ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

April 7, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Over 10 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in March as economy collapsed (Washington Post)
• Pentagon Shuts Down Coronavirus Reporting Los Angeles Progressive)
• Here’s how freelancers can get unemployment pay for work lost to coronavirus (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Coronavirus' next casualty: The nation's biggest story could devastate news industry (USA Today)
• Can the news industry survive coronavirus? (Vanity Fair)
• Acting secretary of the Navy has submitted his resignation after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid' (MSN)
• FEMA requests Pentagon's help in securing 100,000 body bags in preparing for COVID-19 spread (10 News)
• More than 1,000 in US die in a single day from coronavirus, doubling the worst daily death toll of the flu (USA Today)
• Food goes to waste amid coronavirus crisis (Politico)
• Tribe That Drew Trump’s Fire Over Casino Plan Loses Its Reservation Status (Huffington Post)
• Unafraid to call out Trump, Hogan emerges as lead GOP voice for urgent action on pandemic (Washington Post)

WORLD

• UK PM Johnson 'stable' in intensive care, needed oxygen after COVID-19 worsened (Reuters)
• Coronavirus cases surpass one million worldwide (CNN)
• Spanish Government Aims to Roll Out Basic Income ‘Soon’ (Bloomberg)
• Italian regions testing for signs of coronavirus immunity (Reuters)
• India has closed its railways for the first time in 167 years. Now trains are being turned into hospitals (CNN)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Over 10 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in March as economy collapsed (Washington Post)

A record 6.65 million people filed a new jobless claim in the week that ended March 28

Pentagon Shuts Down Coronavirus Reporting Los Angeles Progressive)

…The Pentagon has ordered  all its commands, bases, and personnel to stop reporting statistics on COVID-19 infections and deaths in the US military, citing “operational security concerns.” EUCOMM in Stuttgart, Germany, released a statement that “DoD will release numbers through their official platforms.” This comes after infections in the military increased by 60%  during the week of March 22 to 28, surpassing the rate of increase in the general US population…

Here’s how freelancers can get unemployment pay for work lost to coronavirus (San Diego Union-Tribune)

New coronavirus laws provide a litany of benefits to the self-employed, freelancers and workers in the gig economy. But what are the benefits, and how do you claim them? Here are some answers explaining how the laws affect freelancers.

Coronavirus' next casualty: The nation's biggest story could devastate news industry (USA Today)

For the Portland Mercury, the early warning of impending disaster came from its sister paper in the Pacific Northwest.…Almost overnight, the community paper's advertising business collapsed as the pandemic emptied movie theaters, music clubs, concert halls and arts venues… During the nation's struggle with the coronavirus, the outlook for news organizations – whether legacy newspapers with robust online operations or digital-only outlets – is precarious.

Can the news industry survive coronavirus? (Vanity Fair)

The economic fallout of the pandemic is crippling the advertising business, as Gannett furloughs staff, BuzzFeed cuts pay, and the Tampa Bay Times reduces printing. Coronavirus has led to a surge in readership—and an existential threat.

Acting secretary of the Navy has submitted his resignation after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid' (MSN)

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday, a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew, according to a US official and a former senior military official

FEMA requests Pentagon's help in securing 100,000 body bags in preparing for COVID-19 spread (10 News)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has asked the Pentagon for help in securing 100,000 body bags as part of its planning efforts in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 1,000 in US die in a single day from coronavirus, doubling the worst daily death toll of the flu (USA Today)

The U.S. topped 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day for the first time Wednesday, a daily death toll more than double that of two of America's most deadly illnesses – lung cancer and the flu.

Food goes to waste amid coronavirus crisis (Politico)

The Covid-19 pandemic is leading to "tsunami" of change in how people buy food.

Tribe That Drew Trump’s Fire Over Casino Plan Loses Its Reservation Status (Huffington Post)

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe got a frightening notice from the Trump administration just as residents are grappling with the devastating impact of COVID-19.

Unafraid to call out Trump, Hogan emerges as lead GOP voice for urgent action on pandemic (Washington Post)

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) … has emerged as chief spokesman for the nation’s governors, offering a message equal parts sobering and hopeful: This pandemic, he says, is worse and will last longer than anyone imagines, and America will get through it together. The media blitz is driven partly by Hogan’s role as chair of the National Governors Association. But it’s also fueled by…his resolute explanations of why the economic harm of a mass shutdown is worth the economic cost, and his position as one of the few Republicans willing to question statements by President Trump and declare that the United States was “caught flat-footed.”

WORLD

UK PM Johnson 'stable' in intensive care, needed oxygen after COVID-19 worsened (Reuters)

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday he was confident that Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in intensive care with a coronavirus infection, would pull through because “he’s a fighter”.

Coronavirus cases surpass one million worldwide (CNN)

As of Thursday afternoon, at least 1,002,159 people have been infected globally and 51,485 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. ..In the United States -- now the country hardest-hit by the pandemic -- more than 90% of the population is under orders to stay at home … Models had showed that the US death toll could be at least 100,000 with aggressive social distancing, White House experts said earlier, and as high as 2.2 million without them.

Spanish Government Aims to Roll Out Basic Income ‘Soon’ (Bloomberg)

The Spanish government is working to roll out a universal basic income as soon as possible, as part of a battery of actions aimed at countering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Economy Minister Nadia Calvino.

Italian regions testing for signs of coronavirus immunity (Reuters)

Authorities in northern Italy have begun testing health workers for antibodies that may help identify individuals with immunity to the coronavirus as they look for ways to ease the lockdown imposed a month ago to contain the epidemic.

India has closed its railways for the first time in 167 years. Now trains are being turned into hospitals (CNN)

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, Indian Railways took the unprecedented move of suspending passenger trains across the country until April 14. It was the first time in 167 years that Asia's oldest rail network had been suspended. Now the railway network has decided to convert as many as 20,000 old train carriages into isolation wards for patients as the virus spreads.