Today's News: May 12, 2020

World News

Coronavirus: Wuhan draws up plans to test all 11 million residents

BBC – The Chinese city of Wuhan is drawing up plans to test its entire population of 11 million people for Covid-19, state media report.
The plan appears to be in its early stages, with all districts in Wuhan told to submit details as to how testing could be done within 10 days.
It comes after Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, recorded six new cases over the weekend.
Prior to this, it had seen no new cases at all since 3 April.
Wuhan, which was in strict lockdown for 11 weeks, began re-opening on 8 April.

UK: Coronavirus is No Longer at Epidemic Levels Claim Oxford University Experts

Breitbart – The Chinese coronavirus is no longer at epidemic levels in the United Kingdom as the rate of community transmission has fallen, a team of Oxford University experts claim.
A study conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in conjunction with Oxford University, Manchester University, and Public Health England (PHE), found that an estimated 136,000 people — 0.24 per cent of adults — are currently infected with the virus.

Lockdown has reduced number of asylum seekers, but coronavirus in conflict areas ‘may push more people to EU’

RT – The coronavirus lockdown has so far reduced the number of asylum seekers able to reach Europe, according to the European Union’s asylum agency said. However, the EASO border agency warned that the pandemic could lead to a bigger wave in future if it brings turmoil to the Middle East and North Africa.
With global travel all but grounded, the EASO said that in March the bloc logged only about half as many asylum claims as in February. Illegal crossings into Europe halved from February to March, it added.
The Malta-based EASO said coronavirus outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa could potentially cause food shortages, destabilize security and strengthen the hand of militant groups. That could lead to “increases in asylum-related migration in the medium term,” the statement said.

Mexico demands investigation of notorious Obama scheme

WND – The president of Mexico wants an apology and information from the United States regarding the Obama administration, gun-running program that put exotic weapons in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
The plan was to trace the weapons to the cartels to bring charges. But the Obama administration operation lost track of most of the guns.
The Blaze reported President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants to prevent the same thing from happening again.
“What seems serious to me is that a violation of our sovereignty was carried out, a secret operation, and that Mexicans were killed with these weapons,” Obrador said Friday. “How could this be? A government that invades in this way, that flagrantly violates sovereignty, international laws. We have to shine light on this so that an action of this type will never be carried out again.”

UK furlough scheme extended by four months

BBC – The UK scheme to pay wages of workers on leave because of coronavirus will be extended to October, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.
Mr Sunak confirmed that employees will continue to receive 80% of their monthly wages up to £2,500.
But he said the government will ask companies to “start sharing” the cost of the scheme from August.
A quarter of the workforce, some 7.5 million people, are now covered by the scheme, which has cost £14bn a month.

Mexico’s president orders military on streets to curb rising violence

Reuters – Mexico’s president has ordered the armed forces to tackle security on the streets for another four years, extending a policy he had previously criticized as the government struggles to curb runaway violence.
In a notice published in the Official Gazette, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered that the Armed Forces (FA) participate “in an extraordinary, regulated and complementary manner with the National Guard” in public security tasks.
The armed forces will be under the command of the National Guard, the notice said, a military police created after Lopez Obrador came to the presidency on Dec. 2018. The order will last until March 2024.
The decree means the armed forces will be on Mexican streets until almost the end of the presidency of Lopez Obrador, a political veteran who often criticized former President Felipe Calderon for deploying sailors and soldiers for public security.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Pennsylvania Sheriffs Say They Won’t Enforce Business Shutdown

Activist Post – Cumberland County Sheriff Ronny Anderson says “I have no intentions of turning local business owners into criminals.”
Resistance is growing against unconstitutional orders from Democrat governors around the country.
Pennsylvania Sheriffs are denouncing Governor Tom Wolf’s orders to turn business owners into criminals.

Poll: Most Americans disapprove of anti-lockdown protests

CS Monitor – A new survey released by the Center for Public Affairs Research found that 55% of Americans disapprove of anti-quarantine protests. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of such protests.

