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2 Florida poll workers test positive for coronavirus, elections office urges in-person voters to ‘seek medical advice’ Local officials in Florida have advised some residents who cast ballots in the state’s primary to see their doctors after two poll workers tested positive for Covid-19, despite authorities insisting there was no risk to voters. The two election staffers manned separate polling stations in Broward County – Florida’s second largest, with some 2 million residents – and were confirmed to carry the illness on Thursday, according to local authorities. “County staff as well as other poll workers at those locations have been notified of the situation and have been advised to take appropriate steps,” Broward County’s supervisor of elections ...

Rocket lands near Baghdad's Green Zone, US helicopters scrambled – reports At least one rocket was fired in the vicinity of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the American Embassy is located, according to local reports. Military aircraft were spotted hovering in the area shortly after. The explosion rocked the Iraqi capital early on Friday morning local time, according to Al-Arabiya, with some reports stating a “massive” number of armed American helicopters were spotted circling over the area afterward. #BREAKING #NOW A violent explosion shakes the Iraqi capital, #Baghdad, followed by a massive flight of American helicopters.#Iraq #USA #PMU #Iran #IRGC pic.twitter.com/xZOqY2EYJI— Eva J. Koulouriotis - إيفا كولوريوتي (@ev...

European solidarity? Germany offers to take in a few dozen of Italy’s 80,000+ Covid-19 patients in hollow goodwill gesture Germany has offered to take in a handful of coronavirus patients from pandemic-stricken Italy, weeks after the country’s overloaded healthcare system most needed help. Is this belated remorse or just adding insult to injury? German hospitals “with spare capacity” will open their doors to “at least 47” of Italy’s 80,589 coronavirus patients in a sign of European solidarity, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced on Thursday in a statement that appeared to be entirely devoid of self-awareness or irony. We stand by our Italian friends. We can only manage this together. Also on rt.com Not enough...

‘Models don’t match reality’: White House coronavirus chief rejects doomsday predictions as US tops Covid-19 case count Even as the US overtook China in the official number of Covid-19 cases, the top physician leading the White House effort urged Americans not to panic, as models predicting the death of millions keep being proven wrong everywhere. “The predictions of the models don’t match the reality on the ground in neither China, South Korea nor Italy,” Dr. Deborah Birx told reporters on Thursday. She noted that the alarmist statistics about the spread of the virus said Italy would reach 400,000 deaths by now, but the actual death toll was nowhere near that. Italy, which has been the hardest-hit in terms of deaths from Covid-19, reported 8,215 de...

US overtakes China as country with highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases - Johns Hopkins University The US has topped the list of nations with the most coronavirus cases, as the number of the infected within the country crept past 82,000 cases, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The grim milestone was achieved on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, which puts the US at 82,404 cases of the virus, surpassing Italy at 80,589 and China at 81,782. With 150 new fatalities reported so far on Thursday alone, Covid-19 has killed a total of 1,177 Americans to date.Thursday also saw cases worldwide soar beyond half a million, with more than 525,000 infections reported around the globe. BR...

‘New way of staging a coup’: Venezuelan FM blasts US for narco-terrorism charges against Maduro Washington’s decision to indict Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on drug charges is “a new form of coup d’etat,” as well as a move to win over hispanic voters in Florida, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has claimed. The US Justice Department unsealed indictments against Maduro and more than a dozen Venezuelan political and military leaders on Thursday, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and implicating them in a plot to “flood the United States with cocaine.” Additionally, the State Department announced a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader, and rewards of up to $10 million for each of his co-defendants. Re...

Fear triggered by coronavirus hype may kill its victims faster than the pandemic Irrational and all-encompassing fear of the coronavirus pandemic is racking up its own body count, sometimes faster than the disease. An Italian nurse has joined the growing ranks of coronavirus-triggered suicides. Daniela Trezzi, an intensive care nurse at the San Gerardo Hospital in Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region who was diagnosed with coronavirus earlier this month, killed herself on Sunday. She was terrified that she had infected some of the very people she was trying so desperately to help, the National Federation of Nurses of Italy said in a statement on Tuesday confirming her death. Trezzi had been quarantined since her diagnosis on March 10. Terrified of sprea...

‘Too timid’: Italy rejects EU economic proposal, says it doesn’t go far enough as coronavirus deaths surge past 8,000 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the European Union proposal to mitigate the economic fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak was nowhere near enough, and that more was needed to help the country hardest-hit by the virus. Conte’s office released a statement as the teleconference with EU leaders was still ongoing on Thursday, saying that Italy “does not accept” the proposed financial stimulus and that “innovative financial instruments” were needed. He said he gave Brussels ten days to come up with a better solution, without elaborating what Italy might do if that does not happen. Italy, Spain and France have led the call for the EU...

‘Unnecessary & damaging’: Canada strongly opposes US deployment of troops near border The government in Ottawa confirmed rumors that Washington is considering troop deployments along the US-Canada border for coronavirus enforcement, calling the proposal “unnecessary” and “damaging” to neighborly relations. The White House is looking at sending about 1,000 troops to the border, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported on Thursday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the proposal. When asked about it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has “been in discussions” with the Trump administration, thereby confirming the plan’s existence. “Canada and the US have the longest unmilitarized border in the world. It is very mu...