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Defective medical gear from China is drawing growing backlash overseas, with Finland, Britain, and Ireland being the latest to complain about faulty equipment. Eager to portray itself as humanitarian amid the global pandemic, the Chinese regime has sent medical supplies to virus-hit countries around the world from Spain to Peru. Since March 1, the country has around four billion masks, 37.5 million protective suits, and 2.8 million testing kits, according to an April 5 statement by the Chinese customs administration. Yet mounting instances of defective masks and test kits have called into question whether Beijing attempts at “mask diplomacy” can...

The annual Holy Fire service on Holy Saturday will be held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem this year, but without pilgrims, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Fire will also be delivered to other countries. The service, in which fire descends from Heaven and lights the Patriarch of Jerusalem’s candle as he prays in the Lord’s Tomb, is normally attended by thousands of pilgrims from throughout the world. The service, falling on April 18 this year, will also be celebrated with a “limited number of participants,” Akiva Tor, the head of the Department for the Diaspora...

A group of healthcare workers is seeking to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for allegedly hoarding personal protective equipment (PPE) as frontline healthcare workers are battling the CCP virus in the United States. The healthcare workers are suing the Chinese regime in a lawsuit filed by The Berman Law Group in a Florida court on Wednesday. The lawsuit claims that the CCP is deliberately buying up medical grade protective masks, face and eye shields, and other protective equipment, while blocking exports on these supplies, in order to sell the items at substantively higher prices. The alleged hoarding happened...

The Erie County Executive signed an emergency order Thursday preventing individuals from being discriminated against based on their choice to wear PPE.Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has signed an emergency order preventing business in the county from discrimination against customers or employees for the use of personal protective gear, such as masks and gloves. The order went into effect at 3 p.m. Thursday and mandates that businesses cant refuse entry or service to someone just because they are wearing a mask or gloves, or a lack thereof. Businesses also cannot prevent employees from wearing masks and gloves, and must provide...

The California Fish and Game Commission abruptly canceled a teleconference Thursday morning amid cries of “make fishing great again!” and “fascists!” before it could consider authorizing a limited ban on sportfishing in some areas. Earlier this week, a group of conservative politicians, sheriffs and media outlets told their followers that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration was planning to outright cancel the fishing season statewide because of COVID-19.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies on April 9 urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke Chinese state-owned company China Telecom’s authorization to provide international telecommunication services in the United States. The agencies—which included the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce, among others—made this recommendation after a DOJ-led review of the company identified “substantial and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks” surrounding China Telecom’s operations, according to a DOJ press release. China Telecom is the U.S. subsidiary of Chinese state-owned telecom firm China Telecommunications Corp. The move comes amid heightening U.S. scrutiny over...

Health officials in Nicaragua have stopped a church program to prevent COVID-19 in the Central American country, where the government has downplayed the pandemic’s potential impact and encouraged the population to go about their business as usual. Bishop Rolando Alvarez Lagos of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, tweeted April 5 that the health ministry told him he “could not carry out the medical prevention centers project and not even the call center,” which would have provided medical advice. “I want to say for the record, before the people, that we as a diocese wanted to work for the health of our communities, and...

The Swedish government is saying that U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of their coronavirus strategy is, quote, "factually wrong." And that, contrary to his statement, Sweden is not trying to achieve so-called "herd immunity." Sweden has taken a more low-key approach to the pandemic compared to some other countries, and does not have a lockdown. Anders Tengel is the chief epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency. SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF EPIDEMIOLOGIST AT THE SWEDISH PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY, ANDERS TEGNELL, SAYING: REPORTER: "Last night the U.S. President Donald Trump said Sweden is suffering very greatly. I wonder if you were surprised...

The Department of Consumer Protection said Thursday the state of Connecticut has received a donation of hydroxychloroquine from Amneal Pharmaceuticals, which is headquartered in New Jersey. The FDA recently authorized emergency use of the drug to treat COVID-19 in certain hospitalized patients. The drug will be distributed to acute care hospitals as they fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Hydroxychloroquine is traditionally used to treat autoimmune diseases like Lupus “Making sure that medical facilities have the resources they need to treat patients who are in dire need of our support is an absolute priority. I want to thank Amneal Pharmaceuticals for their...

