market, diplomatic language for ending the oil price war.American President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed in a phone call Monday that “current oil prices aren’t in the interests of our countries,” according to a Kremlin spokesman, though he declined to say what might be done to change the situation.Trump earlier indicated that he was concerned about the impact of low oil prices on the American petroleum industry. In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” he said Russia and Saudi Arabia “both went crazy” and started an oil price war.Despite the diplomatic pressure, Saudi Arabia is preparing to export more in the next few days. At least 16 very large crude carriers, collectively able to carry about 32 million barrels, are stationed near the Saudi oil terminals of Ras Tanura and Yanbu, according to shipping data tracked by Bloomberg.“Regardless of the recent headlines about the U.S. pressuring Saudi Arabia, we do not see any change in Saudi or Russian policy for now,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd., a London-based consultant.Riyadh has already loaded three supertankers that are likely to head to the U.S., and it’s loading a fourth right now, according to oil market intelligence firm Vortexa Inc. The tankers, all hired by the Saudi national tanker company in the past few weeks to boost its shipping capacity, include the Dalian, the Agios Sostis I, the Maran Canopus, and the Hong Kong Spirit.Shipments to EgyptAlready through March, Saudi Arabia has exported about 1.3 million barrels a day into Egypt -- the highest level in at least three years -- to pre-position crude for re-export into Europe, according to shipping tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and people familiar with the operation.The surge in shipments to Egypt was so large that the African nation may become the largest destination for Saudi crude in March, displacing China and Japan, which traditionally top the ranking every month.The cargoes have gone to a terminal at the south end of the Suez Canal before getting pumped via pipeline across the country to a storage and export facility called Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean Sea. From there, the crude will then get re-exported as part of Saudi Arabia’s plan to supply as much as it can, at deep discounts, into a market that doesn’t need the supply. The world’s largest oil tankers, known as VLCCs, cannot sail the Suez Canal fully loaded due to draft limitations.The next sign of whether the oil price war continues will come around April 5, when state-owned Saudi Aramco is expected to release its monthly official selling prices for May. Oil refiners and traders believe that Riyadh will have to deepen its discounts to sell all the oil the kingdom wants. If Aramco does indeed deepen the discounts, it will trigger a fresh round of tit-for-tat actions with other oil producing nations, piling further pressure on prices.(Updates with statement from Kremlin in 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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12 Buildings That Show the Beauty of Deconstructed Architecture

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India and Pakistan crack down on Muslim group emerging as COVID-19 cluster

India and Pakistan sealed off centers belonging to a Muslim missionary group on Tuesday and began investigating how many coronavirus cases were linked to its activities. Tablighi Jamaat is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim missionary movement that preaches worldwide. India has so far registered 32 deaths from 1,251 confirmed infections, and Pakistan 20 from 1,914.

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Too little too late? Experts decry Mexico virus policy delay

Mexico has started taking tougher measures against the coronavirus after weeks of its president hugging followers and saying religious medals would protect him. Some experts warn the sprawling country of 129 million is acting too late and testing too little to prevent the type of crisis unfolding across the border in the United States. Last week Mexico banned non-essential government work as confirmed cases climbed, but took until late Monday to extend that to other business sectors and to bar gatherings of more than 50 people.

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CDC is weighing advising Americans to wear face masks outdoors

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering whether to update its guidelines on the new coronavirus to advise Americans to wear homemade masks outside of the home — not so much to protect the people wearing the mask but as another tool to limit the spread of COVID-19, The Washington Post reports. The new virus can be spread through saliva droplets emitted during a cough, sneeze, or even talking, and having a mask to capture those drops would presumably keep sick, especially asymptomatic, coronavirus carriers from spreading the disease.The CDC currently recommends keeping six feet apart, among other social distancing practices, and washing hands frequently and thoroughly for 20 seconds. It would not recommend people use surgical or N95 masks, in short supply and great demand for doctors, nurses, and other first responders treating COVID-19 patients. Instead, people would be urged to make their own masks out of old T-shirts, sheets, and paper towels, as Jeremy Howard, a University of San Francisco research scientist and advocate for the DIY approach, explains in the video below.Many Asian countries recommend citizens wear masks to fight the spread of the coronavirus, and the homemade masks have some prominent proponents in the U.S., including former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb; Thomas Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; and former National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus. Other health experts worry that encouraging mask-wearing would instill a sense of false security and make Americans more reckless, might inadvertently contaminate someone else who handles the mask, and could further deplete the personal protective equipment stockpiles needed for medical professionals.More stories from theweek.com Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like The case for cautious optimism about the pandemic Chris Meloni's Elliot Stabler reportedly getting Law & Order: SVU spinoff show on NBC

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Man planned to bomb hospital during pandemic to publicize white supremacist views

Timothy Wilson, 36, died March 24 when the FBI sought to arrest him after a six-month investigation.

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Coronavirus: New York bar owner becomes first to be arrested for ignoring lockdown

The owner of a bar in New York City has been arrested for operating in contravention of the city’s coronavirus lockdown measures.New York police confirmed on Monday that 56-year-old Vasil Pando had been arrested on Saturday night at an address in Brooklyn.

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EU urges countries to open borders to seasonal farm workers

EU countries should allow the hundreds of thousands of seasonal migrant workers who plant or harvest crops to cross borders despite national measures to contain the coronavirus, the European Commission said on Monday. Countries across the 27-nation European Union have set up border controls to stem the spread of the virus, but with the side effect of delaying food and medical supplies, as well as cross-border workers. The EU executive last week urged EU countries to limit to 15 minutes the time it takes for goods traffic to cross a border, reporting some success on Monday, although some crossings into and out of Hungary had jams of up to 4 km (2.5 miles).

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India’s coronavirus emergency just beginning as lockdown threatens to turn into human tragedy

A week after Narendra Modi ordered the largest national lockdown the planet has ever seen and Delhi's Bhogal market is little quieter than usual. Rather than being confined to home to stop the spread of Covid-19, large groups of residents instead huddle together in the shade, drinking tea and playing cards. Street vendors continue to hawk fresh fruit and vegetables and the police watch as daily life in the capital's backstreets continues, apparently content to enforce movement restrictions only on the capital's major thoroughfares. The failure to abide by the prime minister's decree is due to necessity, rather than defiance, said Muhammad Asif, 21, a cycle-rickshaw driver scanning the crowd for customers. The three-week-long social distancing precautions ordered by Mr Modi are an unaffordable luxury for tens of millions of daily-wage labourers.

