Free Republic

Two executions have been postponed in Texas this month, and it's possible the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt several more, which one expert says could reduce the dwindling support for the death penalty in the United States. With many non-essential public spaces shut down to try to contain the virus' spread, lawyers for two condemned men sought and received 60-day stays of execution. The Court of Criminal Appeals approved the stays for John Hummel on Monday and Tracy Beatty on Thursday. They were on the schedule to be executed March 18 and March 25, respectively. Robert Dunham, director of the Washington,...

SAN DIEGO - U.S. officials are expected to announce new restrictions on the Southern border Friday as they try to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. and Mexico have been working on plans to limit cross-border traffic, according to officials on both sides of the border. The plan is expected to look much like restrictions already announced on all-but-essential travel and trade between the U.S. and Canada. “We're looking at both our northern and our southern border,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters at the White House, explaining that the restrictions were aimed at “eliminating...

PROPAGANDA PUSH: Aid is much needed, but China is consciously exercising its soft power in supplying it, a Mercator Institute for China Studies analyst said. As Europe becomes the epicenter of the coronavirus, Beijing is stepping up its outreach to individual governments there. That is coming at the very moment that the US — and in some cases the EU — is seen to be turning away. The result is a battle for hearts and minds that China seems to be winning, at least for the moment. “It’s great that China has this availability and that it is currently in...

As much of the nation adjusts this week to sudden and indefinite home confinement, prison and jail wardens across the U.S. are scrambling to forestall an outbreak of COVID-19 inside a crowded U.S. correctional facility. With the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world, the U.S. faces unique challenges among its roughly 2.3 million inmates as the coronavirus surges silently through all 50 states. As projected staff shortages and fears of thinning medical resources cascade through the nation’s patchwork of federal, state, county and private prisons and jails -- where even rudimentary protective measures like alcohol-based hand sanitizers...

China responded to President Trump's use of the term "Chinese virus," with a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the U.S. should play a "constructive role" to safeguard international public health. “We hope that the United States will respect objective facts, respect international public opinion, do its own thing, stop constantly shifting its attitude, stop slandering other countries, and shifting responsibilities,” Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The president has defended his use of term, saying in a press conference, "it's not racist at all, no. It comes from China."...

NEW YORK - Before President Donald Trump stepped into the White House briefing room to provide an update on the coronavirus, an opening act was broadcast across cable news of another chief executive calmly reciting statistics and safety tips. For the second straight day, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s matter-of-fact and slightly scolding demeanor from an epicenter of the pandemic was a stark contrast Thursday to the often haphazard and hyperbolic messages coming from Trump. Through daily briefings and scores of media appearances, Cuomo has emerged as one of the key faces responding to the pandemic. He is one of...

Beijing (AFP) - With millions of face masks, low interest loans and teams of medical experts, China is trying to paint itself as a Good Samaritan while deflecting criticism over its initial missteps in handling the coronavirus. Beijing has showered struggling European nations with aid as part of a diplomatic charm offensive. In recent weeks, it has also donated hundreds of thousands of surgical masks and test kits to the Philippines and Pakistan, sent teams of medics to Iran and Iraq, and extended a $500 million loan to help Sri Lanka combat the virus. While COVID-19 first emerged in the...

China has exonerated a doctor who was punished for warning about COVID-19 and later died of the disease. Dr Li Wenliang and seven colleagues were reprimanded in December for telling friends about the emerging coronavirus threat on social media. In an unusual admission of error, the ruling Communist Party's top disciplinary body has now revoked its earlier decision - and sent a "solemn apology" to Dr Li's family. Two police officers have been issued with "disciplinary punishments" for their role in the original incident, a report by the National Supervisory Commission said. Investigators found that Dr Li hadn't disrupted public...

January 19, 2020 - The true scale of a viral pneumonia outbreak in China is likely far bigger than officially reported, scientists have said, as countries ramp up measures to prevent the disease from spreading. Fears that the virus will spread are growing ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese move around the country and many others host or visit extended family members living overseas. Authorities in China have said two people have died and at least 45 have been infected, with the outbreak centered around a seafood market in Wuhan, a central city...

