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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of a new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA on Thursday, to treat patients who are infected with the novel coronavirus.  from FOX News https://ift.tt/3bOJbSm

Japan will formally decide as early as Monday whether to extend its nationwide state of emergency, said public broadcaster NHK, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned citizens to prepare for a "drawn-out battle" against the coronavirus. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2xkVwP8

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Answering Your Coronavirus Questions: COVID-19 And Kidneys, Masks And Pets On this broadcast of The National Conversation, a doctor answers your questions about pre-existing conditions. We'll also answer your questions about masks, pets and businesses reopening. Read more on NPR

Passengers Must Wear Masks On Major Airlines To Cut Spread Of Coronavirus American, Delta and United Airlines are joining JetBlue and Frontier in requiring face coverings amid growing pressure from Congress and their own employees. Read more on NPR

Without Federal Funding, Ohio Mayor Faces 'Very Painful' Cuts To Services Dayton, Ohio, is one of many U.S. cities facing financial struggles amid the pandemic. The city has already laid off 25% of its workforce, says Mayor Nan Whaley. Read more on NPR

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox . Mary Evans / Ronald Grant / Everett Collection The 1993 comedy Groundhog Day is an obvious echo of this moment: man lives the same day over and over, time becoming meaningless. Turns out, it’s actually a bit of a horror film . But, as our culture writer Megan Garber points out, mundanity isn’t the central torment—uncertainty is: When, oh when, will it all be over? If you’re living your own personal February 2 again and again, here’s a bit of advice for staying centered: Remember that the uncertainty isn’t all in your head . There really is a lot we don’t know about the virus and the crisis it has created.   Avoid a mental error that makes the not-knowing even worse . Many of us mistake uncertainty for risk, bingeing on information to try to ward off the threat. Inst...

Parks and Recreation has only been off the air for five years, but what a five years it has been. When the NBC sitcom about a tireless, obsessive, irrepressibly kind public servant— Amy Poehler ‘s Leslie Knope—and her beloved colleagues aired its finale, on February 24, 2015, America had a very different collective self-image. A global network of Ebola fighters had just won a tough, worrisome but nonetheless decisive battle against that deadly virus. After a devastating summer of police violence, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement at least seemed poised to effect positive change. As pop culture was making unprecedented strides in trans representation, an unstoppable queer rights movement was about to make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. Our first black President still had two years left in his second term, and Donald Trump was four months away from officially kicking off his campaign. The idea that the best way to represent a red state like Indiana—home to P...

The Australian government will meet on Friday to discuss how sport can restart as the number of new coronavirus cases dwindles and states begin to relax restrictions on social gatherings, two sources familiar with the details told Reuters. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2Smlc5g

Nearly 90% of U.S. House of Representatives members have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to increase its diplomatic action at the United Nations to renew an arms embargo on Iran, congressional sources said on Thursday. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3f8uGuM

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As White House economic reopening guidance expired on Thursday after two weeks in place, half of all U.S. states forged ahead with easing restrictions on restaurants, retail and other businesses in hopes of reviving coronavirus-stricken commerce. from Reuters: U.S. https://ift.tt/2xox27R

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday ruled against a Trump administration attempt to withhold millions of dollars from so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. from Reuters: U.S. https://ift.tt/3d5exEE

(WASHINGTON) — A sexual assault allegation is Joe Biden’s first big challenge as the Democrats’ presidential nominee, fueling Republican attacks and leaving many in his own party in an uncomfortable bind. Biden’s campaign has denied the allegation from his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, who has said Biden assaulted her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the 1990s. But the story garnered fresh attention this week after two of Reade’s associates said she previously told them about elements of her allegations. Republicans worried about President Donald Trump’s increasingly precarious political standing are seizing on the allegation to portray Democrats as hypocrites who only defend women who allege wrongdoing against conservatives. They are digging in despite the fact that it could renew attention on the multiple sexual assault allegations lodged against Trump. Democrats, meanwhile, are in an awkward position of vigorously validating women who come forwar...

Several senators reportedly wore bulletproof vests as armed demonstrators looked on from the gallery. from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2y4mOtH

Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, who created Afrobeat with Fela Kuti, dies in Paris aged 79, his manager says from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2KKI22i

On the latest episode of the Social Distance podcast, Tricia Hersey of the Nap Ministry joins James Hamblin and Katherine Wells to explain the importance of rest and how to get enough of it. Listen to their conversation here: Subscribe to Social Distance on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or another podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they’re published. What follows is an edited and condensed transcript of their conversation. Katherine Wells: Tricia, will you introduce yourself? Tricia Hersey: My name is Tricia Hersey, and I'm the founder of the Nap Ministry, which is an organization that examines the liberating power of rest. We name sleep deprivation as a racial and social-justice issue. This project came out of my own experiences with exhaustion. Wells: You have an undergraduate degree in public health, and you went to graduate school for divinity, so you're interested in both the science and spiritual aspects of rest, is that right? Hersey: Absolu...

A large crowd of Venezuelan migrants held up traffic on a Bogota highway on Wednesday, demanding to be allowed to leave Colombia and return to Venezuela. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2KM9oFu

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he believes China's handling of the coronavirus is proof that Beijing "will do anything they can" to make him lose his re-election bid. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3bPBRWH

China "resolutely opposes" any international inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic that presumes its guilt, said Yue Yucheng, a vice-foreign minister, in comments published on Thursday. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2xjqGXa

A coronavirus outbreak in Australia's remote southern island state of Tasmania likely originated from the Ruby Princess cruise ship, a government report published on Thursday concluded, as the national death toll rose to 91. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2Wcfu7i