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New top story on Hacker News: Grupeer Suspends Payments to Investors

Grupeer Suspends Payments to Investors
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New top story on Hacker News: Beyond Intelligent Machines: Just Do It (1993)

Beyond Intelligent Machines: Just Do It (1993)
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Coronavirus: Stock markets suffer worst quarter since 1987

The Dow Jones and FTSE 100 have fallen more than 20% since the start of the year.

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Coronavirus: When 76 strangers sang happy birthday to a neighbour

A woman surprised her fiancé for his birthday by organising a mass sing-along in their apartment building.

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Coronavirus: The unusual ways countries are managing lockdowns

Countries are adopting movement restrictions ranging from the extreme to the relaxed to the creative.

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Big splash: The world's largest designer of water parks

Geoff Chutter is the founder of Whitewater West, the world's largest water park design firm.

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Why a Frenchman built a 'Tudor' castle in Burkina Faso

Thibault Fornier lives in an ex-French colony, but is enamoured with all things British.

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How birth is changing in the age of coronavirus

Coronavirus is throwing many birth plans up in the air and leading some health trusts to increase home births.

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Coronavirus: Playing classical music for South Korea hospital patients

Musicians in South Korea have played a classical music concert for coronavirus patients.

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Coronavirus: Are loss of smell and taste key symptoms?

However, experts say a fever and a cough are still the main ones to look out for.

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29 Best Closet Organization Ideas to Maximize Space and Style

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White House task force official says 'no state, no metro area' will be spared from coronavirus

The United States is preparing for a novel coronavirus epidemic that is national in scope."No state, no metro area will be spared," Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press.Birx was clear that no area of the country will evade the effects of the virus, but said the sooner places react and instill mitigation measures, the easier it will be to "move forward."> WATCH: Dr. Deborah Birx says "no metro area will be spared" of the coronavirus outbreak. MTP IfItsSunday> > Dr. Birx: "The sooner we react and the sooner the states and the metro areas react and ensure that they have put in full mitigation ... then we'll be able to move forward." pic.twitter.com/B9Fo3lUVHA> > -- Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 29, 2020Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also provided a sense of scale Sunday, but he said he doesn't want to be held to any prediction. Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper that he's never seen an outbreak match the worst-case scenario of its models, and he believes that remains unlikely for the coronavirus, as well. Nevertheless, he thinks it's possible the U.S. could be looking at somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths. > Dr. Anthony Fauci says there could potentially be between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths related to the coronavirus and millions of cases. "I just don't think that we really need to make a projection when it's such a moving target, that you could so easily be wrong," he adds. CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/F2MOHY3xl4> > -- State of the Union (@CNNSotu) March 29, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump's message to blue states battling coronavirus: Drop dead Fox News reportedly fears its early downplaying of COVID-19 leaves it open to lawsuits How coronavirus has reshaped Trump's economy-driven, rally-heavy re-election campaign

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Serial killer dubbed Grim Sleeper dies in California prison

Lonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday evening. An autopsy will determine the cause of death; however, there were no signs of trauma, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement.

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China defends against incoming second wave of coronavirus

A growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China risked fanning a second wave of infections when domestic transmissions had "basically been stopped", a senior health official said on Sunday, while eased travel curbs may also add to domestic risks. China, where the disease first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, had an accumulated total of 693 cases entering from overseas, which meant "the possibility of a new round of infections remains relatively big", Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC), said. Nearly a quarter of those came from arrivals in Beijing.

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New York's coronavirus death toll just topped 1,000, but Gov. Cuomo warns that 'thousands' will die

Accessible, rapid testing could bring a "return to normalcy," Cuomo said. But for now, he's extending New York's lockdown another two weeks.

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U.S. Congress eyes next steps in coronavirus response

Three days after passing a $2.2 trillion package aimed at easing the heavy economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Congress was looking on Monday at additional steps it might take as the country's death toll approached 3,000. Democrats who control the House of Representatives were discussing boosting payments to low- and middle-income workers, likely to be among the most vulnerable as companies lay off and furlough millions of workers, as well as eliminating out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus medical treatment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would work with Republicans to craft a bill that could also provide added protections for front-line workers and substantially more support for state and local governments to deal with one of the largest public health crises in U.S. history.

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Kremlin Fights U.S. Sanctions, Backs Maduro in Rosneft Deal