9 Apr 2020354 Ezekiel Emanuel, an architect of Obamacare and special adviser to the director-general of the World Health Organization, has been widely cited by the news media in recent days arguing that life in the U.S. can’t fully return to normal for about 18 months, estimating that’s when a Chinese coronavirus vaccine could be broadly available. Emanuel is also advising presidential candidate Joe Biden on the pandemic, joining Biden’s hastily assembled Public Health Advisory Committee. While the media has been quoting Emanuel as an expert in health policy, the brother of former Chicago mayor and ex-Obama chief of staff...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Milton Friedman. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Milton Friedman foresaw how we got into our this mess in which the reaction to the coronavirus will destroy the United States. To be blunt, the reaction to the coronavirus is MILLIONS of times MORE dangerous than the virus itself. I don't see a way out of this, but we must fight to the finish. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental...

What's extraordinary is Constitutional liberty, based on biblical truths. (snip) Last week, American journalists took a brief moment to express its shock and surprise. The brutal Philippines dictator Rodrigo Duterte had threatened his own people with mass murder. As reported at CBS News: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took to the airwaves with a chilling warning for his citizens: Defy the lockdown orders again and the police will shoot you dead. (snip) You know all the names of these 20th Century pharaohs. They will live in infamy. They oversaw the greatest mass murders of their time, and carved their names into...

Those who thought getting the coronavirus once was bad enough may not be comforted by new research from South Korea. Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned on Monday that the coronavirus may be able to reactivate in people who have been "cured" of the disease because 51 patients tested positive for the virus after being discharged with negative results. “While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will...

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I missed this yesterday when it happened. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a gathering in Geneva that he had been subjected to months of racist comments and death threats. He claimed the attacks started in Taiwan and that, despite being aware of it, TaiwanÂ’s government did nothing to distance itself from the attacks. Now Taiwan is pushing back on those claims: The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said the allegations by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus were groundless and demanded an apology from the United Nations official a day after he told reporters in Geneva that Taiwan has been abetting a campaign...

Just where does the blame lie for the COVID-19 pandemic? According to a new Harris poll, few issues have brought such immediate public consensus as this has. More than three-quarters of all Americans, and supermajorities of both parties, lay the blame at Beijing’s feet. The national debate has lagged behind this political consensus, but the national media might be lagging even further behind: Inside the Beltway, Republicans attack Democrats, Joe Biden and the media for not being critical enough of the Chinese Communist Party. Democrats attack President Trump for saying “Chinese virus” and attack any Republicans who blame the...

A kind-hearted pub landlord is delivering pints to residents in his area – but only if they stay inside during the coronavirus pandemic. Posting online, Kelvin Wong explained that normally The Watermead Inn would see a surge in customers as temperatures soar over the Easter weekend. However, due to the pandemic, he said the team had decided to thank locals for their support ‘over the last nine years’ by bringing them a drink at home. Anyone wishing to receive a ‘free cold beer’ just needs to leave a pint glass two metres away from their front door. Kelvin said: ‘No...

Not great news, but it is good news if the trend holds up. New York has seen a significantly downward trend in hospitalizations, which would suggest that the nation’s hottest COVID-19 spot might be on the way to containing the epidemic. The number hasn’t been this low in nearly a month, NBC News points out: 200 coronavirus patients in New York State were hospitalized Wednesday; lowest amount since March 18."All of this data suggests that we are flattening the curve so far," NY Gov. Cuomo says. pic.twitter.com/Trrnj0PyJC— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 9, 2020 That’s precisely what we’re looking to...

Special faith programming to be carried live by Fox NewsEvangelist Franklin Graham will offer a special Easter morning service from an emergency field hospital in the middle of New York City’s Central Park — a facility donated to the coronavirus relief effort by Samaritan’s Purse, a nonprofit charity long associated with the pastor’s faith outreach. “Because our nation and the world are in crisis, I want to share a message of the unshakable hope found only in Jesus Christ this Sunday,” Mr. Graham said. It is a time of “fear, anxiety and uncertainty” he noted.

In late March, Instacart worker Annaliisa Arambula accepted a grocery order that came with a big tip: $55. The store was just down the street, everything the customer wanted was available, and the order seemed to go off without a hitch. But an hour later, Arambula checked her earnings on the Instacart app and the entire tip was gone, with a message saying the "customer modified the tip post-delivery." She ended up making just $8.95 from Instacart on the order. "I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe it," Arambula told CNN Business. Demand for grocery delivery is surging amid the Covid-19...