The White House appeared to be in fresh disarray on Wednesday as Donald Trump insisted that his coronavirus taskforce would remain in place – less than 24 hours after suggesting it would be disbanded.
Continue reading...John Ratcliffe was forced to withdraw his nomination for the same post nine months ago for exaggerating his security experience
A Trump loyalist nominated as director of national intelligence (DNI) looked set to sail through Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, only nine months after being forced to withdraw for having exaggerated his security experience.
Related: John Ratcliffe: Trump's intelligence chief pick withdraws amid qualification doubts
Continue reading...Trump administration portrays crisis as example of danger Beijing’s leadership poses to China and the world
The escalating row between Washington and Beijing over blame for the coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming a battle over the Chinese Communist party’s legitimacy, raising the stakes in an already fraught relationship.
In castigating Beijing for its failure to contain the outbreak, senior Trump administration officials have gone out of their way to portray the crisis as a deadly illustration of the threat that Communist party rule poses the Chinese people – and the world beyond.
Continue reading...The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, claimed on Sunday there is “enormous evidence” the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory – but did not provide any of the alleged evidence.
Related: Pandemic brings Trump's war on science to the boil – but who will win?
Continue reading... Family of motorcyclist killed near US base to receive crucial papers after seeking review
Lawyers representing the family of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn are poised to receive a series of crucial documents which they believe will help their legal case to expose a “scandalous cover-up” by the Foreign Office.
The development comes after documents showed that a senior Foreign Office diplomat had sent a text message to a US Embassy counterpart saying they should “feel able” to put suspect Anne Sacoolas on the next flight back to the States.
Continue reading...Somalia reports rapid rise in Covid-19 deaths; 98 people die in one New York nursing home; Singapore eases restrictions as second wave subsides
Japan will fast-track a review of the antiviral drug remdesivir so that it can hopefully be approved for domestic COVID-19 patients a week after Gilead Sciences filing for such approval, the health minister said on Saturday, according to a report by Reuters.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato’s comment comes after remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 on Friday.
The Chinese virologist whose work has been at the centre of the controversial claim that coronavirus came from a laboratory has dismissed rumours that she has defected from China, South China Morning Post reports.
Shi Zhengli, a researcher of bat coronaviruses, wrote on WeChat on Saturday that she and her family had not fled the country, despite coming under heavy scrutiny amid conspiracy theories that the virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in central China where she works.
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Donald Trump appears to have revised upward to 100,000 his expectations for the number of Americans who will die of Covid-19.
“Hopefully we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” Trump said at a White House event to honor people who are doing work related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.
The last patient has left the field hospital that was erected in New York City’s Javits convention center, the AP reports.
The emergency facility was erected by the members of the US military to alleviate strain on the city’s hospital system at the height of the outbreak. It ultimately treated 1,095 patients, the last 8 of whom left the hospital today.
Continue reading...The latest spokeswoman for the ministry of untruth made an assured debut – but on Covid-19 and more, there were still Trumpian echoes
Channeling George Washington, Donald Trump, who has reportedly made 18,000 false or misleading claims in 1,170 days, recently proclaimed: “I cannot tell a lie.”
Related: Joe Biden denies sexual assault allegation from former staffer Tara Reade
Continue reading...President retreated over the weekend after his bizarre musing that disinfectant could be injected into coronavirus patients
His autocratic tendencies are well-known. His sudden absence from public view prompted fierce speculation and rumour. One headline suggested that he was “brain-dead”.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s whereabouts remain unknown. But after a lost weekend, Donald Trump bounced back into the spotlight on Monday determined to prove that he is not only healthy but working very, very hard.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, has cautioned that social distancing measures are likely to stay in place throughout the summer, as the administration’s health expert sought to downplay the president’s dangerous suggestion that injected disinfectant and ultraviolet light could play a role in medical treatment of Covid-19.
Related: How has the coronavirus transformed Spain?