(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin’s sudden shift of ownership of multi-billion-dollar oil projects in Venezuela shields oil giant Rosneft PJSC from further U.S. sanctions but keeps Moscow firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro amid a wider stand-off with Washington.“Russia is not walking away from Maduro and will seek to thwart U.S. efforts to depose him,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former diplomat and foreign policy analyst in Moscow. “Moscow is just shielding Rosneft from sanctions which could result in a blanket embargo on all Rosneft exports.”Fears of broader sanctions have grown after the U.S. in recent months slapped restrictions on Rosneft trading companies for handling business with Venezuela. More recently, the U.S. has hinted that it might step up pressure on the Russian oil sector to reduce production. That followed Moscow’s decision early this month not to deepen output cuts agreed with OPEC led Saudi Arabia to boost output, flooding the market and pushing prices to the lowest levels in decades.The administration of President Donald Trump has already reached out to Saudi leaders to reconsider their strategy, which has battered producers in the U.S. with low prices. Trump said Monday he plans to speak by phone with Putin later in the day to talk about the oil market and may discuss sanctions and Venezuela.Read: Putin and MBS Draw Trump Into Grudge Match for Oil SupremacyRosneft late Saturday announced it’s turning over its Venezuelan projects to an unnamed state-owned company in what it called an effort to protect its shareholders’ interests.Sechin AutonomyAs part of the deal, Rosneft gets 9.6% of its own shares previously held by state holding company Rosneftegaz, bringing direct government ownership to just over 40%, according to two people familiar with the transaction. While Rosneft will remain firmly under Kremlin control, the shift in ownership could give Igor Sechin, who as chief executive and a longtime Putin ally is already one of Russia’s most influential people, even more autonomy, these people said.“Sechin gets Rosneft shares and Putin gets the chance to trade with Trump,” said Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Fund in Moscow.Neither the company nor the government would comment on whether the deal will bring state ownership below 50%.Rosneft, which produces 40% of Russian oil and 5% of world output and has substantial exposure in the western financial system, can’t afford the risk of broad U.S. sanctions that could cripple its operations. Earlier this month, a Chinese company said it wouldn’t buy crude from Rosneft because of the risks caused by the sanctions on the trading companies.“As recently as February, the Venezuelan business was profitable, which offset the sanctions risk,” said Ivan Timofeyev, an analyst at the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “Now the desire to avoid sanctions coincided with the need to avoid losses” after oil prices plunged, he added.The Russian giant has already cut its exposure under multi-billion-dollar prepayment deals reached several years ago. Venezuela’s oil producer PDVSA owes Rosneft only $800 million at the end of the third quarter of 2019, according to the last available data, down from $4.6 billion at the end of 2017.Sanctions ProtectionThe latest Russian maneuver mirrored its strategy in 2018 when it used Promsvzyabank to set up a new banking vehicle to serve the defense industry after state-owned weapons producers came under U.S. sanctions, thereby shielding the country’s two largest banks, government-controlled Sberbank and VTB. Unlike those big lenders, which have significant exposure to western financial institutions and thus are at risk from sweeping U.S. sanctions, the new special entity operated largely out of Washington’s reach.While Rosneft may even push to have the recently imposed sanctions on the trading units lifted, risks remain.“Rosneft is trying to stay out of the firing-line but nothing stops the Americans from finding another pretext to sanction it,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, who heads the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group in Moscow that advises the Kremlin.“Russia understands that Maduro is in an awful situation, especially with oil prices at rock bottom,” he said. “But Putin’s psychology is that you should stick with partners in difficulty.”Frolov said, “Moscow thinks that Maduro is actually winning the fight with the opposition and is likely to split it to the point where he would be able to win parliamentary elections this year.” Russia has backed Maduro even as the U.S. and its allies back opposition leader Juan Guaido.Maduro said on state TV on Saturday evening that ”President Putin sent me a message through his ambassador reaffirming their strategic and integral support to Venezuela in all areas.”(Updates with Rosneft stake shift in sixth 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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AI tool predicts which coronavirus patients get deadly 'wet lung'

Researchers in the US and China reported Monday they have developed an artificial intelligence tool that is able to accurately predict which newly infected patients with the novel coronavirus go on to develop severe lung disease. Once deployed, the algorithm could assist doctors in making choices about where to prioritize care in resource-stretched health care systems, said Megan Coffee, a physician and professor at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine who co-authored a paper on the finding in the journal Computers, Materials & Continua. The tool discovered several surprising indicators that were most strongly predictive of who went on to develop so-called acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), a severe complication of the COVID-19 illness that fills the lungs with fluid and kills around 50 percent of coronavirus patients who get it.

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New top story on Hacker News: Philip Anderson 1923-2020

Philip Anderson 1923-2020
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New top story on Hacker News: Mars Could Have at Least Two Ancient Reservoirs of Water Deep Underground

Mars Could Have at Least Two Ancient Reservoirs of Water Deep Underground
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New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Use-sound, a React hook for sound effects on the web

Show HN: Use-sound, a React hook for sound effects on the web
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Coronavirus: Protecting yourself in a migrant camp

The often unsanitary conditions in refugee and migrant camps, like this one on Lesbos, pose a challenge for residents trying to avoid coronavirus.

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EXCLUSIVE: New Survey Reveals Church Giving is Down, but Faith is Growing

Churches continuing to hold in-person worship services came under fire from elected officials and other critics Sunday who fear the gatherings put parishioners at risk for catching the coronavirus. Now new research, obtained exclusively by CBN News, shows how churches across the nation are managing their ministries, including plans to celebrate Easter, during the pandemic.

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Coronavirus: Free school meals children to get food vouchers

Ministers say the vouchers could be available to families in England as early as Tuesday afternoon.

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Blood test 'can check for more than 50 types of cancer'

The test could help diagnose tumours sooner, often before any symptoms, scientists hope.

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Delay Brexit deadline amid coronavirus, say MEPS

The UK is due to stop following EU rules by the end of 2020 but a group of MEPs say the date should be pushed back.

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Coronavirus: Protecting yourself in a migrant camp

The often unsanitary conditions in refugee and migrant camps, like this one on Lesbos, pose a challenge for residents trying to avoid coronavirus.

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Coronavirus: Has the virus brought borders back to Europe?

The BBC’s Gavin Lee took a road trip in Europe's Schengen area to see how free movement has changed.

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How (not) to cut your hair at home

Stuck at home, some people have enlisted their children to help cut their hair.

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Trump’s Virus Defense Is Often an Attack, and the Target Is Often a Woman

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Listen to the Call: Bullock and Trump Discuss Testing

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Keep It Simple, Albany. This Is No Time for Budget Games.

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Congress Just Spent $2 Trillion on Coronavirus Relief. It’s Eying More.

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A place that makes you ask the questions that really matter

The BBC's Justin Rowlatt found a visit to Antarctica made him emotional, and ultimately hopeful.

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Coronavirus: The woman behind India's first testing kit

With the first made-in-India kits, the country could hugely scale up testing for the coronavirus.

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'My $60m weight-loss app cured my personal pain'

Victoria Repa has created an app to help people lose weight, an issue she struggled with growing up.

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The Best Movies and Shows on Hulu Right Now

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Coronavirus: Six months before UK 'returns to normal' - deputy chief medical officer

The UK faces reviews of measures every three weeks for six months or more, says deputy chief medical officer.

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Rhode Island Governor Announces National Guard Will Go 'Door-to-Door' to Identify New Yorkers to Slow COVID-19 Spread

Rhode Island officials will order anyone coming from New York into quarantine

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Inmate dies after contracting coronavirus at Louisiana federal prison

The death of Patrick Jones marks the first COVID-19 related death of an inmate in the federal prison system, a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said.

