Big Time News Blog: 03/28/20

Saturday, March 28, 2020

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

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

Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus

Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone "in the same boat" as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter's Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values. "Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities," he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year. The Vatican called the service "An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic," a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.

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

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

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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Stimulus checks are coming — here's how to make sure you get yours quickly

Spoiler alert: If you haven't filed your taxes since 2017, now is a good time to get that done.

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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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Moscow Mayor’s Tough Virus Stance May Hasten Russia Lockdown

(Bloomberg) -- As Russia steps up its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has emerged as the leading voice for ever harsher measures that may become the model for locking down the country.Sobyanin has ordered restaurants, bars, parks and most stores in Europe’s largest capital city to close temporarily from Saturday and urged Muscovites to stay home. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin embraced his approach on Friday, saying measures adopted by Moscow “should extend to all regions” of Russia as the number of declared coronavirus cases passed 1,000.“We need tough restrictions,” to ensure Russians stay at home during a planned shutdown of most workplaces next week, Mishustin said at a televised meeting with Sobyanin and other top officials charged with containing the outbreak. “We managed to win time thanks to preventative measures.”President Vladimir Putin gave Russians a week of paid leave in his first televised speech on the Covid-19 threat on Wednesday, while also promising benefits to help companies and individuals through the crisis.On Friday, however, the Kremlin walked back the decision amid reports that some Russians planned to travel to the country’s vacation spots or visit relatives, taking advantage of reduced domestic air fares offered by the state airline Aeroflot. Mishustin ordered all Russia’s parks and resorts to shut down.Police EnforcementSobyanin sent a message via email to residents of the Russian capital on Saturday morning with a list of instructions -- without any mention of police enforcement -- similar to those applicable in European cities under lockdown. These include limiting going out from home to essential shopping at stores, short walks with family members or journeys to and from work.Russia on Saturday reported 228 new cases of coronavirus overnight, bringing the total to 1,264, with four deaths attributed to the virus.Authorities in Moscow are seriously considering shutting down the city, said four people familiar with discussions on the subject. A Moscow government representative declined to comment.Center StageThe president has allowed Sobyanin, a former Kremlin chief of staff who’s led the city of 12.7 million since 2010, to take center stage in advocating intensifying restrictions to head off the greatest public health challenge of Putin’s 20-year rule.“They’re playing good cop and bad cop,” said Alexei Mukhin, head of the Moscow-based Center for Political Information. “Putin is doling out goodies while Sobyanin is in charge of taking unpopular measures.”Until recently, officials have ruled out a lockdown adopted by governments in the worst-afflicted European countries of Italy and Spain as well as in France and the U.K.. Putin’s top public health official, Anna Popova, on Monday called the measure unnecessary.But while Russia’s patient numbers are well below the levels in those countries, Putin made his address to the nation a day after Sobyanin warned him that the official figures understated the true scale of the outbreak and that Moscow had nearly twice as many cases in reality.Nikolai Malyshev, a leading infectious diseases specialist in the Health Ministry, warned on state TV this week that Russia is readying itself for an “explosive development like a nuclear reaction” with the coronavirus epidemic. In the near future, “large numbers of people will fall ill and need medical treatment,” he said.Despite Moscow’s gradual tightening of restrictions, the city so far has remained free of the home confinement imposed in other capitals including Paris, London, Rome and Madrid. The subway is open, even if traffic last week was down by half, and until Saturday there were plenty of cars on the roads.The World Health Organization’s representative in Russia, Melita Vujnovic, said Thursday that if Muscovites and others across the country exercise self-discipline and stay home, then officials may avoid imposing strict quarantine.“If it becomes necessary, I am sure they will take this measure,” she said.(Updates with Moscovites told to stay home in sixth paragraph, new cases in seventh.)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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4 passengers dead aboard cruise ship anchored off Panama coast

Four passengers have died aboard a cruise ship now anchored off the coast of Panama and two people aboard the ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, the cruise line said Friday, with hundreds of passengers unsure how long they will remain at sea.

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Fact check: Not true that no Democrats voted for coronavirus stimulus package

A viral meme on Facebook claimed March 22 that no Democrats had voted in favor of helping Americans through an economic stimulus bill. This is false.

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'People Are Dying': Samaritan's Purse Sets up Emergency Field Hospital in New York City

The international Christian humanitarian organization, Samaritan's Purse, led by Franklin Graham, deployed its Emergency Field Hospital to New York City Saturday, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

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North Korea launches apparent ballistic missiles into ocean

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, military officials in South Korea and Japan said, the latest in an unprecedented flurry of launches this month.

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Coronavirus-hit ship granted permission to pass through Panama Canal

A cruise ship stuck off Panama's Pacific coast after four passengers died and more than 130 others developed influenza-like symptoms, including at least two with the coronavirus, will be allowed to proceed through the Panama Canal, the government said on Saturday.