Novel coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 95 percent had China responded to the outbreak just three weeks earlier than it did, a March 13 study by the University of Southampton has found. Researchers at the English university, using mapping technology to compile data on human movement and illness onset, found that China's non-pharmaceutical response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country was three weeks too slow. If the response "could have been conducted one week, two weeks, or three weeks earlier, cases could have been reduced by 66 percent, 86 percent and 95 percent respectively," a university news...

Nearly every day for three weeks, Dr. Deborah Birx has stood next to next to Vice President Mike Pence as part of the White House's efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 100 Americans. Though her name may have been largely unknown to most Americans before the COVID-19 outbreak, she's been working to fight the spread of communicable diseases on behalf of the U.S. government for well over three decades. Birx, 63, a Pennsylvania native, brings a long military career and medical background in immunology to her new role. In addition to being the White House...

CARACAS - Venezuelan utilities have hiked fees and the government plans to raise taxes, as the economy deteriorates further due to the spread of coronavirus and the crash in global oil prices adds to the strain on public coffers. Businesses in the South American country have seen surprise increases in monthly bills for services like trash collection, electricity and telephones over the past month. Earlier this week the government announced a 2,900% increase in the unit used to calculate taxes. Venezuela’s annual tax collection has fallen below $2 billion, according to local consultancy Ecoanalitica. President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government last...

Supermarkets are expecting to get police support to deter unruly behaviour if London goes into lockdown because of the coronavirus. According to Reuters, retailers are concerned that panic buying could spike if further restrictions are imposed. On Thursday, there were frenzied scenes in some stores as shoppers sought to buy bottled water, tinned goods and toilet roll. Environment Secretary George Eustace had told the Commons there was "significant resilience in our food supply chain" and no shortage of food. "There isn't a shortage of food, the challenge that we've had is getting food to shelves in time when people have...

Upcoming Events 11:00 AM EDT - Members of the Coronavirus Task Force Hold a Press Briefing, The White House 2:00 PM EDT - President Trump at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters, Washington, DC

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As worries about the spread of the coronavirus confine millions of Californians to their homes, concern is growing about those who have no homes in which to shelter. California has more than 150,000 homeless people, the most in the nation, and there's concern that as the rest of the state's residents are being told to stay apart and to frequently wash their hands, the homeless are living just as they did before the outbreak. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said it's possible 60,000 could contract the virus. The governor announced he would spend $150 million on efforts...

There’s an old joke in Mexico: a man is driving on the wrong side of a crowded freeway. Cars swerve, some spin out of control; others barely manage to avoid a collision. It’s utter chaos. Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), has been driving on the wrong side of the road during the coronavirus crisis. At first, López Obrador followed the playbook of denial and finger pointing. Two weeks ago, when the virulence of the disease was already apparent, he suggested Mexicans should carry on hugging each other, social distancing be damned. On Sunday, López Obrador turned even more...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s government is resisting implementing strong measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, even as President Trump said Wednesday that he would block the entry of asylum seekers and ban nonessential travel across the U.S.-Mexico border. On Wednesday morning, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he wouldn’t close airports, shut down businesses or take other steps that might damage the economy.

Taiwan and the US are to combat the COVID-19 pandemic together, with the partnership including medicine development, contact tracing technology and the exchange of medical supplies, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement yesterday. The statement, signed by AIT Director Brent Christensen and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu said: “To further strengthen US-Taiwan consultation and cooperation on combating the COVID-19 virus, which originated in Wuhan, both sides will seek to share best practices and cooperate on a range of activities.” Following the AIT’s statement on Sunday, which said that...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it will stop performing arrests nationwide of individuals who have neither committed a crime nor pose a risk to the public until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. ICE said in a statement late Wednesday that it will "temporarily adjust its enforcement posture" effective immediately and shift focus to public safety risks, those who are subject to detention on criminal grounds and those it deems "mission critical." Investigations will continue into child exploitation, gangs, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling and terrorism. For those who have not committed any of those transgressions, the agency said...

French climatologist Jean Jouzel says the swift global reaction to the coronavirus crisis may bode well for the climate as well: It shows that in a real emergency, nations have the means – and the will – to act. "It is just as urgent to tackle the climate problem," he says. With factories shuttered, airlines grounded and streets cleared in the wake of the coronavirus, there's been a notable reduction in our need for energy from coal and other fossil fuels, both in China and beyond. Experts anticipate the COVID-19 outbreak will lead to a temporary drop in global carbon...