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After first U.S. coronavirus death near Canadian border, Trump administration considers restrictions at Mexican border

After first U.S. coronavirus death near Canadian border, Trump administration considers restrictions at Mexican border

Reuters reports: The Trump administration is considering imposing entry restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border to control the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, according to two U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials. Mexico’s government said on Friday it had detected three cases of coronavirus infection in three men who had all recently traveled to Italy, making the country the second in Latin America to register the fast-spreading virus. The concern over containing the virus at the southern…

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Trump says he can bring in coronavirus experts quickly. The experts say it is not that simple

Trump says he can bring in coronavirus experts quickly. The experts say it is not that simple

The Washington Post reports: The White House official charged with leading the U.S. response to deadly pandemics left nearly two years ago as his global health security team was disbanded. Federal funding for preventing and mitigating the spread of infectious disease has been repeatedly threatened since President Trump’s election. Despite the mounting threat of a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Trump said he has no regrets about those actions and that expertise and resources can be quickly ramped up…

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Taliban and U.S. strike deal to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan

Taliban and U.S. strike deal to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan

The New York Times reports: The United States signed a deal with the Taliban on Saturday that sets the stage to end America’s longest war — the nearly two-decade-old conflict in Afghanistan that began after the Sept. 11 attacks, killed tens of thousands of people, vexed three White House administrations and left mistrust and uncertainty on all sides. The agreement lays out a timetable for the final withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan, the impoverished Central Asian country once…

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Court rules Congress cannot sue to force executive branch officials to testify

Court rules Congress cannot sue to force executive branch officials to testify

The New York Times reports: A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that Congress could not sue to enforce its subpoenas of executive branch officials, handing a major victory to President Trump and dealing a severe blow to the power of Congress to conduct oversight. In a ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for executive branch secrecy powers long after Mr. Trump leaves office, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit…

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Trump officials encourage public to ignore the news as community transmission of coronavirus spreads in California

Trump officials encourage public to ignore the news as community transmission of coronavirus spreads in California

The Washington Post reports: California has a second case of community transmission of the coronavirus, a 65-year-old resident of Santa Clara County who has no known history of travel to countries hit hard by the outbreak, people familiar with the case said Friday. There is also no apparent connection between the new patient and anyone else with the disease caused by the virus, covid-19. On Wednesday, health authorities revealed the nation’s first case of community transmission, a woman in Solano…

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Key missteps at CDC set back its ability to detect the potential spread of coronavirus

Key missteps at CDC set back its ability to detect the potential spread of coronavirus

By Caroline Chen, Marshall Allen, Lexi Churchill and Isaac Arnsdorf, ProPublica, February 28, 2020 As the highly infectious coronavirus jumped from China to country after country in January and February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lost valuable weeks that could have been used to track its possible spread in the United States because it insisted upon devising its own test. The federal agency shunned the World Health Organization test guidelines used by other countries and set out…

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Bernie Sanders can beat Trump. Here’s the math

Bernie Sanders can beat Trump. Here’s the math

Steve Phillips writes: Whatever you think about Bernie Sanders as a potential president, it is wrong to dismiss his chances of winning the office. Not only does most of the available empirical evidence show Mr. Sanders defeating President Trump in the national popular vote and in the critical Midwestern states that tipped the Electoral College in 2016, but his specific electoral strengths align with changes in the composition of the country’s population in ways that could actually make him a…

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When the billionaire family behind the opioid crisis needed PR help, they turned to Mike Bloomberg

When the billionaire family behind the opioid crisis needed PR help, they turned to Mike Bloomberg

By Hannah Dreier, ProPublica, February 28, 2020 Long celebrated as civic-minded philanthropists, the Sacklers were becoming pariahs. The billionaire family whose company created and pushed the addictive painkiller OxyContin had managed to escape connection with the opioid crisis for years, but now two magazine pieces were portraying them as pain profiteers. Museums that had sought their donations were being asked about giving the money back. Mortimer D.A. Sackler — son of a co-founder of the company, Purdue Pharma, and a…

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Judge voids nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas leases, saying Trump policy undercut public input

Judge voids nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas leases, saying Trump policy undercut public input

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge in Idaho has voided nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas leases on federal lands in the West, saying that a Trump administration policy that limited public input on those leases was “arbitrary and capricious.” The ruling Thursday by U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush represented a win for environmentalists, who challenged the leasing policy as part of a broader effort to block drilling in habitat for the imperiled greater sage-grouse….

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Syria: Why is the world indifferent to Idlib?

Syria: Why is the world indifferent to Idlib?

  The United Nations has warned the world is facing the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century as the forces of President Bashar al-Assad close in on Syria’s last opposition stronghold, forcing more than one million people to flee into an ever shrinking space at the closed and fortified border with Turkey. The battle for Idlib has caused the biggest displacement of people so far in Syria’s nine-year civil war and more than half of the million people now…

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Airstrike hits Turkish forces in Syria, raising fears of escalation

Airstrike hits Turkish forces in Syria, raising fears of escalation

The New York Times reports: The Turkish Army suffered mass casualties in an airstrike in northwest Syria late Thursday, an attack that could dramatically change the course of the Syrian war as fears grow of a direct conflict between Russia and Turkey, a NATO member. At least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 30 wounded, said Rahmi Dogan, the Turkish governor of the southern province of Hatay, where the Turkish casualties were arriving. Turkish officials said the strike…

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In a national emergency, America needs a president the nation can trust

In a national emergency, America needs a president the nation can trust

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a special adviser to the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaking on MSNBC’s Hardball: "I found most of what he said incoherent." — Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on Trump's press conference regarding the coronavirus. #Hardball pic.twitter.com/HIHxYLS1E5 — Hardball (@hardball) February 27, 2020 The New York Times reports: When Hurricane Dorian crashed into the Atlantic Coast in September, President Trump assumed a take-charge role in response. But he undermined his own effectiveness after it became apparent that…

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Could coronavirus really trigger a recession?

Could coronavirus really trigger a recession?

Coronavirus seems to be on a collision course with the US economy and its 12-year bull market. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan By Michael Walden, North Carolina State University Fears are growing that the new coronavirus will infect the U.S. economy. U.S stocks are headed for their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis; companies including Apple and Walmart have been warning of potential sales losses from COVID-19 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans to prepare for…

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Saudi Arabia suspends entry for pilgrims over coronavirus as U.S. sees first case of community transmission

Saudi Arabia suspends entry for pilgrims over coronavirus as U.S. sees first case of community transmission

AFP reports: Saudi Arabia on Thursday suspended visas for pilgrims wishing to visit Mecca over coronavirus fears, the foreign ministry said. The government is “suspending entry to the Kingdom for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporarily”, the foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of year. Umrah attracts tens of thousands of devout Muslims from all over the globe each month. The foreign…

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