Senate passes historic $2 trillion stimulus package to curb effects of coronavirus President Donald Trump signaled impatience with federal social distancing guidelines intended to stem the spread of coronavirus. USA TODAY WASHINGTON – The Senate approved its largest emergency aid package in modern history that will offer $2 trillion to help Americans, hospitals and businesses weather the effects of the coronavirus. The vote late Wednesday night was 96-0. Coronavirus: Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as treatment Media playback is unsupported on your device US President Donald Trump has been lambasted by the medical community after suggesting research into whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body. He also appeared to propose irradiating patients' bodies with UV light, an idea dismissed by a doctor at the briefing.
Culture - The Plot Against America’s vision feels eerily familiar Perhaps because our own times seem bleak, alternate histories are flourishing on screen, ranging from the dystopian, piercingly real Handmaid’s Tale to the apocalyptic, mind-bending Watchmen and most recently Hunters, with cartoonish characters pursuing resurgent Nazis. All reassure us ‘At least that didn’t happen’. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, the HBO series The Plot Against America has an impeccable literary source. Philip Roth’s 2004 novel posits that aviator Charles Lindbergh, a national hero, Nazi sympathiser and isolationist – all of those things historically true – became US president in the early 1940s, with Hitler on the rise. More like this: - The TV show that predicted the future
Coronavirus: EU could fail over outbreak, warns Italy's Giuseppe Conte Media playback is unsupported on your device Italy's prime minister has told the BBC that the European Union risks failing as a project in the coronavirus crisis. Giuseppe Conte says the EU must act in an adequate and co-ordinated way to help countries worst hit by the virus. Mr Conte says the European Union needs to rise to the challenge of what he calls "the biggest test since the Second World War". Pets 'go hungry' after smart feeder goes offline Image copyright Petnet Owners of a device designed to release food for pets say their animals were left hungry during a week-long system failure. Petnet allows owners to schedule and control feeding via a smartphone app. When the BBC contacted Petnet on its advertised email address, the email bounced back with a delivery failure notice. One pet owner tweeted: "My cat starved for over a week", while others complained about other hardware issues.
US may become next centre of coronavirus pandemic, says WHO The US could become the new centre of the global coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organization, which said case numbers were rising quickly there even asDonald Trump talked of reopening the country for business. “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US. So it does have that potential [to become the centre of the pandemic],” said Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman.
Senate at odds over makeup of coronavirus stimulus package; Utah rep hospitalized - updates Coronavirus cases have showed up in Congress, and with more and more lawmakers choosing to quarantine, why can't the legislature move to remote votes? USA TODAY Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote again Monday morning to take up a stalled economic stimulus bill that Democrats blocked earlier Sunday evening, which critics said was too generous to big corporations and too stingy for working families. The next Senate vote, a procedural roll call to take up the bill, will take place at 9:45 Monday morning, unless there’s a breakthrough before then, McConnell said. His remarks came as Democrats negotiated late into the night with top Trump administration officials over the details of a possible deal. There are numerous sticking points, including restrictions on corporate bailouts and the scope of assistance to state and local governments.
Microsoft takes down global zombie bot network Image copyright Getty Images Microsoft has said it was part of a team that dismantled an international network of zombie bots. The network call Necurs infected over nine million computers and one of the world's largest botnets. Necurs was responsible for multiple criminal scams including stealing personal information and sending fake pharmaceutical emails. Cyber-criminals use botnets to remotely take over internet-connected devices and install malicious software. Coronavirus: Things the US has got wrong - and got right Image copyright European photopress agency It has been more than two months since the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in the US. Since then, the outbreak has spread across the nation, with more than 200,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths. The US is now the global epicentre of the pandemic, surpassing the number of reported cases in China, where the virus began, and Italy, the hardest-hit European nation.
Coronavirus: The fake health advice you should ignore Image copyright Getty Images Coronavirus is emerging in more countries around the world and there's currently no known cure. Unfortunately that hasn't stopped a slew of health advice - from the useless, but relatively harmless, to the downright dangerous. Stanford professor claims coronavirus death rate 'likely orders of magnitude lower' than first thought Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here. Stanford University professor of medicine Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tuesday that he believes the actual death rate from the coronavirus pandemic is "likely orders of magnitude lower than the initial estimates."