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Saudi Arabia expands lockdown as coronavirus death toll doubles

Saudi Arabia halted entry and exit into Jeddah governorate on Sunday, expanding lockdown rules as it reported four new deaths from a coronavirus outbreak that continues to spread in the region despite drastic measures to contain it. The Saudi health ministry said four more foreign residents, in Jeddah and Medina, had died from the virus, taking the total to eight. Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain reported more cases, taking the total in the six Gulf Arab countries to over 3,200, with 15 deaths.

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North Korea Fires Missile Into East Sea

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Clinical trials on coronavirus drugs may take only months, researcher says

"If everything goes according to plan, I am talking months, not years," for completion of three clinical trials, a researcher said.

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'I have no money': debt collection continues despite pandemic

Legal groups across the US are calling on federal and state governments to halt debt collection as it continues unabated * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageVeronica Cavalli was at home in New York City last week, laid off from her job amid the Covid-19 pandemic and, as instructed by New York’s governor, trying to minimize her contact with others to halt the spread of the virus.When supplies ran low she sent her teenage children to the grocery store only to discover her debit card wasn’t working. She checked her account. It was thousands of dollars overdrawn.Cavalli suspected fraud and after spending hours on the phone with her bank trying to find out what happened, she was informed a court judgment had been made against her by a creditor to garnish her wages directly from her bank account for credit card debt she accrued a few years ago while her husband, who is now disabled, was experiencing a debilitating illness.“I didn’t know anything about the wage garnishment until it was posted on my account,” said Cavalli. “I have zero funds. I have no money. I’m at the breaking point.”One out of every six Americans has an unpaid medical bill on their credit report, amounting to $81bn in debt nationwide. Every year, about 530,000 Americans who file bankruptcy cite medical debt as a contributing factor.In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, several legal groups across the US are calling on federal and state governments to halt private and public debt collection, including wage garnishment, and preventing any federal stimulus checks to Americans from being garnished by debt collectors. For now the debt collection continues unabated.Millions of US workers have wages garnished from their paychecks for consumer debts every year, and those with low incomes are disproportionately affected.Cavalli, the sole income earner of her household, has been trying to file for unemployment benefits, but as she has previously claimed them in the past 18 months, the online system won’t accept her application. She has not been able to get in touch with someone at the state unemployment office due to the recent flood of applications.Because the courts in New York City have closed except for essential matters, Cavalli and her attorneys have yet to gain full access to the court files on the wage garnishment order. The vast majority of consumer debtors have no legal representation and often are not given notice they face a lawsuit.Joseph Walker of Lawrence, Kansas, went to the emergency room last year on advice of his doctor after he experienced sudden chest pressure. Despite having health insurance through his employer, he left with a medical bill for a few thousand dollars and still owes about $2,800.Last week, Walker, who drives a construction dump truck, had the last $200 in his bank account garnished by a debt collection agency for the bill. After the agency obtained a judgment against him to collect the debt, Walker tried to work out a monthly payment plan, but his wages have been garnished anyway.“The garnishment came with no warning. You don’t know until your bank account is locked and your money is gone,” said Walker, who didn’t receive the order of garnishment in the mail until 24 March, after money was taken from his account, and he has already started to fall behind in paying bills.“Unlike the rest of my bills that I can see, the debt collection agency doesn’t send you one. You can’t arrange to auto-pay and they don’t send anything showing what you paid. It’s like they are set up to make you fail. With the coronavirus they shouldn’t be allowed to harass and garnish bank accounts while Americans are in this crisis.”“Garnishment is a really important issue, especially for low-income, economically vulnerable families, the exact workers being laid off in the US right now,” said J Michael Collins, faculty director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.He noted it is still unclear if any federal stimulus checks will be subjected to wage garnishment, but warned courts can freeze bank accounts over debt, making these funds inaccessible if they are deposited.In November 2018, Kathy Johnson of Appleton, Wisconsin, had a life-saving kidney surgery.Uninsured at the time, Johnson was able to find a charity to cover the majority of the surgical expenses, but she still owes about $3,500 after the garnishing of her wages from her job at a Batteries Plus retail store started a few months ago. It has continued through the coronavirus pandemic, as her work schedule hasn’t been affected yet by the shutdowns caused by the pandemic.“It’s $350 to $400 a month. I don’t deny I owe this money because they saved my life, but it is detrimental to my health now because I don’t have the money for what I need. I have no money for groceries – I’m only paying my rent and utilities, there’s no money left over,” Johnson said.Kristinea Stillmunkes of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received a notice last week that a debt collector won a judgment to start garnishing her wages for a car repossessed two years ago during a divorce, with added interest, and she has been out of work because the retail store she works at is closed. More than 25% of her last paycheck was taken.“I’m completely devastated. I have been out of work for over a week and have no idea how I’m going to feed my family now,” she said. “I received no notice of this happening and was advised they don’t have to give notice.”Among the Americans still experiencing wage garnishment through the coronavirus pandemic are those who have defaulted on their federal student loans. About 45 million Americans owe more than $1.7tn in student loan debt. According to an analysis by Student Loan Hero, between July 2015 to September 2018, 18 private student debt collection agencies contracted by the US Department of Education added $171bn to their debt inventory, and collected $2.3bn during the same period through wage garnishments.Justin McKinnon, a digital communications professional in Dallas, is currently having 15% of his income garnished to pay off roughly $10,000 in student loans.“The Department of Education has not decided to do anything, as far as I know, to ease the burden from the coronavirus,” said McKinnon. “They took my tax return also, in the middle of this epidemic. It’s heartless.”Danelle Tavares of Denver receives $1,086 a month in social security disability benefits, and $16 a month for Snap food assistance benefits, but $250 is garnished from her benefits income each month by the Department of Education to pay off her student loan debt of $16,000.A spokesperson for the US Department of Education said they are evaluating options for borrowers and will be sharing information in the coming days. In the meantime the Covid-19 pandemic is making life almost impossible for debt-ridden Americans.“With this lockdown, food banks are overrun. I sometimes go two or three days without food,” Tavares said. “I haven’t been able to afford my medications this month. I know for most $250 isn’t much but for people like me it can make a huge difference.”She noted the federal stimulus relief package for the coronavirus pandemic is supposed to increase social security income by $200, but that she will still be receiving less than she would before the garnishment. “Even though I paid for years and I’ve tried to utilize their system to take care of my student loans they still decided to garnish my already-below-poverty-line social security income,” Tavares added.

