White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows said Friday U.S. President Donald Trump is experiencing mild effects of the coronavirus after he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.“The president does have mild symptoms and as we look to try to make sure that not only his health and safety and welfare is good, we continue to look at that for all of the American people,” Meadows said as he spoke to reporters at the White House.Trump’s chief of staff said the president is “not only in good spirits, but very energetic” and remains “committed to working very hard on behalf of the American people.” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to the media after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he and U.S. first lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington, Oct, 2, 2020.In the early morning hours on Friday (04:54 UTC), Trump tweeted: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020Minutes later, the White House released a memorandum from the 74-year-old president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, confirming the positive tests for the Trumps. “The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence,” Conley said. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 12 MB720p | 25 MB1080p | 50 MBOriginal | 176 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioHe added that he expects the president “to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you posted on any future developments.” Melania Trump later tweeted, “As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together.” As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) October 2, 2020In another tweet, Mrs. Trump acknowledged she also had “mild symptoms but overall feeling good.” Thank you for the love you are sending our way. I have mild symptoms but overall feeling good. I am looking forward to a speedy recovery.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) Hope Hicks, (L), an advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, White House special assistant Nicholas Luna (2nd L), President Trump’s senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and White House staffers depart Washington.Hicks, counselor to the president, traveled with Trump to Pennsylvania for a campaign rally on Saturday, then to Cleveland for the presidential debate on Tuesday and to Minnesota for campaign events the following day. Hicks was showing symptoms at a political rally Wednesday evening in Duluth, Minnesota, and tested positive Thursday morning, according to officials who spoke on condition of not being named. Trump on Thursday, however, along with some top officials, flew to New Jersey for a political fundraising event where he was in close contact with dozens of other people. During the telephone interview with Fox News show host Sean Hannity, the president suggested Hicks could have contracted the virus from members of the military or law enforcement.“It is very, very hard when you are with people from the military, or from law enforcement, and they come over to you, and they want to hug you, and they want to kiss you because we really have done a good job for them,” said Trump. “You get close, and things happen. I was surprised to hear with Hope, but she is a very warm person with them. She knows there’s a risk, but she is young.”The president, however, in the eighth decade of his life, is in a high-risk category for the coronavirus, but is otherwise believed to be in good health. Age, Weight Factor into Trump’s COVID PrognosisThe president is at higher risk of a severe case of COVID-19, but his prognosis is hard to predictVice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, tested negative for COVID-19 early Friday, according to spokesman Devin O’Malley. The spokesman said Pence “remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery.” As has been routine for months, Vice President Pence is tested for COVID-19 every day. This morning, Vice President Pence and the Second Lady tested negative for COVID-19. Vice President Pence remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery.— Devin O’Malley (@VPPressSec) October 2, 2020U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he and his wife, Susan Pompeo, also tested negative. Pompeo said he and his wife were examined on an airplane 20 minutes before landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The country’s top diplomat told reporters upon arrival that he last saw Trump on September 15 at the White House and said, “We are praying for the president and First Lady that they’ll have a speedy recovery.”An unnamed senior White House official told Reuters that Trump, Pence and their staffs will work in separate facilities to safeguard the vice president if he is forced to assume presidential responsibilities if Trump’s condition deteriorates.“What we have done out of an abundance of caution, we have separated the VP and the president … we separated the staffs, in case something happens,” the official said.Also Friday, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah tweeted that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and will remain isolated for the next 10 days.pic.twitter.com/V3kSLogoDP— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 2, 2020Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who debated Trump in person late Tuesday in Cleveland, tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday, his primary care physician, Dr. Kevin O’ Connor, said in a statement. Nearly 7.3 million people in the United States have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 208,000 have died – the most reported by any country, according to Johns Hopkins University. Wayne Lee contributed to this report.
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Day: October 2, 2020
A flight carrying NASA’s new $23 million titanium space toilet, designed as a better fit for female astronauts, failed to launch late Thursday and has another window Friday night. NASA tweeted late Thursday the launch was canceled about 2 minutes before liftoff “due to an unknown problem with a component of ground support equipment.”To recap: Tonight’s launch attempt for FILE – Northrup Grumman’s Antares rocket is poised for launch at the NASA Wallops test flight facility in Wallops Island, Va., Oct. 1, 2020.At barely 100 pounds and 28 inches tall, the new toilet is approximately half as big as the two Russian-built ones at the space station. Its small size makes it a perfect fit for the NASA Orion capsules that will carry astronauts to the moon in a few years. The new toilet is to be used alongside the old one on the U.S. side of the ISS. Like earlier space commodes, air suction, rather than water and gravity, removes the waste. Urine collected by the new toilet will be routed into NASA’s long-standing recycling system to produce water for drinking and cooking. Titanium and other tough alloys were chosen for the new toilet to withstand all the acid in the urine pretreatment. More toilets will be needed as SpaceX launches astronauts to the space station and Boeing stays on course to send up its first crew in less than a year. The typical space station population will go from six to seven with the next SpaceX flight, and even more when nonprofessionals like tourists start showing up as early as next year. The last time NASA ordered up a new toilet was in the early 1990s to accommodate a two-week space shuttle mission.
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The world’s democracies are suffering under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Freedom House report.
