President Donald Trump's refusal to implement mass testing for the coronavirus in the United States will have "global repercussions," a South Korean doctor said.

In an interview with Wired this week, Min Pok-kee, whose aggressive approach to tackling the COVID-19 virus in the city of Daegu became a model for South Korea's nationwide response, said Trump's failure meant that "it's inevitable that you become like Italy."

"The United States is very late to this," he said. "And the president and the officials working on it seem to think they aren't late. This has both national and global repercussions.

"It isn't enough for Korea alone to survive. In the US, Trump is talking about taking care of his own, but the entire world has to respond in sync."

At: https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-south-korea-doctor-donald-trump-ego-world-health-covid-2020-3

Trump holds forth as Drs. Debrorah Birx and Anthony Fauci look on.

"Trump has spoken dismissively about testing because of his ego," South Korea's Dr. Min noted. "As we scientists see it, he's motivated by pride."

A federal judge handed down a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The USACE must complete a full environmental impact study of the pipeline, including full consideration of concerns presented by the Standing Rock Tribe, the judge ruled.

The tribe has asked the court to ultimately shut the pipeline down.

The court chastised the USACE for moving ahead with affirming the permits in 2016 and allowing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) crossing the Missouri River after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, without considering the expert analysis put forward by the tribe.

At: https://commondreams.org/news/2020/03/25/huge-victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-federal-court-rules-dapl-permits-violated-law

Ray Kingfisher leads Standing Rock Sioux demonstrators at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) Missouri River crossing, in North Dakota.

"This is what the tribe has been fighting for many months," Earthjustice noted. "Their fearless organizing continues to change the game."

The federal government’s planned $2 trillion economic rescue package includes financial aid for individuals and industries that are struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

It also includes a potential bonanza for America’s richest real estate investors.

Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market.

The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion.

Under the existing tax code, when real estate investors generate losses from gradually writing down the value of their properties, a process known as depreciation, they can use some of those losses to offset other taxes.

The result is that people can enjoy big tax breaks stemming from only-on-paper losses, even if they enjoy big cash profits in the real world.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-real-estate-investors-stimulus.html

The Trump clause?

Bolivia’s top electoral authority called for a new date for the country’s presidential election, saying the May 3 vote became unfeasible after the government mandated a two-week nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said on Saturday it was suspending the electoral process for two weeks and called on political parties, the government and congress to select a new date for the vote.

The Andean country of 12 million went into lockdown on Sunday to stem the spread of the coronavirus as self-proclaimed President Jeanine Áñez ordered people to stay in their homes and only leave to buy essential goods or to see a doctor.

Áñez, who did not announce a new date for the election, took power two days after a violent coup forced President Evo Morales to resign on November 12.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the Áñez dictatorship for its role in at least 35 deaths while quashing protests in the month after the coup.

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-23/bolivia-suspends-presidential-election-due-to-virus-lockdown

Bolivian dictator Jeanine Áñez declares a national shelter-in-place order, while suspending presidential elections scheduled for May 3.

Her decree prolongs Bolivia's ongoing lack of constitutional democracy - which until the November 12 coup against President Evo Morales had been continuous since 1982.

Source: NBC News

Six people have died after floodwaters washed away a bridge in Indiana Friday morning.

High waters from overnight storms caused the bridge collapse in Franklin County, authorities said.

Deputies were able to recover five bodies by Friday afternoon, NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio, reported.

The sixth body was found Saturday morning after authorities resumed their search.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/six-dead-after-indiana-bridge-collapses-floodwaters-n1165616

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The collapsed bridge over the Sanes Creek - near Laurel, Indiana.

Time for another tax cut for the wealthy?

Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced today that a nationwide lockdown is being enacted, effective midnight tonight.

Most commercial, financial, religious, and tourist establishments are ordered closed until March 31st, as well as a home isolation order for the nation's 45 million people.

Permits will be issued on a need basis, and essential staff and services such as grocery stores, media and health care are exempted.

"If we stay home, there will be less contagion and we will suffer much less," Fernández explained. "We still have many days in which to take care of ourselves, and a battle to fight."

The emergency measure is in response to the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic, which in Argentina has already reached 128 known cases since March 1st and claimed three lives.

Today's announcement follows a March 15 executive order suspending all public events with audiences or spectators - as well as shutting schools, national parks, and international borders.

A 14-day quarantine had been ordered on March 12 for Argentine residents recently arrived from "high-risk" countries - the source for virtually all the 128 cases known thus far.

These emergency measures are expected to deepen the country's recession - already approaching its third year.

Accordingly, Production Minister Matías Kulfas on March 17 announced price controls and a $7.5 billion stimulus package - including a $5.5 billion credit line for employers, a 3,000-peso ($46) monthly bonus for all retirees and family assistance beneficiaries (some 9 million people between them), and a $1.5 billion public works program.

"Health is not a building"

The public works package includes the construction of 8 modular hospitals to deal with an expected increase of respiratory ailments due to Covid-19, as well as the completion of two general hospitals outside Buenos Aires.

The two hospitals had been built during former President Cristina Kirchner's second term (2011-15), and were to serve La Matanza County - a largely working-class county west of Buenos Aires whose 1.8 million people were among the most underserved in the nation.

But just months from their planned inaugural in 2016, Kirchner's right-wing successor, Mauricio Macri, suspended funding for these hospitals - leaving one empty, and the other functioning as a primary clinic.

When asked about the suspended works on these and five other such facilities in 2017, then-Governor María Vidal replied that "health is not a building."

