News in Brief
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political operatives are recruiting "extremely pro-Trump” doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The plan was discussed in a May 11 conference call with a senior staffer for the Trump reelection campaign organized by CNP Action, an affiliate of the GOP-aligned Council for National Policy. A leaked recording of the hourlong call was provided to The Associated Press by the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive watchdog group. A resurgent economy is seen as critical to boosting President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes and has become a growing focus of the White House coronavirus task force led by Vice President Mike Pence. Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, confirmed to AP that an effort to recruit doctors to publicly support the president is underway, but declined to say when the initiative would be rolled out.
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TOKYO (AP) — Japan is investigating a possible leak of data including details of a prototype missile in a massive cyberattack earlier this year on Mitsubishi Electric Corp., officials said Wednesday. The suspected leak involves sensitive information about a prototype of a cutting-edge high speed gliding missile intended for deployment for the defense of Japan’s remote islands amid China’s military assertiveness in the region. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the Defense Ministry is investigating "the possible impact of the information leak on national security.” The Defense Ministry has been studying a prototype missile known as HGV, which flies at supersonic speeds and is also being developed by the U.S., China and Russia. The ministry suspects the information might have been stolen from documents sent from several defense equipment makers as part of a bidding process for the project, Mitsubishi Electric did not win the bid, Japanese media reports said.
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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years. The decline is the latest sign of a prolonged national "baby bust” that’s been going on for more than a decade. And some experts believe the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy will suppress the numbers further. "This unpredictable environment, and anxiety about the future, is going to make women think twice about having children,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University. The latest numbers were released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, which is considered preliminary, is based on a review of more than 99% of birth certificates issued last year. The CDC found the number of births fell about 1% from 2018, to about 3.7 million. Birth rates continued to fall for teen moms and for women in their 20s.
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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -- A Pakistani local legislator died on Wednesday after contracting COVID-19, hospital officials said, marking the first death of a political figure in the South Asian nation from the disease at a time the country has lifted its countrywide lockdown. Pakistan has recorded 45,898 infections and 985 deaths to date from the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Tuesday saw the most deaths in a single day reported, at 46. Shaheen Raza, a 65-year-old female member of the provincial assembly of Punjab, the country’s largest province, died in the eastern city of Lahore, the CEO of Mayo Hospital, Dr Asad Aslam, told Reuters. Raza belonged to the ruling party of Prime Minister Imran Khan and was elected on a reserved seat for women. Punjab’s Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid, who is from the same party, said Raza had been visiting quarantine centers in the province for inspections and was a cancer survivor.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Brazil’s daily death toll from the new coronavirus jumped to a record 1,179 on Tuesday as President Jair Bolsonaro doubled down on chloroquine as a possible remedy and U.S. leader Donald Trump said he is considering a travel ban from Brazil. The highest daily toll before Tuesday had been 881 deaths on May 12. The pandemic has killed at least 17,971 people in Brazil, according to the Health Ministry. Brazil overtook Britain on Monday to become the country with the third-highest number of confirmed infections, behind Russia and the United States. Brazil’s confirmed cases also jumped by a record 17,408 on Tuesday, for a total of 271,628 people who have tested positive for the virus. Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Trump, has been criticized for his handling of the outbreak, such as opposition to restrictions on movement he sees as too damaging to the economy.
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top UN official in Libya warned that the war in the North African country will "intensify, broaden and deepen” because of increasing foreign intervention and the influx of weapons, military equipment and mercenaries to both sides. Acting UN special envoy Stephanie Williams said the escalation will have "devastating consequences for the Libyan people” who are "getting lost in the mix, their voices crowded out.” Williams’ video briefing to the council came a day after forces allied with Libya’s UN-supported government wrested control of a key military base on the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli from eastern-based forces under commander Khalifa Haftar that have been trying to capture the city of 2 million people since April 2019. Loss of the al-Waitya airbase in Tripoli’s southwestern desert reaches was a heavy setback for Haftar’s forces.
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TOKYO (AP) — Japan is investigating a possible leak of data including details of a prototype missile in a massive cyberattack earlier this year on Mitsubishi Electric Corp., officials said Wednesday. The suspected leak involves sensitive information about a prototype of a cutting-edge high speed gliding missile intended for deployment for the defense of Japan’s remote islands amid China’s military assertiveness in the region. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the Defense Ministry is investigating "the possible impact of the information leak on national security.” The Defense Ministry has been studying a prototype missile known as HGV, which flies at supersonic speeds and is also being developed by the U.S., China and Russia. The ministry suspects the information might have been stolen from documents sent from several defense equipment makers as part of a bidding process for the project, Mitsubishi Electric did not win the bid, Japanese media reports said.
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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years. The decline is the latest sign of a prolonged national "baby bust” that’s been going on for more than a decade. And some experts believe the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy will suppress the numbers further. "This unpredictable environment, and anxiety about the future, is going to make women think twice about having children,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University. The latest numbers were released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, which is considered preliminary, is based on a review of more than 99% of birth certificates issued last year. The CDC found the number of births fell about 1% from 2018, to about 3.7 million. Birth rates continued to fall for teen moms and for women in their 20s.
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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -- A Pakistani local legislator died on Wednesday after contracting COVID-19, hospital officials said, marking the first death of a political figure in the South Asian nation from the disease at a time the country has lifted its countrywide lockdown. Pakistan has recorded 45,898 infections and 985 deaths to date from the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Tuesday saw the most deaths in a single day reported, at 46. Shaheen Raza, a 65-year-old female member of the provincial assembly of Punjab, the country’s largest province, died in the eastern city of Lahore, the CEO of Mayo Hospital, Dr Asad Aslam, told Reuters. Raza belonged to the ruling party of Prime Minister Imran Khan and was elected on a reserved seat for women. Punjab’s Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid, who is from the same party, said Raza had been visiting quarantine centers in the province for inspections and was a cancer survivor.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Brazil’s daily death toll from the new coronavirus jumped to a record 1,179 on Tuesday as President Jair Bolsonaro doubled down on chloroquine as a possible remedy and U.S. leader Donald Trump said he is considering a travel ban from Brazil. The highest daily toll before Tuesday had been 881 deaths on May 12. The pandemic has killed at least 17,971 people in Brazil, according to the Health Ministry. Brazil overtook Britain on Monday to become the country with the third-highest number of confirmed infections, behind Russia and the United States. Brazil’s confirmed cases also jumped by a record 17,408 on Tuesday, for a total of 271,628 people who have tested positive for the virus. Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Trump, has been criticized for his handling of the outbreak, such as opposition to restrictions on movement he sees as too damaging to the economy.
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top UN official in Libya warned that the war in the North African country will "intensify, broaden and deepen” because of increasing foreign intervention and the influx of weapons, military equipment and mercenaries to both sides. Acting UN special envoy Stephanie Williams said the escalation will have "devastating consequences for the Libyan people” who are "getting lost in the mix, their voices crowded out.” Williams’ video briefing to the council came a day after forces allied with Libya’s UN-supported government wrested control of a key military base on the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli from eastern-based forces under commander Khalifa Haftar that have been trying to capture the city of 2 million people since April 2019. Loss of the al-Waitya airbase in Tripoli’s southwestern desert reaches was a heavy setback for Haftar’s forces.