..."It's better to die standing than to live on your knees," he said, rinkside in full hockey gear, in an interview with state television. "This is a fridge, this is healthy, there is nothing better than sport, especially ice which is the real anti-viral medicine."

Belarus has officially reported 94 cases of coronavirus -- and no deaths -- but Lukashenko's critics have cast doubt on those statistics, warning that authorities there could be downplaying the numbers as the country gears up for a presidential election later this year.

Lukashenko has made his own recommendations to combat the virus, suggesting that Belarusians should drink vodka to "poison the virus," or attend a banya...

..."I liked his recent statements very much," Lukashenko said of Trump, during a visit to a plaster plant last week, according to an official transcript. "He said, 'If we do not immediately return to enterprises and start working, then much more Americans will die from unemployment than from coronavirus.' Now you understand why I didn't close the factories."...

..."It's better to die standing than to live on your knees," he said, rinkside in full hockey gear, in an interview with state television. "This is a fridge, this is healthy, there is nothing better than sport, especially ice which is the real anti-viral medicine."

Belarus has officially reported 94 cases of coronavirus -- and no deaths -- but Lukashenko's critics have cast doubt on those statistics, warning that authorities there could be downplaying the numbers as the country gears up for a presidential election later this year.

Lukashenko has made his own recommendations to combat the virus, suggesting that Belarusians should drink vodka to "poison the virus," or attend a banya...

..."I liked his recent statements very much," Lukashenko said of Trump, during a visit to a plaster plant last week, according to an official transcript. "He said, 'If we do not immediately return to enterprises and start working, then much more Americans will die from unemployment than from coronavirus.' Now you understand why I didn't close the factories."...

Now this is some funny shit: Which Pathogen Wore It Better?

On days like today you have but to open an old copy of Private Eye.

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to multiply, many Americans are emptying store shelves of hand sanitizer, bleach, and canned goods. But there’s an acute fear among Asian-Americans that the virus’s origins in China will spark a violent xenophobic backlash. Along the West Coast, where the worst outbreaks of coronavirus in the United States have occurred, those fears seem to be spurring a surge in gun sales.

“People are panicking because they don’t feel secure,” said David Liu, who is Chinese-American and owns Arcadia Firearm and Safety, just east of Los Angeles. “They worry about a riot or maybe that people will start to target the Chinese.”...

...As The Los Angeles Times has reported, since the first novel coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, Asian-Americans have experienced intensifying venom, including bullying, racist comments, and harassment. And, on February 24, a man of East Asian descent was assaulted in central London. One of the assailants reportedly said, “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.”

“The main thing I’m hearing is that they don’t want to get jumped because of their race,” said Cole Gaughran, the internet sales manager at Wade’s Eastside Guns in Bellevue, Washington. Gaughran said his store has seen a sixfold increase in sales in the same two weeks. His new customers, most of them first-time gun owners, were almost entirely of Asian descent, he said. Bellevue is just a 15 minute drive from Kirkland, where 11 people have died from the virus...