Hearing comes as states start to roll back restrictions

CNNN – Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, is testifying Tuesday before a Senate committee where he is expected to warn that the country risks “needless suffering and death” if states open up too quickly, he told The New York Times ahead of the hearing.
“If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country,” Fauci said Monday in an email to the Times, referring to the federal government’s plan for states to re-open. “This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”
Fauci didn’t mention those issues in his opening statement, but senators are sure to raise them during questions at Tuesday’s hearing, where senators are facing off over the effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, in what could be one of the only public hearings featuring members of the White House’s coronavirus task force.
Tuesday’s hearing, titled “Covid-19: Safely getting back to work and school,” was a strange reminder of the challenges coronavirus poses and the lengths Congress has gone to try to operate with any semblance of normalcy. Three of the witnesses and the chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, appeared remotely because they’re self-isolating or self-quarantining after contact with individuals who tested positive for coronavirus. Alexander quarterbacked the hearing via video conference at his cabin in Maryville, Tennessee. His dog, Rufus, could be heard barking in the background while the chairman was speaking.

SHOWDOWN: Trump asking Supreme Court to block demands for records

The Hill – The Supreme Court will face its most politically potent case of the term on Tuesday when the justices hear arguments in a landmark dispute over access to President Trump’s financial records and tax returns.
Trump contends that the broad powers he enjoys as the country’s chief executive invalidate subpoenas issued by House Democrats and a New York grand jury, and even bar access to a third-party paper trail of his financial dealings from before he entered office.
The pair of overlapping cases will thrust the court into the political spotlight and could see the justices fundamentally alter the balance of power between Congress and the White House, as well as determine whether Trump can be implicated in a New York state criminal probe just months ahead of the 2020 vote.

Texas Businesses Defy Shutdown

WSJ – A Dallas beauty-salon owner was arrested last week for opening before the state lifted its shutdown, sparking national outrage. A bar and gym in Odessa opened, aided by men who drove hundreds of miles to stand outside the businesses with guns. State lawmakers near Houston defied the governor of their own party as they got illegal haircuts on camera and tweeted about it.
Across Texas—a state that has long embraced defiance as a motto, with its unofficial state slogan “Come and Take It”

Economy & Business

China Slashes Australian Beef, Barley Imports After Warning Against Coronavirus Probe

Breitbar – China slapped an import ban on four Australian abattoirs Tuesday in an escalation of Beijing’s warning of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra’s push for an independent coronavirus probe.
The beef ban comes just days after China flagged plans to slap an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley, bringing the trade to its knees.

Oil is back in demand as drivers return to the roads

RT – From China and Spain to the United States, people are gradually returning to driving their cars as countries and US states re-open for business. People feel safer commuting in their own vehicles than they do using public transportation as social distancing is still on their minds despite the re-opening of economies.The uptick in commuter driving and expectations of increased road trips at the expense of flying for vacations this summer is set to support a gradual recovery of oil demand as gasoline demand has started to rise in all markets compared to the lows in late March and early April.
The increased car usage may be a short-lived phenomenon until fears of using public transportation subside. Nevertheless, higher gasoline demand—including in the United States—is set to help oil demand regain some ground in the coming months. On the other hand, jet fuel demand is still expected to suffer the most from the pandemic, with the thousands of grounded flights and the quarantine measures that many countries have for arrivals of passengers via airplanes.
Major oil firms with extensive fuel retail operations say that the use of cars is now the preferred way to travel.

Coronavirus: Fauci to warn on risk of opening US economy too soon

Al Jazeera – Top expert will tell Senate that reopening economy too soon may result in ‘needless suffering and death’, report says.

Energy & Environment

Spain on Alert as ‘Murder Hornet’ Kills Man

Euro Weekly News – A 54-year-old man lost his life yesterday in Santiago – northwest Spain’s Galicia region, as a result of the sting of a giant Asian hornet, after discovering that there was a nest next to the hives that he looked after which were located very close to his home.
Paramedics were quick to respond to the scene in Villestro but sadly the man was dead when they got there, the man’s friend, a fellow beekeeper, had called the emergency services when he found his friend on the floor close to a hive.

