A Russian fighter jet buzzed a US aircraft by flying

A Russian fighter jet buzzed a US aircraft by flying an ‘inverted maneuver’ just 25 feet in front of it

(Source Business Insider)

The US Navy said on Wednesday that one of its aircraft was intercepted by a Russian jet while flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea.

The US Navy P-8A Poseidon, an anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare aircraft, was flying over the over the Mediterranean Sea when it was approached by a Russian SU-35 fighter jet, according to US Naval Forces Europe-Africa.

“The interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the SU-35 conducting a high-speed, inverted maneuver, 25 [feet] directly in front of the mission aircraft, which put our pilots and crew at risk,” the Navy said in a statement. The crew of the P-8A Poseidon was said to have experienced “wake turbulence” during the 42-minute encounter.

Coronavirus and the U.S. health insurance system is ‘a recipe for disaster’

Coronavirus and the U.S. health insurance system is ‘a recipe for disaster’ (Source Yahoo Finance)

A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 3.5 million workers likely lost their employer-provided health insurance as a result of coronavirus layoffs between March 23 and April 2. 49% of Americans receive insurance through their employer. “The danger is that if there isn’t a concerted effort to address the health care costs, we could see continued growth of uninsured Americans and small and large businesses dropping out of operating health coverage,” Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, the state’s health care marketplace, told Yahoo Finance. “That could mean in future years that we’re less ready for the next epidemic or more Americans are showing up in emergency rooms without insurance. That’s a recipe for disaster.” In a letter to lawmakers, a group of insurance associations explained that the health insurance industry couldn’t handle such an influx of new members and potentially having to cover their health care costs, especially for coronavirus.

“Insurance coverage works by spreading risk, but that model simply cannot account for a situation in which losses are catastrophic and nearly universal,” the letter stated. “Standard business interruption policies do not, and were not designed to, provide coverage against communicable diseases such as COVID-19, and as such, were not actuarially priced to do so.” According to an actuarial brief from Covered California, premiums for 2021 could increase from anywhere between 4% to more than 40% as a result of COVID-19. “What we pay in premiums is basically the cost of the people who are involved in the plans, their health spending in the year, plus the fee for administration and profit,” Rae said. “When you spend more in one year, that has a bearing on premiums the next year. if we spend a lot of money this year, that money comes from somewhere. Insurers collect that money through higher premiums.” The overall costs for coronavirus testing, treatment, and care is projected to cost in the national commercial market range from $34 billion to $251 billion. “These costs are costs that will be borne by families, by small businesses, by large businesses, and by state and local governments,” Covered California’s Lee said. We need to figure out how to address these issues head on, so we don’t have continued ripple effects in future years that aren’t near ripples, but could be economic tsunamis.

5 million more unemployment claims expected, but layoffs are now broader and could be more permanent

5 million more unemployment claims expected, but layoffs are now broader and could be more permanent (Source cnbc.com)

Another 5 million workers are expected to have filed new unemployment claims last week, reflecting a larger swath of the country now under shutdown orders because of the coronavirus. Economists estimate anywhere from 10 million to 20 million will show up in the monthly employment report as lost jobs. “In the first wave you saw the first hit was to service workers,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. “Leisure was really large but retail is going to be big in the next wave … all the hundreds of thousands of retailers put workers on furlough.” She said more manufacturing workers will also show up, as auto plants shut down production and related industries will also scale back. In the retail sector itself, Macy’s, which employed 130,000, said it was moving to an absolute minimum of workers needed to keep its basic operations going. Gap also said it was furloughing the majority of its workers in the U.S. and Canada, or roughly 80,000. Nordstrom, L Brands, Urban Outfitters and Ascena were among the many retailers to announce they were furloughing workers. In addition, thousands of small, independent shops across America have shut down.

“IMMUNITY CERTIFICATES” ARE COMING – COVID-SURVIVORS TO GET ‘SPECIAL PASSPORTS’ ENABLING RETURN TO ‘NORMALCY’

“IMMUNITY CERTIFICATES” ARE COMING – COVID-SURVIVORS TO GET ‘SPECIAL PASSPORTS’ ENABLING RETURN TO ‘NORMALCY’

(Source Zero Hedge)

One could imagine a world in the next few months where everyone is tested and all but the immune-compromised go back to a socially distanced but more normal life. We wear bracelets or carry a phone certificate which indicate our status, and track infections where they emerge. The rollout of immunity certificates across the world will likely be government-issued to first responders and citizens who have developed resistance to COVID-19. People who have contracted the virus and have recovered, normally develop antibodies to fight the virus, could be their golden ticket to escape regions that have strict social distancing measures and or lockdowns. Just imagine, immunity certificates granted by governments to people who have recovered or have developed resistance to the virus could be considered special passports that will allow them to freely travel across states, countries, and or the world — while everyone else remains hunkered down in their homes or doomsday bunkers. Some of the first talks of this has originated in the UK. The government could roll out immunity passports to Britons who have already contracted and recovered from the virus so they can reenter the economy, reported The New York Times.