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Ex-Venezuelan spy chief Carvajal discussing surrender with U.S. authorities: sources

CARACAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former head of Venezuela's military intelligence unit, Hugo Carvajal, is discussing his possible surrender with U.S. authorities, three people familiar with the matter said on Saturday, after prosecutors charged him this week with drug trafficking alongside Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Carvajal, a former general and ally of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been in hiding since a Spanish court in November approved his extradition to the United States.

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Joe Biden is the worst imaginable challenger to Trump right now

For anyone plugged in to the news firehose about the coronavirus pandemic, it has been extremely bizarre to watch President Trump's approval rating. He has botched the crisis beyond belief, and the United States now has the biggest outbreak in the world. Because of his ongoing failure to secure stockpiles of medical supplies, doctors and nurses are re-using protective gear over and over, and suiting up in garbage bags and page protectors to treat COVID-19 patients. Some have already caught the virus and died — along with over 1,300 others at time of writing, which is very likely an underestimate.Yet Trump's approval rating keeps going up. Poll averages show a marked bump in favorable ratings, a recent Washington Post/ABC poll has him above water. He does even better on the coronavirus response, with a Gallup poll finding him at 60 percent approval of his handling of the situation.This is what happens when the Democratic Party, de facto led at this point by its presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, refuses to make the case that Trump is in fact responsible for the severity of the disaster. Biden is proving to be about the worst imaginable nominee to take on Trump.Now, Biden is not entirely to blame here. Surely some of Trump's approval bump can be chalked up to the usual "rally around the flag" effect that tends to happen at times of crisis, and the fact that we are likely still in the very early stages of the pandemic.But if we dig into the numbers, some of the bump in Trump's approval rating is coming from changes in Democratic attitudes. A Pew poll, for instance, found that Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters nearly doubled their approval of Trump over the last few weeks, from 7 to 12 percent. It's not a huge change, but it could make the difference between Trump winning or losing in an election which is likely to be close.As has been made abundantly clear, Democratic voters tend to take their cues from Democratic elites. The party rallied around Biden in lockstep right before Super Tuesday, and voters fell in line. Biden won multiple states he has not visited in months and in which he had no campaign offices. And now that he's the probable nominee, Biden is not savaging Trump's response. On the contrary, his campaign says they are hesitant to even criticize him at all. "As much as I dislike Trump and think what a bad job he's doing, there's a danger now that attacking him can backfire on you if you get too far out there. I don't think the public wants to hear criticism of Trump right now," one adviser told Politico.Indeed, Biden has barely been doing anything. As the outbreak became a full-blown crisis, Biden disappeared for almost an entire week. His campaign said it was trying to figure out how to do video livestreams, something any 12-year-old could set up in about 15 minutes. (Hey guys: Any smartphone with Twitter, YouTube, or Twitch installed can become a broadcasting device with the press of a single button.) When Biden did finally appear, he gave some scripted addresses that still had technical foul-ups, and did softball interviews where he still occasionally trailed off mid-sentence.People crave leadership during times of crisis, as evidence by the sudden surge of positive sentiment towards New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who seriously mishandled the initial crisis response, and is still trying to cut Medicaid, but has been giving reassuring daily press conferences where he seems like he is on top of the situation. Washington state Governor Jay Inslee did a much, much better job (just compare the numbers in New York to those in Washington state), but has gotten comparatively little attention precisely because there are a lot fewer cases and deaths (and there are many fewer reporters in Seattle than New York City).Trump, meanwhile, is similarly out there on TV every day boasting about how what he's doing is so smart and good. What he's saying is insanely irresponsible and has already gotten people killed, but absent an effective response from the Democratic leadership, it can appear to casual news consumers as though he has the situation in hand. Democratic backbenchers and various journalists are screaming themselves hoarse, but it plainly isn't working.Biden's strategy appears to be to coast to the presidency in basically the same way he coasted to the nomination: Keep public appearances and therefore embarrassing verbal flubs to a minimum, and rely on Trump's disastrous governance to do all the work for him. But this is a horribly risky strategy. Biden is already a candidate whose awful record will make it harder to attack Trump on trade, protecting Social Security and Medicare, corruption, mental fitness, and his treatment of women — indeed, just recently a former Biden staffer came forward with an allegation that he had sexually assaulted her 26 years ago. Hunkering down and refusing to criticize Trump's world-historical bungling risks him successfully arguing that it was an unforeseeable disaster and he did the best anyone could have done.Contrary to these half-baked notions that the public doesn't want to hear criticism of Trump, we saw during impeachment that once Democrats actually started going through with it, approval jumped — largely because the liberal rank-and-file took that as a cue it was indeed a good idea. It's just another instance of the Democratic establishment's habit of hiding their desire to avoid conflict and do nothing behind an imagined obstacle of public opinion, when in fact they can change those opinions dramatically by offering a strong and clear alternative.Moreover, if and when Biden does become president, he will be in charge of a country in ruins. Fixing the place up will require extremely energetic leadership. But both Biden, his campaign, and the Democratic establishment seem to believe that if they just pretend hard enough, everything will go back to normal on its own. It is willful blindness on par with the worst Trump loyalists.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Once coronavirus infects a human body, what happens next? Elton John to host 'Living Room Concert for America' with stars performing from home Trump brags about his television ratings as pandemic intensifies

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North Korea test fires missiles amid worries about outbreak

North Korea on Sunday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea and Japan said, continuing a streak of weapons launches that suggests leader Kim Jong Un is trying to strengthen domestic support amid worries about a possible coronavirus outbreak in the country. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the projectiles flying from the North Korean eastern coastal city of Wonsan into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Sunday morning.

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Trump asks why reporter doesn't act 'a little more positive'

President Trump on Sunday asked why a White House reporter does not act “a little more positive” in covering the administration’s coronavirus response.

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Tornado tears through Arkansas city, prompting curfew and National Guard response

“I know there is property damage,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. “Just praying all is safe.”

