News of the World

[kyonides]

After the coral ban, I lost everything
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51629600
In an island close to Bali, a man has gone through a tough situation. His government had forbidden the commercialization of corals in an attempt to protect coral reefs. Sadly, it didn't take into consideration there were people out there farming coral underwater. Things seem to be improving but the controversy might vanish any time soon.  

Syrian opposition fighters retake key town from government
https://apnews.com/9dd7b9b3674a5a635f789c0d9489cc66
Well, Sarqeb or Saraqeb has been retaken by Syrian rebels with some serious help from Turkish troops. This also means they've blocked the Damascus-Aleppo road once again.


Gunman kills 5 at Milwaukee brewery before taking own life
https://apnews.com/8b6f867e5f52baf2b699f564d177e899
Milwaukee now has a(nother) sad reason to feel sad. Why people can't resolve their issues in a non violent way?

Docking gives Intelsat telecoms satellite new lease of life
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51651374
So now old satellites can last longer in space!? That sounds like a real success! I wonder how far they can go in order to clean our skies or refurbish satellites. O_O

Trump urges calm even as US reports worrisome new virus case
https://apnews.com/8287900ddb86598dac52ee9f3fce23c5

Another person in the U.S. is infected — someone in California who doesn’t appear to have the usual risk factors of having traveled abroad or being exposed to another patient.

Even so Trump says that everything will be under control and his vice president will lead the efforts to contain and minimize the coronavirus effects in the US. Will it be good enough to prevent Americans from passing away or getting extremely scared of the virus?  

Australian campuses offer cash, discounts to China students
https://apnews.com/35c10a98d44e049cb938337491910931
I know Australia depends economically on foreign students but this is a very dangerous game. The virus could still take about 4 weeks to emerge visibly before people get tested for the coronavirus.

Germany in warning over a virus epidemic
https://apnews.com/230fa2d2e2891ab2ccb6d9c8a5f479bf
I wonder if it's wise to start calling it an epidemic if cases don't reach the 100 or 200 milestone. In some other countries new cases reports stalled after finding very few people that had contracted the coronavirus. What makes them think it won't be the case in Germany?


Facebook bans ads with false claims about new virus
https://apnews.com/5218eebf3b0564cb4574f4ffdfe2960c
Well, that was the least they could have done under dire circumstances. I just hope that such false claims never come true.  

The Latest: Biden not worried about Trump refusing to leave
https://apnews.com/a7a9df8376797a3e6e73ef85987f0632
It seems politicians are using even the dreadful Covid-19 as a campaign topic. That's quite sad indeed.

AP FACT CHECK: Democrats distort coronavirus readiness
https://apnews.com/d36d6c4de29f4d04beda3db00cb46104
What a surprise! Democrats once again tell lies to make you believe any situation is worse than since Republicans arrived at the White House.

THE FACTS: They’re both wrong to say the agencies have seen their money cut. Bloomberg is repeating the false allegation in a new ad that states the U.S. is unprepared for the virus because of “reckless cuts” to the CDC. Trump’s budgets have proposed cuts to public health, only to be overruled by Congress, where there’s strong bipartisan support for agencies such as the CDC and NIH. Instead, financing has increased.
...
The broader point about there being “nobody here” to coordinate the response sells short what’s in place to handle an outbreak.

The public health system has a playbook to follow for pandemic preparation — regardless of who’s president or whether specific instructions are coming from the White House. Those plans were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic, but are designed to work for any respiratory-borne disease.

Oh but Democrats still claim they've done nothing to get ready to face an epidemic in the US.


With first case, Latin America prepares for COVID-19 virus
https://apnews.com/fcf7d44a4d0a5d85d533588f647892e8
It's good to see Latin America is taking the virus seriously but I feel bad for the way AP excluded Costa Rica and some other countries. In Costa Rica the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud) said they were prepared for its possible arrival and Inciensa, one of its institutes attached to the ministry, will be in charge of performing the polymerase chain reaction tests that will confirm or discharge any suspected case of infection. Nope, they won't bar travelers from China or South Korea or Italy from entering the country, they will just take them in and send them to Inciensa if they feel sick.