The report, titled Democracy Under Lockdown, says “the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened a crisis for democracy around the world, providing cover for governments to disrupt elections, silence critics and the press, and undermine the accountability needed to protect human rights, as well as public health.”
A possible bright spot, the report says, is “the persistence of public protests, under every type of regime.”
Freedom House President Michael J. Abramowitz said, “Governments in every part of the world have abused their powers in the name of public health, seizing the opportunity to undermine democracy and human rights.”
The report contains a section about the U.S. presidential election, noting that many experts have expressed concern about whether election authorities around the country are fully prepared for the polls, given the surge in voting by mail and the controversy over last-minute changes in election rules.
It came out before U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus late Thursday.
The report identifies four problems that have emerged to threaten democracies during the pandemic: government transparency and information on the coronavirus; corruption, lack of protection for vulnerable populations, and government abuses of power.
Abuses also have extended into elections, with authorities delaying or disrupting national elections in at least nine countries.
“The erosion of political rights and civil liberties began long before the pandemic,” said Amy Slipowitz, research manager at Freedom House, who co-authored the report, “but people in every region of the world are clearly committed to reclaiming their freedom.”
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A little more than a month before the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump announced early Friday via Twitter that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus and have begun quarantining themselves. In response, Vice President Mike Pence tweeted: “Karen and I send our love and prayers to our dear friends President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS Melania Trump. We join millions across America praying for their full and swift recovery. God bless you President Trump & our wonderful First Lady Melania.”Karen and I send our love and prayers to our dear friends President A woman walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. U.S. stock futures and Asian shares have fallen after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump…Global markets fell following the news of Trump’s diagnosis.Naoya Oshikubo, a senior economist with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management in Tokyo, told Reuters he was worried that Trump would “become even more aggressive against China” after contracting the virus. Oshikubo added, “I got the impression that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has become more anti-China after he had COVID-19.” The coronavirus first emerged in China late last year. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas expressed concern, tweeting: “It’s not just a matter of the President’s personal health; it’s a matter of national security. This virus has claimed over 200k American lives in 6 months.”If @realdonaldtrump tests positive for COVID-19, the White House needs to be honest with the American people. It’s not just a matter of the President’s personal health; it’s a matter of national security. This virus has claimed over 200k American lives in 6 months.— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) October 2, 2020More than 7.2 million people in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first foreign leaders to send well wishes to the Trumps. Modi said on Twitter, “Wishing my friend @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS a quick recovery and good health.”
Wishing my friend @POTUS@realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS a quick recovery and good health. https://t.co/f3AOOHLpaQ— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 2, 2020That sentiment was echoed by some of the president’s fiercest critics.“We sincerely pray the President& the First Lady do not have the worst of this disease,” American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said on Twitter. “We must all pray for the full recovery of the President& his wife. For whatever religious or political persuasion you may be, we must all pray as millions of people are affected by this disease.”We sincerely pray the President& the First Lady do not have the worst of this disease.We must all pray for the full recovery of the President& his wife.For whatever religious or political persuasion you may be, we must all pray as millions of people are affected by this disease.— Rev Jesse Jackson Sr (@RevJJackson) October 2, 2020More Reaction from World LeadersI wish a speedy recovery to U.S. President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS Melania Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19.I sincerely hope that they will overcome the quarantine period without problems and regain their health as soon as possible.— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) October 2, 2020From IsraelLike millions of Israelis, Sara and I are thinking of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and wish our friends a full and speedy recovery. https://t.co/UcxQpsxBLE— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) October 2, 2020From WHO chief My best wishes to President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS for a full and speedy recovery. https://t.co/6OUZT20huK— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 2, 2020
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New research suggests that the collision of space objects that created Earth’s moon may have robbed it of 10% to 60% of its original atmosphere. Most scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago when Earth was still developing, a massive object the size of Mars hit the planet, sending vaporized particles from the collision into space, which were then bound together through gravity to form Earth’s moon. The so-called “impact hypothesis” is one of three key theories of the moon’s formation. The others suggest the moon was either formed at the same time as Earth, or that it was captured by Earth’s gravitational field as it traveled through space. In the new study published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers focused on the impact theory, and ran more than 300 computer simulations of massive object collisions with rocky planets with thin atmospheres like Earth. The scientists factored in the angle at which the objects hit the planet, the speed of the impact, as well as the size and mass of the colliding object. FILE – This image, called “Earthrise,” is the first photograph of a distant blue Earth above the moon, taken by the Apollo 8 crew on Dec. 24, 1968.Previous research suggested impact collisions during the late stages of a planet’s formation period can affect its atmosphere. Expanding on this idea, the simulations in this study revealed that a collision like the one that could have created the moon would have cost the Earth a significant portion of its atmosphere. Lead researcher on the study, Durham University cosmologist Jacob Kegerreis, said that while the computer simulations do not directly explain how the moon was created, “the effects on the Earth’s atmosphere could be used to narrow down the different ways it might have been formed.” Kegerreis said the study also shows a new way to study how similar collisions lead to loss of atmosphere on young, rocky planets. Or, he said, the study also suggests such collisions could lead to significant atmospheric gains if the colliding object also has a thick atmosphere.
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