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The world must “keep a close eye on climate protection” as it faces the economic fallout of the pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday, speaking remotely for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. “We need a financial market that provides cheap capital for climate-friendly investments,” said Merkel, during an address for the annual event usually held in Berlin. Merkel also called for climate action to be included as part of economic reconstruction plans following the pandemic, including investments in future-oriented technologies such as renewable energy. In a video address following Merkel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the pandemic had “exposed...

As new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. slowly reach the back end of the curve, a number of states have announced plans to loosen restrictions and begin to reopen their economies. Georgia Beginning: April 24

The Newport Beach City Council rejected a proposed ordinance Tuesday, to close the city’s beaches for the next three weeks, after crowds of people flocked to the shoreline during last weekend’s heat wave. After a lengthy debate in a remote meeting, five council members voted against the measure, with two in favor of it. More efforts to mitigate traffic will be instituted, as well as more officers and lifeguards on duty to ensure social distancing is followed, officials said. “Of course we want people to be responsible and practice social distancing, and be good neighbors, but we see other beaches...

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the coronavirus task force, had previously backed funding for a controversial lab in Wuhan, China that has been studying the coronavirus in bats, reports said. Fauci’s National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases had shelled out a total of $7.4 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab — which has become the center of theories about the origin of Covid-19, according to Newsweek. The National Institute of Health, which oversees the NIAH, shut down all funding to the lab last week.

Rep. Thomas Massie, who attracted widespread attention as well as derision from colleagues for trying to force a recorded vote on the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill last month, fired back at his critics in an interview Tuesday with Fox News -- saying the election season has caused certain GOP lawmakers to “abandon some of their conservative principles.” The Kentucky Republican voiced concern over the historic price tag for rescue packages that have swept through Congress in a matter of weeks. The four bills, which largely enjoyed bipartisan support and were signed by President Trump, totaled nearly $3 trillion, and...

Near the end of his news conference Tuesday, Gov. Cuomo was asked a question about nursing homes. As part of his answer, he described the devilish dangers they face from the coronavirus outbreak because of their vulnerable sick and elderly residents. “What’s really happened in nursing homes is what we’ve feared from the get-go,” Cuomo said. He called them “ground zero” for the virus and added: “It just takes one [infected] person . . . to walk in there and then it is fire through dry grass.”

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, April 26 (Reuters) - China's March crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia fell 1.6% from a year earlier, while purchases from No.2 supplier Russia rose 31%, Reuters' calculations based on customs data showed on Sunday. China's March crude oil imports rose 4.5% year on year to 9.68 million barrels per day (bpd) as refiners stocked up on cheaper cargoes despite falling domestic fuel demand and cuts in refining rates due to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.21 million tonnes, or 1.7 million bpd, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

ABC correspondent Will Reeve apparently got a little too comfortable working from home on Tuesday when he appeared on “Good Morning America” without any pants. Reeve did his best Winnie the Pooh impression during a segment to report on pharmacies using drones to deliver medicine during the coronavirus pandemic. He delivered the report to Michael Strahan and Amy Robach with a suit jacket and dress shirt, but no pants. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way content is produced, as everyone from newscasters to A-list celebrities are forced to work from home -- but they typically wear pants.

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the United States of "lying through their teeth" and suggested the country mind its own business as the war of words between the world's two biggest economic powers escalated. "We advise American politicians to reflect on their own problems and try their best to control the [coronavirus] epidemic as soon as possible instead of continuing to play tricks to deflect blame," spokesman Geng Shuang said. The comments came on the heels of President Trump suggesting in a press conference on Monday that the U.S. would be seeking "substantial" compensation for China's handling of the...

Long-time radio personality Howard Stern doubled down on his comments on Tuesday that suggested President Trump's followers should take a form of disinfectant and "see if his theory works." Stern admitted he "cranked up a whole s--t storm yesterday," and said he stands by his previous statement. “I said, 'Wouldn’t that be great if the president would get up and do that then all of his legions, all of his followers, who treat him like he’s the messiah, they should all do it, too,'” Stern recalled, according to the New York Daily News. "That way they can see if it...