Macri and Vidal were defeated for re-election last October.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telam.com.ar%2Fnotas%2F202003%2F442323-fernandez-olivo-reunion-gobernadores-coronavirus.html

Argentine President Alberto Fernández (right) and Public Works Minister Gabriel Katopodis fly over the Dr. René Favaloro Hospital, west of Buenos Aires.

The hospital, inaugurated in 2015, functioned only as a primary clinic due to recurrent budget cuts under Fernández's right-wing predecessor.

A March 17 executive order frees funds for this and another - but still-vacant - hospital nearby, and eight modular hospitals.

Today's nationwide lockdown - based on similar measures enacted in China, Italy, and Spain - will inevitably deepen the nation's two year-old recession.

China's Defense Ministry said in a statement yesterday that it had "successfully" developed a vaccine against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus - which causes COVID-19 pneumonia - and has authorized human clinical trials.

Behind this discovery is Dr. Chen Wei, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and researcher at the Institute of Military Medical Sciences of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

She has led China's battle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the front line in Wuhan - the epicenter of the outbreak.

Chen, 54, headed a team of medical workers from the Institute of Military Medical Sciences to fly to Wuhan and to support the epidemic prevention and control efforts there on January 26.

Their mobile laboratory made of connected tents was put into operation on January 30. As of that day, they had successfully produced their own test kits for the novel coronavirus, which greatly reduced the time of nucleic acid tests for the confirmation of suspected cases.

Dr. Chen and her team spent over 10 years researching and producing recombinant vaccines, which have since been added to China's strategic reserve.

At: http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/special/2003/9429-1.htm

China's Dr. Chen Wei at work during the 2003 SARS epidemic - during which she developed a aerosol spray credited with protecting over 14,000 medical staff from infection.

Her team yesterday announced the successful development of a vaccine against Covid-19.

Sen. Mitt Romney wants to give working Americans $1,000 to help those in need and stimulate the economy during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Utah Republican said Monday that urgent action is needed to aid workers and wants a direct payment included in congressional legislation now being debated. The payments might be evaluated on a month-to-month basis.

Romney also proposes “bridge grants” to small businesses in need, expanding student aid and deferring college loans for recent graduates affected by outbreak.

At: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/03/16/sen-mitt-romney-proposes/

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney endures a recent meeting with Trump.

“The House coronavirus response package contains critical measures to help families in Utah and across the nation in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, and the Senate should act swiftly on this legislation,” Romney said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t horsing around when it comes to coronavirus precautions.

The “Terminator” actor urged his followers to remain home amid the outbreak of the virus by sharing a Twitter video from his kitchen that shows him feeding carrots to his two miniature horses.

“We don’t go out," Schwarzenegger says in the nearly two-minute clip. "We don’t go to restaurants. We don’t do anything like that anymore here. We just eat with Whiskey, and with Lulu. We have a good time.”

The Austrian-born film star, 72, then told people to forget about “public gatherings” and reiterated the importance of remaining home.

“Stay at home as much as possible,” Schwarzenegger captioned his tweet. “Listen to the experts, ignore the morons (foreheads). We will get through this together.”

At: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/see-it-arnold-schwarzenegger-and-his-mini-horses-urge-people-to-stay-home-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/ar-BB11gaHY

Home bodies: Arnold Schwarzenegger and his furry friends enjoying some down time in his Kah-lifohnia home.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced that all schools from the pre-K to high school level, as well as the nation's land, air, and sea borders would be closed to all foreign arrivals until March 31st in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

All public events are also ordered to suspend until further notice, though sports and cultural events may be televised without audiences or spectators - something Fernández hopes will encourage his 45 million fellow Argentines to "stay home."

Fernández had already declared a health emergency on March 12, which ordered a 14-day minimum quarantine for any Argentine resident recently arrived from "high-risk" countries - including China, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Spain, and the United States - or tourists from those countries currently in Argentina.

"We are trying to prevent a small problem from becoming a bigger one," Fernández explained. These restrictions, he added, may be "extended" past March 31st.

Argentina has thus far registered 56 cases of Covid-19 - including two deaths. All cases thus far recorded in the country have been of tourists returning from Europe of the United States, as well as at least two cases of direct transmission to family members.

Fernández also ordered that senior citizens still in the work force be given paid leave on demand - a benefit also extended to those returning from high-risk countries.

The nation's social security agency (ANSES) and Medicare equivalent (PAMI) were likewise ordered to schedule personal appointments to any beneficiary requesting one, in order to prevent the lines that often typify ANSES and PAMI offices.

Restrictions on public transport may be announced tomorrow, according to the president.

Today's announcement affects over 12 million students, 1 million teachers in 65,000 schools, and 5 million seniors - as well as over 500,000 monthly foreign visitors. Schools, however, will continue to serve meals to needy children - an essential service in a country where childhood poverty soared to 52% in 2019.

The extent of today's measures are expected to deepen the country's recession - already approaching its third year.

Central Bank interest rates had already been reduced from 63% when Fernández took office on December 10, to 38% today - and plans for subsidized business loans have been announced to prevent further business closures and layoffs.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F253112-coronavirus-clases-suspendidas-y-fronteras-cerradas

Argentine President Alberto Fernández answers questions in today's press conference as Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (left) and Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof listen.

Today's school closures and restrictions on inbound travel and public events are the most stringent thus far in the region, since the onset of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Argentina's health resources are already strained by two years of recession and budget cuts under Fernández's right-wing predecessor.