New single-day record for NY virus deaths but hospitalizations fall

America's coronavirus epicenter of New York recorded a new single-day high of 799 COVID-19 deaths Thursday but Governor Andrew Cuomo said the rate of hospitalizations continued to fall. Cuomo said 799 people died in the last 24 hours, outdoing the previous high of 779 announced on Wednesday, but added that the curve was flattening because of social confinement measures. "We had a 200-net increase in hospitalizations, which you can see is the lowest number we've had since this nightmare started," Cuomo told reporters, adding that intensive care admissions were also at the lowest yet.

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Coronavirus: Democrats block Trump's new stimulus package warning it is a 'political stunt' and not enough

Democrats blocked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's attempt Thursday to ram through coronavirus relief legislation to infuse a new small business loan program with an additional $250 billion, saying Mr McConnell's maneuver was a "political stunt" that shut them out of the negotiating process.Mr McConnell's new legislation to add money to the Treasury Department's new payment protection program (PPP) "will not address the immediate need of small businesses in the legislation that we have [previously] passed," said Senator Ben Cardin of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate small business panel. Mr McConnell said in his opening Senate floor remarks Thursday that PPP is the only program in the $2.2trn coronavirus stimulus package passed in March that has run out of money. Cardin said that's not true, naming multiple funds that have already dried up, including an emergency disaster relief funds program for small businesses.

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AP PHOTOS: Virus stills Iran's frenetic capital, Tehran

The typically frenetic streets of Iran's capital, Tehran, have fallen silent and empty over recent days due to the new coronavirus outbreak that's gripped the Islamic Republic. Iran’s government for days downplayed the effects of the virus. The same goes for the cinemas, the bus stations and the malls, including a massive one in Tehran's outskirts now housing a newly built clinic for the virus.

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Healthcare workers are taping photos of themselves to their protective gear to help put COVID-19 patients at ease

Healthcare workers have found a clever way to help COVID-19 patients feel less isolated, wearing photos of themselves so patients can see their faces.

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Linda Tripp, whose tapes exposed Clinton scandal, dies at 70

Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died at age 70.

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Philippines backs Vietnam after China sinks fishing boat

The Philippines on Wednesday expressed solidarity with Vietnam after Hanoi protested what it said was the ramming and sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat by a Chinese coast guard ship in the disputed South China Sea. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila expressed deep concern over the reported April 3 sinking of the boat carrying eight fishermen off the Paracel Islands. China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and has built several islands equipped with military installations in the area, one of world's busiest shipping lanes.

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Senate Democrats block McConnell's $250 billion small business loans bill, demanding double funding

Senators will either have to return to Washington or get negotiating to get the next round of coronavirus relief funding flowing.With just four senators in the chamber on Thursday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) blocked a unanimous voice vote in favor of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's $250 billion small business loans bill. Cardin called the bill a "political stunt," and reiterated congressional Democrats' demands for greater accountability and diversity in how the bill would be spent.Cardin's opposition didn't come as a surprise, seeing as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) unveiled Democrats' demands for the bill on Wednesday. They'd like to see that $250 billion doubled, with an extra $100 billion going to hospitals, community health centers, and health systems; $150 billion for state and local governments; and an additional 15 percent support added to SNAP food stamp benefits. They also demanded that half of the small business loans "serve farmers, family, women, and minority and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban, and urban communities."Senators have largely scattered back to their home states amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Without a provision for remote voting, any actions Congress wants to take have to be done without opposition.More stories from theweek.com Biden is the weakest major party nominee in recent history — but that might be the point Biden pledges to lower Medicare age and reduce some student debt in olive branch to Sanders supporters 4 important parenting lessons from life in lockdown

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Overlooked No More: F.N. Souza, India’s Anti-Establishment Artist

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Police: Body of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's grandson found

Authorities recovered the body of a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend on Wednesday, two days after the body of the boy's mother was found in the water after a canoeing accident. The body of 8-year-old Gideon McKean was found in roughly 25 feet (8 meters) of water more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) south of his grandmother's residence in Shady Side, Maryland, where he and his mother had launched the canoe, according to a news release from the state Natural Resources Police. The body of Gideon's mother — 40-year-old Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, was recovered on Monday about 2,000 feet (610 meters) from where the boy's body was recovered, police said.

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Trump adviser warned of millions of virus deaths in January. Trump says he saw the memo only this week.

President Trump said Tuesday that he did not learn of two memos written in January and February by his own economic adviser warning that a COVID-19 pandemic could kill as many as 2 million Americans until “maybe a day ago.”

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Photos show thousands packing into cars, planes, and trains in a rush to get out of Wuhan as China lifts the coronavirus lockdown

China ended the near-11-week lockdown of the city of Wuhan at midnight on Wednesday, sending floods of people out of the city.

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President says 'we are praying for' Boris Johnson as coronavirus cases in New York overtake any other country

The number of coronavirus cases in New York state has now passed 151,600, meaning it has more confirmed infections than any country barring the US itself, as the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits surges to almost 17m.Despite those grim figures, Donald Trump’s mind appeared to be on other matters, including blasting the Wall Street Journal for not praising him on his ratings during Monday night's White House press briefing. The president tweeted out against the newspaper and called it "fake news" for not saying his ratings were "through the roof".

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Two suspects arrested after Wisconsin doctor and husband were 'targeted' and killed, police say

Two suspects were arrested Friday after the double-homicide of Beth Potter, 52, and Robin Carre, 57.

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Hurry up and wait? Why relief to small businesses has lagged

Speed is of the essence if a federal relief program for small businesses is going to be effective in combating the damage wrought by the coronavirus lockdowns. Others say they haven't even been able to apply for loans under what's called the Paycheck Protection Program. The problems range from the technical to the bureaucratic, although the Small Business Administration says it has corrected those on its end.

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White House coronavirus coordinator warns people of second wave if they start going out

"What's really important is that people don't turn these early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread — it's really critical," the White House coronavirus coordinator warned.

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China's Wuhan couples were so eager to marry after lockdown ended that they crashed the marriage application system

Traffic to the marriage application app on the Alipay platform surged 300%.

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Italian cemeteries can't keep up with deaths from pandemic

In Bergamo, a city in Northern Italy, bodies are being kept in a makeshift morgue, unrefrigerated.

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Head of Global Strike Command Wants to Make Air Force Bombers Even More Lethal

The Air Force plans to have 165 to 175 bombers in its inventory once the B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber comes online.

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Pope hails priests, health workers as 'the saints next door'

Pope Francis on Holy Thursday hailed priests and medical staff who tend to the needs of COVID-19 patients as “the saints next door.” Francis celebrated the Holy Week evening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, which was kept off-limits to the public because of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the new coronavirus. The pope began his off-the-cuff homily by honoring the memory of priests who gave their lives in service to others, singling out those who died after tending to sick people in Italy’s hospitals.

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Why some doctors are moving away from ventilators for virus patients

Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be doing harm.

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Cuomo, N.Y. health commissioner respond to question about whether coronavirus patients need something other than ventilators for treatment

At a press conference on Wednesday, New York state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to a question about whether coronavirus patients may need another form of treatment instead of ventilators.

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Linda Tripp: Woman who revealed Clinton-Lewinsky scandal dies

Linda Tripp, who disclosed Bill Clinton's White House affair with Monica Lewinsky dies, aged 70.

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Biden Adopts Sanders’s Medicare, Loan Plans: Campaign Update

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