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Europe, US virus tolls surge as Trump reverses on New York lockdown

The coronavirus death toll shot past 20,000 in Europe on Saturday, with Italy and Spain each reporting more than 800 dead in one day, as US President Donald Trump pulled back on putting the hard-hit New York region under quarantine. Up to one-third of the world's population is under lockdown as the virus leaves its devastating imprint on nearly every aspect of society: wiping out millions of jobs, straining health care services and weighing heavily on national treasuries for years to come. Globally, the death toll has surged past 30,000 and officials in some countries say the worst still lies ahead.

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Coronavirus: India defiant as millions struggle under lockdown

The government defends strict lockdown measures that have left millions stranded and without food.

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How the U.S. government is starting to keep tabs on people's movement amid pandemic

The U.S. government has begun to use cellphone data to get a better sense of people's movement in up to as many as 500 cities amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reports.The tactic is not meant to track individuals, and names aren't included in the data, but instead is geared toward figuring out where people might be congregating in large numbers as calls for social distancing and lockdowns become the norm across the country. In doing so, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in conjunction with state and local officials, hope to get an idea of how the coronavirus might be spreading so they can further curb its advance.The data, which is coming from the less-regulated mobile advertising industry rather than cell phone carriers, could also provide information on whether people are complying with their area's shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders.Despite the intentions of the efforts, such projects will undoubtedly raise concerns about government invasion of privacy, and, while even some privacy activists understand the necessity of such efforts, they want stronger safeguards in place. Read more at The Wall Street Journal and read more about coronavirus surveillance here at The Week.More stories from theweek.com Once coronavirus infects a human body, what happens next? Elton John to host 'Living Room Concert for America' with stars performing from home Trump brags about his television ratings as pandemic intensifies

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Russia Claimed It Created a Coronavirus Cure, but It’s an American Malaria Drug

The headline of the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti read, “Russia Created the Treatment for Coronavirus.” The article went on to boast about the remedy based on the drug mefloquine, an antimalarial drug created in fact at the U.S. Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center shortly after the Vietnam War and widely known as Lariam. Fiona Hill: Trump’s Coronavirus Talk Sounds a Lot Like Russia’sMefloquine was created to replace chloroquine, another anti-malarial, which was President Donald Trump’s recent drug of choice in his dubious battle against COVID-19. It is still prescribed in many countries to prevent and treat malaria, but it is known to have severe and sometimes shocking side effects. A study conducted from 2001-2003 “confirmed mefloquine's potential for causing psychological illness.”Facing a wave of ridicule in social media, Russian state media changed the headline, which now reads: “Russia Offered a Drug for Treating the Coronavirus.”It should be noted that there is no known cure or approved treatment for the coronavirus. Multiple clinical trials for potential medical treatments are still underway.The purpose of all this is less pharmacological than propagandistic. While Kremlin-controlled media outlets propagate conspiracy theories blaming the United States (and even Ukraine) for creating and spreading the coronavirus, Russia is presented as the potential savior of all of humanity. At a time when the Kremlin’s cynical effort to hide the extent of the pandemic in Russia is becoming ever more apparent, state media are criticizing American and European tactics for containing the pandemic. Virologist Mikhail Shchelkanov, head of the Laboratory of Ecology of Microorganisms, FEFU School of Biomedicine, described the Western approach as “18th-century tactics.” In contrast, he claimed that, “Russia, since the days of the Soviet Union, has had the world's best biological safety system.”After Putin’s Big Fail, Russia Braces for COVID-19 OnslaughtRussian coronavirus measures recommended by the government agency to the general public indeed seem more stringent than those offered in the United States. For example, everyday use of face masks in public is recommended for all individuals. Single-use masks are to be replaced every 2-3 hours. The risk to younger individuals is not being downplayed. To the contrary, parents are being advised to keep their children at home or in the yard of their own home. When in public, children are to be prevented from touching any surfaces or interacting with others. There is public guidance with respect to the disinfection of store-bought food and merchandise.During his state TV show, The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, the host described Russia’s approach to the pandemic as superior to that of Europe and the United States. “They’re behaving in an uncivilized manner,” Soloviev said, “They are being amoral. Our people unite and want to help others. Americans are just buying up guns.”    Speaking to RIA Novosti, Shchelkanov praised China’s response to the pandemic and condemned the United States and Western Europe for their lack of coordinated actions, predicting that coronavirus “can easily spread like fire—and is spreading to neighboring countries.” He claimed that “the Russian Federation continues to be a bulwark of European stability.”In reality, the true numbers of coronavirus infections in Russia are grossly understated due to the lack of testing and creative approach to recording the number of deaths. Some quarantined Russians report receiving negative test results, in spite of not being tested. The cause of death for coronavirus patients in Russia is being determined posthumously through an autopsy, and sometimes attributed to other causes, such as pulmonary thromboembolism—therefore being excluded from the official statistics.The aid supplied to Western countries by China and Russia has been criticized as largely defective and mainly useless. But Russian state media claim such support as the manifestation of “soft power.” Appearing on Soloviev's show, political scientist Dmitry Evstafiev noted, “Every country is using the coronavirus pandemic as cover, trying to achieve their own goals.”One of the Kremlin’s most pressing aims is the removal of U.S. and European sanctions against Russia and its informal allies: Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea. Experts on Russian state television repeatedly suggest that the Kremlin should bring up the removal of sanctions at every opportunity, especially while offering coronavirus aid to Western countries.During his state TV show, Soloviev expressed frustration that Trump “didn’t understand anything” and ignored President Vladimir Putin's proposal at the recent G-20 summit calling for the immediate removal of all sanctions.Soloviev opined that the first country that is able to create the coronavirus vaccine would acquire an instrument of enormous political pressure. Russia is actively seeking to develop such a lever of global influence, but the unproven panacea it is currently touting was made in the USA.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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New top story on Hacker News: Grab your crayons, it’s coloring time

Grab your crayons, it’s coloring time
9 by kirillzubovsky | 2 comments on Hacker News.

Trump Extends Social Distancing Guidelines Through End of April

By BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2xAyFig

The Politics of a Pandemic

By BY CHARLES M. BLOW from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3auIPzx

Coronavirus: What we still don't know about Covid-19

There are many unanswered questions about the new coronavirus, Covid-19.

