One of US President Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus raising concerns about the president’s exposure to the virus, reports CNN.
The member of the US Navy, the valet is one of a number of members of an elite military unit dedicated to the White House and often work closely with the President and the First family.
The CNN reports said Trump was upset when he was informed on Wednesday that the valet had tested positive. He was subsequently tested again, said CNN.
In a statement the White House confirmed CNN’s report and said: “ We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus has tested positive to coronavirus .
“The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and remain in great health.”
Valets assist the President and First Family with a variety of personal tasks and are responsible for the President’s food and beverage, not only in the West Wing but also travel with him when he’s on the road or out of the country.
The news of the valet’s infection comes as the global death toll from coronavirus has passed 267,000. There are more than 3.7 million known cases of infection but at least 3.8 million people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
In Australia, the death toll stands at 97 and there have been 6895 confirmed cases, of which more than 6000 have recovered
A framework for the further easing of restrictions is expected when national cabinet meets today. Policies for retail re-openings and larger gatherings of people are on the table
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It’s not been a good week for celebrity chef Pete Evans. Today, news surfaced that he had lost his $800,000 job as a My Kitchen Rules judge on Seven in the wake of the show tanking.
It comes on top of criticism directed at him earlier this week for promoting the coronavirus views of David Icke, the British conspiracy theorist previously accused of Holocaust denial and barred from entering Australia.
Evans, who has not responded this week to queries about his future, remains on his northern NSW farm.
The recently broadcast 11th season of MKR attracted about half the viewers the network was anticipating and had promised advertisers.
The official word on his future from within Seven was simply “nothing has been announced”.
The criticism of his Icke comments, reports The Guardian Australia today, came 11 days after the Therapeutic Goods Administration fined him $25,200 for spruiking a $15,000 light machine to fight coronavirus,
Evans urged his Instagram followers to watch a three-hour-long interview in which Icke simultaneously claims Covid-19 is “a fake pandemic with no virus” and links infections to 5G antenna installations.
Icke also compares Covid-19 distancing measures to “Nazi Germany fascism” in the interview that appears to have been recorded during the same week that Facebook and YouTube deleted his accounts for making claims about 5G and coronavirus.
Evans’s social media post prompted the Labor MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, to write to the chef on Thursday, warning him about Icke’s “long history of anti-Semitism” and cautioning him against promoting his views on social media.
In his Instagram post linking to the interview, Evans wrote: “Here is an alternative view, I would be keen to hear your thoughts on this video as to whether there is any validity in this man’s message, especially as there seems to be a lot of conflicting messages coming out of the mainstream these days.
“What is the truth? I personally loved the last 30 minutes talking about heart frequency and LOVE,” Evans told his 231,000 followers.
Burns, the federal Labor MP for the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, cautioned the chef against using his public platform to promote Icke and his “abhorrent” views.
In 2019, Burns and several Jewish community leaders campaigned for the government to revoke Icke’s visa, which it ultimately rescinded hours before he was due to board a plane to Australia for his speaking tour.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his Canadian singer partner Grimes can’t call their baby X Æ A-12 as California law bans symbols in names, according to reports.
The couple revealed the unusual name after announcing their baby news on social media this week.
But the couple may not be able to get their child’s chosen name registered after hitting a legal hitch, TMZ reports.
It is against the law in California – where the baby was born – to include numbers or symbols in a name, according to a supervisor at the Department of Public Health Vital Records Office in Los Angeles.
The law states names must only include the 26 letters of the English alphabet.
On Tuesday the singer explained the meaning behind her son’s unusual name, which includes references to the couple’s “favourite aircraft” and the elven (J.R.R. Tolkien) spelling of AI in reference to artificial intelligence and the Mandarin word for “love”.
Grimes tweeted a detailed breakdown of each of the characters in her son’s name, but Musk replied correcting the name of the aircraft, which the singer had referred to as “SR-17”.
Musk wrote: “SR-71, but yes”, to which Grimes replied: “I am recovering from surgery and barely alive so may my typos be forgiven but, damnit. That was meant to be profound [sic].”
The Tesla CEO replied: “U r a powerful [sic]” alongside an emoji of a fairy and one of a princess, to which Grimes wrote: “Haha E”.
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