STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government’s decision to go its own way on coronavirus just got political. In the first party leaders’ debate in parliament since the pandemic began, opposition politicians went after Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Wednesday, saying Sweden’s spiking death rate from COVID-19 and inability to protect residents of elderly care homes represented…
The United States has surpassed 2 million coronavirus cases, even as states forge ahead with reopening their economies and demonstrators gather en masse to protest police brutality and racial inequality. It took the U.S. nearly three months to officially hit 1 million confirmed cases on April 28, but just six weeks to double it. Reporting…
Months after Congress approved $175 billion in emergency aid to health providers, the Trump administration has yet to pay out the majority of the funds — nearly $100 billion — amid a series of setbacks and internal uncertainty over how best to distribute the money. The delay has prompted complaints by both Democrats and Republicans…
Officials from Florida to Missouri are hurriedly rewriting their disaster plans, worried that crowding large groups of evacuees in shelters could spread coronavirus during what’s expected to be a busy hurricane and tornado season. Firefighters in Colorado are working social distancing into their strategy for tackling long-duration wildfires. And New York City is spending $55…
In September 1985, the Soviet State Security Committee (KGB) informed other Warsaw Pact foreign intelligence agencies that it had launched a new, major disinformation campaign. “We are carrying out a complex of [active] measures in connection with the appearance in recent years of a new dangerous disease in the USA known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency…
On Friday, Donald Trump let it be known that he had something to say about the COVID-19 pandemic. But rather than his usual hours-long ramble in which he confesses to taking a dangerous off-label prescription, or encourages Americans to sip a Clorox cocktail, Trump stumped out to the stage for only two minutes flat. He was…
Hospitals are warning they will be slow to restart elective procedures like knee surgeries and colonoscopies without assurances from Congress they won’t get sued by patients and their own workers if they are infected by the coronavirus during those visits. Powerful industry lobbies like the American Hospital Association pressing for relief in the next rescue…
Rep. Andy Harris is fed up with being locked down. “They promised 2 million dead at the beginning of this,” Harris fumed to constituents during a recent teletown hall, later adding, “The media has a vested interest in making things sound worse so that you tune in the next day.” The conservative Maryland Republican also…
TRENTON — New Jersey officials swore it would never happen again. Almost a year after a 2018 adenovirus outbreak killed 11 children at a long-term care facility in northern New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation requiring every such facility in the state to develop outbreak response plans to prevent future tragedies. There was just one…
North Carolina Roy Cooper has got a doozy on his hands. He’s a Democratic governor, up for reelection in a Republican-leaning Southern swing state, pushing a go-slow approach to reopening the economy as protests intensify and neighboring states move quicker. But that’s just the start: How the first-term governor handles his state’s reopening will likely…
After acknowledging in March that one lone member of the U.S. Secret Service had contracted the novel coronavirus, Yahoo News now reports that the virus has been much more widespread throughout the agency. According to DHS documents that Yahoo News says they have received a report on, the U.S. Secret Service are currently dealing with 11 active…
Melinda Gates on Thursday gave the Trump administration low marks for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that more money is needed for testing and vaccine development in the United States and across the world. Gates — co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars to health research…
The Trump White House is planning to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks and instead ask agencies to take control of the response efforts. “We’re having a conversation about that and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work,” Vice President Mike Pence said at…
On Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbot of Texas told the world that he would be allowing the state’s stay-at-home order to expire on Thursday, April 30. Alongside other historically awful Texas officials, Gov. Abbott made an attempt at oration, saying, “Now it’s time to set a new course, a course that responsibly opens up business in Texas.”…
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled the federal government owes health insurers massive payments from an Obamacare program shielding them from financial risks after the companies accused Washington of reneging on its funding promises. The 8-1 decision could open the floodgates for federal cash to the insurance industry. Insurers who accused the government of a…
The Food and Drug Administration is dealing with a flood of inaccurate coronavirus antibody tests after it allowed more than 120 manufacturers and labs to bring the tests to market without an agency review. The tests, which look for antibodies that reveal whether a person has been exposed to the virus, have been eyed as…
Health care providers in coronavirus hot spots will receive $10 billion in bailout funds as early as next week, and hospitals will soon receive money for treating uninsured patients, the Trump administration said Wednesday. The new plans for spending down a hospital rescue fund Congress approved almost a month ago came amid cries from Republican…
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s presidential office says no suspicious activities have been detected in North Korea, a statement made Tuesday after reports surfaced that Kim Jong Un was in fragile condition after recent heart surgery. The presidential Blue House said it couldn’t confirm Kim’s current health. CNN had cited an anonymous U.S. official…
With thousands of Americans dying each day from an epidemic that Donald Trump could have prevented if he had only acted just a little sooner, the White House has now moved on to the most important part of any Trump operation: finding scapegoats. All through January, February, and the first half of March, Donald Trump was continually…
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he is halting funding to the World Health Organization while his administration reviews the group’s handling of the coronavirus, accusing it of bungling the response and failing to communicate the disease’s threat. The move follows weeks of Trump’s escalating attacks on the U.N. health organization as he has…