In the weeks after Christine Blasey Ford publicly accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in high school, she was unable to produce any corroborating, contemporaneous witnesses to demonstrate that she had mentioned the alleged assault to anyone -- or even that she had ever met Kavanaugh. In fact, Ford's friend Leland Keyser would expressly contradict Ford's narrative, saying it "just didn't make any sense." Although Ford claimed Keyser had attended the 1982 party during which the alleged assault occurred, Keyser had no recollection of the event or anything like it, and asserted that it was implausible...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand defended former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday over sexual assault allegations made against him last month. “I stand by [former] Vice President Biden,” the New York Democrat said during a conference call with reporters, according to The National Review. “He’s devoted his life to supporting women and he has vehemently denied this allegation.” Gillibrand has previously taken tough stands in favor of women when sexual misconduct allegations have emerged against public figures.

Are we near the bottom or on a ledge? I put a few thousand into each of 10 Fidelity mutual funds but still have about ¾ of my 'gambling money' sitting idle. After one week I'm up about 5%, but DANG are the knees ever shaking. C'mon steely-eyed gamblers, give your FRiends some advice!

A jury in Fresno, California, has found Kori Ali Muhammad, 42, guilty of murdering Zackary David Randalls, 34, Mark James Gassett, 37, and David Martin Jackson, 58, on April 18, 2017. A week before, Muhammad murdered Carl Williams, who was only 25. Muhammad encountered Williams at a Fresno Motel 6 and felt “disrespected,” so he killed the man, whom he did not know and had not previously met. When police sought him for the shooting, Muhammad planned to “kill as many white men” as he could before being caught. So he drove through downtown Fresno firing at his targets of...

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shot back at President Donald Trump for commenting about her freezer full of ice cream today at the White House. While discussing Pelosi canceling plans to call Congress back to Washington, Trump said, “The Democrats, they don’t want to come back. I think they should be back here, but they don’t, they’re enjoying their vacation…If you look at Nancy Pelosi eating ice cream on late-night television.” She continued, “So rather than spending talking about the president saying we are injecting Lysol in our lungs —he mades a big fuss about my...

When she was an associate dean at the University of Chicago, Michelle Obama organized a panel discussion featuring her husband, then a state senator, as well as Bill Ayers, the infamous former leader of the Weather Underground anti-American domestic terrorist group. The detail was documented by this reporter in 2008 and may be among the material that becomes newly relevant amid speculation the former first lady could be picked as Joe Biden’s running mate. Such a move could set off renewed scrutiny of Michelle Obama’s past radical associations. Her husband’s past radical ties became hot button issues during the 2008...

The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a set of business guidelines Tuesday that could help inform the county’s eventual easing of stay-at-home rules that have helped slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Black holes are most often discussed in terms of their mass, but how much volume do these hefty, invisible objects actually have? Lurking at the center of the Milky Way is a gargantuan black hole that tips the scales at several million times the mass of the Sun. Like all black holes, this supermassive monster — called Sagittarius A* — devours anything that falls too close, including light. However, consuming material is just one way these monsters grow to truly astronomical sizes, reaching mindboggling weights. Although astronomers often talk about black holes as being gigantic objects, it’s important to remember...

The MAGA superstars lost their Fox gig after pushing absolutely wild conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. Fox News has cut ties with MAGA vlogging superstars Diamond & Silk, who had contributed original content to the network’s streaming service Fox Nation since shortly after its late 2018 launch. The sudden split comes after the Trump-boosting siblings have come under fire for promoting conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus. “After what they’ve said and tweeted you won’t be seeing them on Fox Nation or Fox News anytime soon,” a source with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast. After...

Current and former Facebook employees who are responsible for heading off cyber attacks say the Silicon Valley giant is replacing them with machines, according to a new report. Facebook is shaking up its security team, with the company dissolving large chunks of the team over the past two years, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing the former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about company issues. The company is reportedly automating its alert response and security teams. “To stay ahead of evolving security threats, we’re investing more in automated detection...