Continue reading...The state has been in retreat since the 80s heyday of Reagan and Thatcher but that could change as coronavirus delivers a shock to the system of historic proportions
Ronald Reagan’s 1986 wisecrack – “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help” – would not get a lot of laughs today. In much of the world, people are desperate for the government to show up and rise to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Reagan’s attitude to government solidified into orthodoxy for more than three decades, spreading abroad – particularly in the UK with the help of Margaret Thatcher – and captured the centre ground of politics in both countries.
Continue reading...Doctors warn president’s musings on disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus could lead to death
Donald Trump has stunned viewers by suggesting that people could receive injections of disinfectant to cure the coronavirus, a notion one medical expert described as “jaw-dropping”.
At Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, the US president discussed new government research on how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates and surfaces.
Continue reading...Albin Kurti claims Richard Grenell involved in pushing for vote that collapsed government
Kosovo’s caretaker prime minister, Albin Kurti, has launched a stinging attack on Donald Trump’s acting national intelligence director, accusing him of meddling in the country’s politics and helping to bring down his former government with the goal of delivering a quick diplomatic victory for Trump.
Kurti is staying on as PM in an acting capacity after his coalition partners turned against him in a parliamentary vote last month that was egged on by US diplomats. The upheaval was met with disbelief among many Kosovans, who wanted the government to focus on fighting coronavirus.
Continue reading...Spain proposes €1.5tn EU Covid-19 fund; US blocks pro-WHO statement by G20; Trump backs anti-lockdown protesters; deaths in Italy and Spain fall
Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114.
For the first time, the number of people who are currently infected fell by 20 to 108,237.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he understood why some people are protesting the closing down of businesses in response to the coronavirus but argued relaxing restrictions needed to be done in a way that prevented further outbreaks.
“You don’t need protests to convince anyone in this country that we have get back to work and we have to get the economy going and we have to get out of our homes. Nobody,” Cuomo told a briefing.
Saudia Arabia religious body urges all Muslims to pray at home during Ramadan; Spanish PM seeks lockdown extension
Lockdowns across Europe have had a dramatic impact on air traffic, with 90% fewer flights taking off from the continent’s largest airports compared to a year ago
Wearing face masks, waving black flags and keeping two yards apart, thousands of Israelis demonstrated against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu under strict coronavirus restrictions on Sunday.
Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, is under criminal indictment in three corruption cases.
Continue reading...At his latest coronavirus press conference, the president attacked Joe Biden and suggested he might have saved the planet
He bashed “Sleepy Joe” Biden. He railed against the Russia investigation and “fake people” in the media. He predicted that had he not been elected, the world might have ended.
And somewhere along the way, he talked about the coronavirus.
Continue reading...The US president urged supporters to 'liberate' three states led by Democratic governors on Friday, apparently encouraging protests against stay-at-home restrictions. 'These are people expressing their views,' Trump said during his daily White House coronavirus briefing.
Continue reading...China pushes ‘comprehensive’ economic reopening; first virus case in Syria’s northeast; Germany says pandemic ‘under control’. Follow latest updates
For the latest global coronavirus developments, here is our at-a-glance guide:
Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Thailand has reported 33 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total to 2,733 cases.
Eleven of the new cases were in Bangkok and had a history of going to public areas, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration.
Some have questioned if the low number of detected cases is down to a lack of testing in the country.
Caught between the US and China, the world health body has been unable to enforce compliance or information sharing
When a pandemic strikes, the world’s leading experts convene – physically or virtually – in a hi-tech chamber in the basement of the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization.
It is called the “strategic health operations centre”, or SHOC, an appropriately urgent acronym for a place where life and death decisions are taken, and it is where critical choices were made in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.
Continue reading...Despite the restraint, the plan neglects to mention a firm target date or give an explicit strategy for national testing
“Make America great again” was an election winning slogan with a bold and simple message. “Opening up America again” proved to be less clear cut and left questions in the air.
On Thursday Donald Trump unveiled federal staggered guidelines for getting America back to business after the shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic. He had previously billed it as the most important decision of his presidency, but what he called “a science-based reopening” was messier and more ill-defined.
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