Asian giant hornets, known by their horrifying nickname ‘murder hornets’ have been spotted for the first time in the US recently.
As the world’s largest hornets, these insects can grow up to two inches long and are capable of slaughtering entire colonies of bees and even killing people.
Up to 50 people a year are killed by giant hornets in Japan alone.
Researchers fear that if the hornets aren’t contained now, then they might establish themselves in the US permanently and cause damage to ecosystems.

Health

Dr. Andrew Kaufman: They Want To Genetically Modify Us With The COVID-19 Vaccine

Activist Post – In this powerful interview Spiro is joined with Doctor Andrew Kaufman. Spiro and Dr. Kaufman discuss the expanding curtailment of basic civil liberties being normalized under the false pretext of a global health emergency.
Doctor Kaufman lays his reputation and his career on the line as he blows the whistle on what he describes as a manufactured crisis to carry out a preplanned agenda to facilitate global governance and population control.
Doctor Kaufman is a well-educated medical professional who convincingly illustrates, using the CDC’s own technical data, how the public has been manipulated on the grandest scale.

Protein Alternatives If You Can’t Find Meat at the Grocery Store

Newsmax – Grocery stores across the United States are running low on meat products, partially due to the closing of production facilities but also to paring down employees during the current coronavirus crisis.
The experts at Eat This, Not That! researched the best non-meat alternatives that provide sufficient protein to meet our daily needs. According to national recommendations, we should consume 0.36 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That means for a 150-pound person, this would be 54 grams of protein. A 4-ounce portion of meat, chicken, or fatty fish, such as salmon or tuna, has about 28 grams of protein, so you would need about two servings daily to reach the suggested amount.
Rachel Paul, Ph.D., Rd. from College Nutritionist, says:
“Not all foods that contain protein have equal amounts of protein. Some foods primarily consist of protein like meat, chicken, fish, and eggs, while plant-based foods like lentils and beans have fewer grams of protein per weight because they also have carbohydrates.”
In other words, you will have to eat more of the plant-based sources of protein to get the required number of grams. Here are some sources:

Plant-based meat. There are so many options at the grocery store for meat substitutes, including Beyond Burgers, Gardein products, and Impossible Burgers, that it makes sense to try a variety to see which ones your family likes best.
Eggs. Even though eggs are getting pricey, they are still a great source of protein, Paul says. Two scrambled eggs provide 14 grams.
Edamame. You can buy these delicious beans fresh, frozen, or even dry-roasted. Paul says that a half cup of fresh or frozen edamame has 8 grams of protein, while 1 ounce of dry-roasted edamame will give you 13 grams.
Hummus. Chick peas are a great source of protein, and an easy way to enjoy them in your diet is to dip carrots and celery into hummus. One serving, about 1/3 cup, provides 7 ounces of protein, according to Eat This, Not That!
Greek Yogurt. A 7-ounce container of plain, lowfat Greek yogurt has 20 grams of protein. Adding chopped nuts to the yogurt boosts the protein count even higher.
Cheese. One ounce of cheese gives you 7 grams of protein for most varieties. You can also shred cheese and mix it into your scrambled eggs for a protein-rich breakfast or lunch.
Beans with rice. According to Medical News Today, rice and beans separately are incomplete proteins. Eaten together, this classic meal provides 7 grams of protein per cup.
Potatoes. One large potato offers 8 grams of protein per serving. Top with Greek yogurt and you have a protein powerhouse.

Junk Food Companies Responsible for COVID-19 Susceptibility

Mercola – Processed foods, junk foods and soft drinks are key culprits in the rise of obesity and chronic diseases that have a key role to play in COVID-19 deaths.
Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, multinational food and beverage corporations are interfering with public policy and influencing the development of dietary guidelines.
More than half of those appointed to the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) have ties to the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a junk food industry front group.
Junk food giants are thoroughly intertwined with public health recommendations pertaining to food and nutrition — to the detriment of public health.
Eating nutritious foods could help you lose weight, put Type 2 diabetes into remission and improve your health considerably, so you’ll have a much better chance of survival should you contract COVID-19