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Alex Salmond's accusers 'devastated' by court verdict

A jury found the former first minister not guilty on 12 sexual assault charges, while another was found not proven.

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Bob Weighton turns 112: The times and life of the world's oldest man

Bob Weighton, from Hampshire, turns 112 today. What has the world's oldest man lived through?

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SNP urges UK government to 'hit pause' on Brexit due to coronavirus

The party says UK ministers should focus on the coronavirus pandemic and seek to extend the transition period.

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How Much Should the Public Know About Who Has the Coronavirus?

By BY THOMAS FULLER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2WXgZIB

Mike Longo, Jazz Pianist, Composer and Educator, Dies at 83

By BY STEVE SMITH from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3bztjCN

Raving to the BBC News theme tune goes viral

Have you seen the kitchen 'remix' of the BBC News theme tune yet?

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Coronavirus Comes to the Kremlin

After months of denials, Russia is facing a new reality with respect to the rapid spread of the coronavirus in the country. Friday’s statistics officially acknowledge 1,036 diagnosed cases of COVID-19, including four deaths. The real numbers are undoubtedly much higher, as testing for the potentially deadly disease is only starting to pick up steam and some coronavirus deaths are being attributed to other causes.The highly contagious virus has already penetrated the walls of the Kremlin. Russian media reported that two Kremlin officials may have tested positive for the coronavirus. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed he was aware of one of those cases, but claimed no knowledge of the second. State media outlet TASS speculated that one of the infected persons may have been a staffer responsible for awards, who traveled to Spain and later attended Putin’s presidential awards ceremony in occupied Crimea.Putin’s own spokesman couldn’t avoid the handshake of the disease, having been present at a star-studded birthday party attended by pop singer Lev Leshchenko, who recently tested positive for coronavirus. Peskov claimed that attendees at the fancy affair maintained proper distancing and “barely even shook hands” in light of the coronavirus advisories. However, video clips aired by the Russian state media TV show 60 Minutes demonstrated that celebrity partiers hugged, kissed and made silly gestures mocking the coronavirus precautions. Peskov denied interacting with the infected singer at the party.Russia Swore It Whipped the Virus, and Fox and CNN Bought ItRussia’s State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia that consists of 450 members, said it will require all of its deputies to take coronavirus tests on Monday.Putin expressed near certainty that Russia could defeat the coronavirus “in two or three months time… maybe even earlier.” Taking an obvious jab at the United States, he added: “In some countries, it is said that the war with the virus (they call it a ‘war’) will be a very long one.”State media outlet RT hinted at the upcoming unrest in the United States: predicting that “a people deprived of their myths will not remain complacent forever.” RT opined: “With no brawls or ballgames to watch, and the fear of potential hunger gnawing at their bloated bellies and brains… Americans will now find it harder and harder to ignore the truth about their country and its deplorably corrupt media, financial, government, education and health care systems… The crisis is going to get worse before it gets better… America, on the other hand, will only get much worse, with no hope that it is ever going to get better.”Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin expressed his hope that Russia’s fight against the coronavirus will be “more smooth and painless than in other countries.” He ordered Moscow’s restaurants and most stores to shut down for eight days and noted: “The restrictions introduced today are unprecedented in the modern history of Moscow and will create many inconveniences for the everyday life of every person,” but argued that “they are absolutely necessary in order to slow the spread of coronavirus infection and reduce the number of cases.”Meanwhile, during his Thursday telephone call with reporters, Peskov insisted that in Russia “there is de facto no epidemic” and the Kremlin hopes “to be able to avoid one.”Kremlin-controlled Russian state media are using the crisis to promote the view that democratic, progressive countries’ inability to curtail the pandemic demonstrated the superiority of Russia’s paternalistic government. Russian state media argued that the failure of the United States to prepare for coronavirus, even with a two-month advance notice, also demonstrates the loss of America’s global leadership.Appearing on The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, Political scientist Sergey Mikheyev said that he was very happy to report: “Things are better in Russia than in Europe or America.” Mikheyev pointed out that the United States failed to extend a helping hand to Europe, after decades of transatlantic solidarity. He attributed the failure of the Trump administration to help America’s European allies to “stupidity, greed,” or the overt manifestation of total disregard.The host, Vladimir Soloviev, asserted that overcoming the pandemic “with minimal losses” would cement Putin’s success in securing the upcoming nationwide vote on the constitutional amendments designed to maintain the Russian leader’s grip on power. In anticipation of the inevitable suffering, Russian state media have been promoting outlandish conspiracy theories that blame the United States—and even their alleged “secret bio-laboratories in Ukraine”—for the creation of the coronavirus.Fiona Hill: Trump’s Coronavirus Talk Sounds a Lot Like Russia’sThe ongoing spread of the coronavirus in Russia will be accompanied by the inevitable escalation of anti-Western propaganda. When push comes to shove, the Kremlin frequently resorts to its traditional methods of assigning the blame to evil external forces (most frequently, the United States) and portraying Putin as Russia’s only hope and savior of the Motherland.The scope of the pandemic, suddenly extending to the Russian president’s inner circle, caused obvious nervousness on Russian state television. Appearing on Russia’s 60 Minutes, unsettled pundits traded insults and practically screamed at each other. In spite of the Kremlin’s initial claims of successfully controlling the spread of the virus, many are realizing that the worst is yet to come.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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Ex-Sen. Tom Coburn, conservative political maverick, dies

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn was stubborn as a mule and conservative to his core. Coburn, who died early Saturday at age 72, joined the U.S. Senate the same year as President Barack Obama, and the pair became fast friends despite their contrasting ideologies. In Oklahoma, where Obama failed to carry a single county in his 2008 presidential bid, voters took note.

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Germany looks at tracking patients to rein in coronavirus - reports

Germany has proposed using big data and location tracking to isolate people with coronavirus once social distancing measures now in force have slowed its spread, media reported on Friday. The Interior Ministry's strategy paper recommends following South Korea in aggressively testing for COVID-19 and using smartphone location data to help trace people who have come into contact with those infected with the flu-like disease. Surveillance is a sensitive topic in Germany, where memories of the dreaded East German Stasi secret police and its extensive network of informants are still fresh in the minds of many.