“(An immunity certificate) is an important thing that we will be doing and are looking at but it’s too early in the science of the immunity that comes from having had the disease,” health minister Matt Hancock said at a Downing Street press conference.

NETANYAHU ANNOUNCES FULL LOCKDOWN OF ISRAEL AHEAD OF PASSOVER

NETANYAHU ANNOUNCES FULL LOCKDOWN OF ISRAEL AHEAD OF PASSOVER

(Source Zero Hedge)

Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the entire country will enter complete lockdown starting 4 pm on Tuesday until 7am Friday. This will also include a mandated home-confinement for all citizens from Wednesday׳s Passover Seder until 7am on Thursday, with citizens only allowed to venture outside up to 100 meters from their home during that time. All travel between cities will be banned, which appears to have already begun to be enforced by police. Netanyahu further indicated some restrictions will remain in effect for the full holiday week, with some likely to be lifted gradually following the Passover holiday. It’s being interpreted as a controversial move to prevent families from traveling to gather for Passover.

Coronavirus fallout: One-third of Americans missed rent payments in April

Coronavirus fallout: One-third of Americans missed rent payments in April (Source Yahoo Finance)

As the novel coronavirus slows the U.S. economy, many renters — now unemployed — wondered how they would pay April rent. New data shows that one-third of Americans did not pay April rent before the due date. As the novel coronavirus pandemic causes mass layoffs and financial disruption, 31% of U.S. renters did not pay April rent on time, up from 19% a month earlier and 18% in April 2019, according to a new report by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) based on 13.4 million rentals. Among U.S. renters, only 69% paid April rent on time.

“I started worrying when restaurants and public spaces started shutting down. I know it was necessary, but, man, it’s painful… When our tenants started getting laid off, I knew we had a huge problem,” said Granger MacDonald, a Kerrville, Texas landlord with over 4,500 units.

Renters are particularly exposed to financial risk during the pandemic. Renters tend to have lower income and less stable jobs than homeowners, contributing to some 35% who have lost income due to COVID-19, according to a March 31 survey of 500 renters by St. Louis-based listing website Clever. Forty-five percent of renters do not have enough savings to cover rent payment for a single month.

US F-22 stealth fighter jets intercept Russian patrol aircraft near Alaska (Source dailymail.co.uk)

US F-22 fighter jets have intercepted two Russian IL-38 aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, as officials say ‘they wanted to see if we are able to react’ amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

The US Air Force jets, supported by a KC-135 Stratotanker and E-3 AWACS aircraft, made the interception on Wednesday in the Bering Sea. The Russian aircraft were spotted north of the Aleutian Islands and did not enter United States or Canadian sovereign airspace, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). ‘This is the latest of several occasions in the past month in which we have intercepted Russian aircraft operating near Alaska and the approaches to our nations.

When Saudi Arabia takes a bone saw to US shale industry, we may see oil at $10 a barrel

When Saudi Arabia takes a bone saw to US shale industry, we may see oil at $10 a barrel

(Source rt.com)

While the world was looking the other way at the Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia used the diversion to flood the oil market and push the US shale industry’s head under. It’s now going to hold it there until the twitching stops. Every country requires highly functioning energy markets to ensure its survival as well as to foster economic stability, which enables organic growth in productivity. Unfortunately, since mid-February, all of the global financial and energy markets have been rocked by unprecedented volatility. 

Even if the Saudis agreed to an OPEC+ deal on production rates, it would aim to keep oil prices in the low 30s or lower in an effort to explode the over-leveraged US shale bubble. Many investors believe that Saudi Arabia was waiting for a strategic opportunity, such as a recession, before pushing prices lower and making the highly leveraged US shale producers vulnerable and force them into bankruptcy.

Why did the Saudis want to do this? The US reportedly produced a new record high of 12.23 million barrels of crude per day in 2019. That’s billions of dollars that provide Saudi Arabia with billions of reasons to bankrupt the US’ shale business. Less competition means more money in Saudi pockets. Then Covid-19 gave the Saudis the recession they’ve been waiting for. My bet: oil prices are staying in the $20 range or lower until the US’ over-leveraged shale industry goes bust.

