The US and its Nato allies will withdraw all their troops from Afghanistan in 14 months if the Taliban uphold their commitments under a deal to be signed shortly, officials say. The announcement came in a joint US-Afghan declaration issued in Kabul. Read more
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. " During a raucous rally here Friday on the eve of the state's Democratic primary, President Trump brushed off the nation's rising concerns about the coronavirus, declaring that "confidence is surging" in the economy, despite the stock market having just suffered its worst week of losses since 2008. He accused Democrats of "politicizing" the growing public health crisis " but even as he outlined his administration's response, including the creation this week of a new coronavirus task force led by Vice President Mike Pence, Trump suggested that the crisis over the outbreak is just the latest attempt by Democrats, frustrated that he's withstood the special counsel probe and impeachment, to take him down. "This is their new hoax," Trump said. Read more
A high school student who has no history of traveling to infected areas has been diagnosed with coronavirus, according to Washington State Department of Health.
Chicago police shot a man Friday afternoon during a struggle at the Grand station on the CTA Red Line, after the officers tried to stop the man from moving between train cars.
A serious pandemic would upend U.S. elections in ways not seen in a century. The spread of coronavirus in America could eventually affect campaigning, conventions and even voting, and experts say election officials should make contingency plans now.
Roy Grist, a physician at the hospital, wrote a colleague, "These men start with what appears to be an ordinary attack of LaGrippe or Influenza, and when brought to the Hosp. they very rapidly develop the most vicious type of Pneumonia that has ever been seen. Two hours after admission they have the Mahogany spots over the cheek bones, and a few hours later you can begin to see the Cyanosis""the term refers to a person turning blue from lack of oxygen""extending from their ears and spreading all over the face....It is only a matter of a few hours then until death comes...It is horrible....We have been averaging about 100 deaths per day...For several days there were no coffins and the bodies piled up something fierce..." Read more
With my Royal Enfield Himalayan "Basanti" I rode for more than 8 months from Asia to Europe (read about the gear I used for that trip here). I used the lessons I learned from that trip to improve the set-up of my new Himalayan "Dhanno". With her, I will travel from Patagonia to Alaska. Read more
By: Sydney Isenberg items.[0].image.alt JOHNSON CITY, TX " One Texas police department is offering to test people's meth for possible coronavirus contamination. The Johnson City, Texas Police Department took to Facebook saying they have reason to believe methamphetamine in Blanco County may be contaminated with the coronavirus. The department said if people have meth they would like to get tested before use, they can go to the Johnson City Police Department, Blanco County Sheriff's Office or the Blanco Police Department for testing. Those wishing to keep their meth in the "privacy of your own home" can contact the Blanco County Dispatch to have an officer come to your house and test it.
Allegations that higher-income earners don't pay their "fair share" of taxes are a mainstay misrepresentation of the political left. Read more
Rasmussen Reports, the GOP-friendly pollster frequently cited by President Donald Trump, is showing that the president's approval rating fell by five points just one day after his widely panned press conference outlining his response to the coronavirus crisis. According to its latest poll, approval of Trump's job performance dropped from 52 percent to 47 percent in just one day, and the pollster tells the Washington Examiner that continuing bad news about coronavirus is to blame. Rasmussen Reports tweeted out the Examiner's coverage of its poll and quoted the headline: "Trump approval rating catches the flu, crashes overnight."
Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov asserted on Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence is the wrong person to be in charge of fighting the coronavirus. "There are deep concerns about putting Mike Pence at least quasi-in charge," Tarlov told a Fox News panel. "He oversaw an HIV outbreak in Indiana. Instead of going with science and dealing with needle exchanges, he went after Planned Parenthood and people got sick there because of it." "Mike Pence is not a scientist, he's not a doctor, he's not someone who believes really in science," she continued. "And I don't believe that he should be in charge of this of anywhere near the forefront and that is a big concern."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to "very high" - its top level of risk assessment.
But the UN body said there was still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission were broken.
WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stressed that fear and misinformation were the biggest challenges to overcome.
More than 50 countries have now reported cases of coronavirus.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney criticized the news media for refusing to cover what he described as Donald Trump's loving relationship with his 13-year-old son, Barron, the New York Times reports. "He said Mr. Trump is in frequent contact with his youngest son, calling to check in on him and let him know of his whereabouts. But, Mr. Mulvaney said, the press would never show you that because it doesn't fit that image of him, the press wants him to be this terrible monster.'"
Fox News talking head and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) speculated Thursday that Democrats' hatred of President Donald Trump was so extreme they would hold it against him even if Trump ... sucked coronavirus out of the lungs of everyone with the virus. On Fox News' "Ingraham Angle" Thursday, Huckabee got pretty intimate. "He could personally suck the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world and suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean, if he did that," Huckabee said. "There is nothing this President can do that will ever satisfy the people who hate him more than they hate the coronavirus."
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney claimed the media is covering the coronavirus outbreak only because it's "all about" damaging President Donald Trump.
"The reason you're seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be what brings down the president. That's what this is all about," Mulvaney said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of right-wing activists that has become a rallying point for Trump's base. "I got a note today from a reporter saying, What are you going to do today to calm the markets?' I'm like, really? What I might do today to calm the markets is tell people to turn their televisions off for 24 hours."
Major media outlets have been covering the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19, since January, when a widespread outbreak began in Wuhan, China, before spreading.
The reinfection has health officials worried the illness could stay dormant after signs of recovery.