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'Each day we get news of another brother or sister who has fallen': United Auto Workers announce death of fourth Fiat Chrysler employee due to the coronavirus

The fourth FCA death comes as some plants among the Detroit Big Three, whose workers are unionized with the UAW, prepare to come back online.

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Even China’s Big Oil Is Cutting Back

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Under the watchful eye of Beijing’s energy hawks, China’s oil and gas majors have splurged for more than a decade, first on deals abroad and then drilling at home. Yet with crude prices at less than half where they were at the start of the year and demand battered by a coronavirus epidemic, they’re preparing to cut back.Cnooc Ltd. signaled Wednesday it might reduce its 2020 capital expenditure budget, which was set at as much as $13 billion, the highest since 2014. PetroChina Ltd., the country’s largest oil producer with a market value of $117 billion, suggested Thursday that it would do the same. Given the delicate politics involved, it’s a welcome hint of rational frugality.Energy security has always been a top concern for China’s leadership. Overseas deals peaked at $28 billion in 2012, the year Cnooc bid for Canada’s Nexen. Local production growth has been less exuberant, and China has been importing ever more. As trade tensions with Washington rose in 2018, President Xi Jinping urged the country’s state-owned titans to drill. That set off a frenzy from deepwater fields in the South China Sea to shale gas in Sichuan, where China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, has led. Performing national service is fine when oil is at $60 a barrel, even if the improvements are unimpressive compared to the capital spent. It’s a different matter when West Texas Intermediate is just coming off an 18-year low of less than $20. That’s a price at which no one can make money — not even Cnooc, with an all-in production cost of less than $30 per barrel of oil equivalent. Cnooc’s adventures in U.S. onshore and Canadian oil sands look terrible; its buccaneering domestic ventures are little better.Overseas, oil majors from Chevron Corp. to Saudi Aramco are cutting spending to preserve capital. Dividends are precarious. Logic dictates that China’s producers, even with healthier balance sheets, will follow the same pattern. The question is whether they can put financial logic ahead of political necessity. So far, the message is cautious: Cnooc executives pointed out that 2020 spending targets were drawn up when oil was at $65, so adjustments would be made. It gave no specifics. PetroChina, meanwhile, didn’t disclose precise targets for the year. That’s no accident, given a volatile market. After a string of personnel changes, there are new bosses across the industry. Political priorities haven’t been set in stone, given the delay in the annual National People’s Congress meeting. Still, the official message has been clear: Life is returning to normal after a devastating shutdown. Announcing a drastic spending cut, or anything that might hint at job losses or a weak economy, simply isn’t on the cards. PetroChina employed 476,000 at the end of 2018.That doesn’t mean that there won’t be mild cuts followed by steeper ones later in the year, a pattern seen before.How steep? Unlike during the last price crunch, in 2014 and 2015, the forward curve suggests prices will remain low, with little prospect for a quick solution to the Russia-Saudi spat that has worsened a global supply glut. Demand, meanwhile, is in the doldrums. China’s economy, and therefore its own appetite for oil and gas, is recovering only slowly, and the rest of the world is ailing as more lockdowns, factory closures and travel restrictions are imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Analysts at UBS Group AG forecast Cnooc’s capex could come down 25% over the next two years, a cut that could be far deeper if oil averages closer to $30 this year. Overall, they project Chinese state-owned oil producers could cut spending by over a third, dragging production down 8% to 9%. Exploration budgets may be trimmed, though domestic production — where job preservation remains key — will mostly be spared. That leaves refining and other downstream activities, plus projects abroad, to bear the brunt. Low energy prices aren’t all bad for China, which imports more than 70% of the crude it consumes. Even liberalization of the domestic gas market becomes easier when prices are low enough for consumers to cope with change, Michal Meidan of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies points out. Cheaper oil could eventually stimulate demand. For now, a little less drilling all round. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Europe virus toll surges, Trump mulls quarantine of New York area

The coronavirus death toll shot past 20,000 in Europe on Saturday, with Italy and Spain each reporting more than 800 dead in one day, as US President Donald Trump said he is considering putting hard-hit New York and parts of two other states under quarantine. Globally, the death toll has surged past 30,000 -- two-thirds of those in Europe -- and officials in some countries say the worst still lies ahead.

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Coronavirus stimulus might be delayed another day after 1 congressman threatens to disrupt unanimous vote

Even with a massive economic stimulus bill on the horizon, House members had recently returned home to wait out the new coronavirus outbreak upon reassurance the bill would pass unanimously.But on Thursday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) disrupted that plan by suggesting he might oppose a unanimous voice vote. His waffling now has much of the House rushing back to Washington, scrambling to find uncancelled flights and worried about spreading COVID-19 even further, Politico reports.Beyond just allowing congressmembers to get home, the voice vote would've prevented all House members from having to come together in the Capitol in a clear violation of the CDC's social distancing guidelines. The House only needs 216 members for a quorum, but others are worried about the optics of not showing up if it comes down to a roll call vote. So even Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), who represents the swamped Elmhurst hospital in Queens, New York, boarded a near-empty flight back to D.C.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the House will have a roll call if there's a quorum on Friday, but Massie's disruption could push it to Saturday. House members on both sides of the aisle are "furious" about the plans, with some blaming Pelosi and others blaming Massie, Politico reports. President Trump agreed with the latter in a Friday tweet and called for Massie to be thrown out of the Republican party. > ...& costly. Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn't their fault. It is "HELL" dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the "big picture" done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020More stories from theweek.com Why Minnesota's coronavirus response is different Elton John to host 'Living Room Concert for America' with stars performing from home Biden could reportedly soon embrace 'key planks' of more progressive agenda

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'Choppy waters' await Navy as virus strikes aircraft carrier

The Navy, the military service hit hardest by the coronavirus, scrambled to contain its first at-sea outbreak, with at least two dozen infected aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of 11 active aircraft carriers whose mission is central to the Pentagon's strategy for deterring war with China and Iran. The Roosevelt and its contingent of warplanes may be sidelined for days, sitting pier side in Guam as the entire crew — more than 5,000 — is tested. “The Navy is headed into choppy waters in terms of readiness in the months ahead,” says retired Adm. James Stavridis, a former ship commander who rose to become NATO's top commander in Europe.

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