Will Coronavirus Wreck the EU?

Will Coronavirus Wreck the EU?

(Source thetrumpet.com)

Many Bible passages describe a world power that rises and falls repeatedly. Revelation 17 portrays this power as a beast, symbolic of an empire. This beast is led by a church, which the Bible symbolizes as a woman. The prophecies refer to the repeated attempts to raise up the ruins of the Roman Empire in Europe, to re-create a power that unites a substantial portion of the Continent under one empire. “There is going to be a resurrection of that old Roman Empire. Not very many people believe it because people have gotten completely beyond really believing the Bible means what it says.

Revelation 17 describes this beast as having 10 horns. It explains that “the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (verses 12-13). This is a united European superstate, ruled by kings, not elected representatives, and united under one overall strongman. This is exactly the direction the coronavirus crisis—just like earlier crises—is driving Europe.  Currently the EU has 27 nations; 19 in the eurozone. Only a major crisis will reduce that number. When that happens, the pundits will say European unification is dead, that the European Union has failed. Don’t listen to them!”

Throughout Europe’s history, what has helped it to overcome its division has been a unity of purpose between church and state. Charlemagne showed how strong Europe could be when he formed a partnership between Germany and the Roman Catholic Church to create the Holy Roman Empire. That empire has risen up repeatedly since that time.

“But this church-state union hasn’t always been a happy marriage. Usually the two have been drawn together because of a crisis—an emergency. “Crises are developing that could lead to this ‘emergency’ that will cause Europe to look to a newly strengthened Germany and end up bringing church and state together. Coronavirus portends future crises certain to push Europe closer to becoming the power pictured in the Bible. Continue to watch. Not only because the Bible prophesies that this growing superpower will directly affect your life, but also for an even more important reason. When you watch as the detailed prophecies of your Bible are proved true in daily news headlines, you will realize that the Bible truly is inspired by God, a book you can rely on in every detail and every circumstance.

‘Above-average’ hurricane season predicted this year, top experts

‘Above-average’ hurricane season predicted this year, top experts say

(Source usatoday.com)

After yet another destructive hurricane season in 2019, top hurricane forecasters from Colorado State University on Thursday said we can expect major activity again this year.

“We anticipate that the 2020 Atlantic basin hurricane season will have above-normal activity,” the forecast said. In addition, there is an “above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States.” 

The season begins June 1.

Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University – among the nation’s top seasonal hurricane forecasters – predict 16 named tropical storms will form, eight of which will become hurricanes.

An average season has 12 tropical storms, six of which are hurricanes.

A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its wind speed reaches 74 mph. 

Of the eight predicted hurricanes, four are expected to spin into major hurricanes – Category 3, 4 or 5 – with sustained wind speeds of 111 mph or greater. The group said there’s a 69% chance for at least one major hurricane to make landfall somewhere along the U.S. coastline.

Chinese Team and Equipment Arrive in UK to Support Virus Fight

Chinese Team and Equipment Arrive in UK to Support Virus Fight

(Source chinadaily.com)

China sent an expert team and a large shipment of medical equipment to the United Kingdom on Saturday to help in the fight against COVID-19.

The team, sent from East China’ Shandong province, comprises 15 experts and doctors who are specialists in disease control, traditional Chinese and Western medicine, psychology, nursing, and other fields.

In addition to conducting epidemiological investigation and epidemic prevention education in the UK, they will also participate in disease prevention and treatment work.

They brought with them up to 17.5 tons of medical supplies, including traditional Chinese medicine, personal protective equipment, epidemic prevention educational materials, and other equipment.

Liu Jiayi, Party chief of Shandong, went to the airport to see the team off and expressed thanks on behalf the provincial Party committee and the provincial government.

He said the team will introduce epidemic prevention and control knowledge and experience to people in the UK, especially Chinese overseas students, workers at Chinese-funded institutions and enterprises, and other overseas Chinese people.

He said the team also aims to “guide (people) to do scientific personal protection, ease tension and anxiety, and let them feel the warmth of their motherland and the care of the people in their motherland”.

During an online conversation with the British Chamber of Commerce in China on Tuesday, Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the UK, said China encourages collaboration between business, research institutions, and colleges from both nations on vaccine and drug development to fight against the disease.

“China and the UK are standing together,” he said. “I firmly believe that the relationship between our two countries will emerge even stronger, and the friendship between our peoples will emerge deeper after we win this battle against the virus.”