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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Engineers from La Sabana University demonstrate low-cost ventilators for patients with COVID-19 in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, July 6, 2020. The machine called the Heron looks like many other ventilators used to treat COVID-19 patients, but this device costs about $4,000, a fifth of the price of ventilators imported from China, and it's made in Colombia, where some hospitals have been overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Trump ventilator production order creates surplus

The U.S. has donated more than 4,500 ventilators to 27 countries through its global aid agency as part of President Trump's push to make America the "king of ventilators" after a crush of springtime COVID-19 cases led to fears of catastrophic shortages.

September 6, 2020
In this July 20, 2019, file photo, Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking to a crowd during a political protest in Moscow, Russia. Attempts over the years to silence Navalny have all failed so far. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Trump: Still looking into Navalny poison case

President Trump said Friday he's tough on Russia but he's still gathering information on what happened to Alexei Navalny, a key opponent of President Vladimir Putin who's reportedly been poisoned.

September 4, 2020
In this Monday, July 27, 2020, photo, a nurse prepares a shot as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., gets underway in Binghamton, N.Y. On Sept. 4, 2020, President Trump said he was looking forward to preliminary numbers from a vaccine trial coming out in late October. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink) **FILE**

Trump says vaccine data could be in by October

President Trump said Friday the nation is "rounding the corner" on the coronavirus that's killed over 187,000 in the U.S. and he expects to see results of late-stage vaccine trials as soon as next month.

September 4, 2020
In this Thursday, June 11, 2009 file photo, the logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. An independent panel appointed by the World Health Organization to review the U.N. health agency’s coordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic said on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020 it would have full access to any internal U.N. agency documents, materials and emails necessary as the group begins their probe. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, file)  **FILE**

Panel set up to probe WHO response to coronavirus

An independent panel appointed to review the World Health Organization's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic named its members Thursday and said it will have free rein to examine the body's files and ask "hard questions" about the response.

September 3, 2020
In this Feb. 24, 2020, photo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), addresses a press conference about the update on COVID-19 at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP) ** FILE **

Trump administration takes steps to untether from WHO

The Trump administration said Wednesday it will reprogram the $62 million in "annual dues" it owes the World Health Organization to pay other United Nations assessments, as it seeks to satisfy the terms of its year-long exit from the global public-health body.

September 2, 2020
Teachers and staff welcome back students to Bissonet Plaza Elementary in the Jefferson Parish Public School District for in-person classes with coronavirus restrictions including temperature checks and masks in Metairie, La. Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (Max Becherer/The Advocate via AP)

U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 180,000 amid setbacks, silver linings

The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. has hit a once-unthinkable 180,000, school reopenings are a struggle and the economy is still a mess, but there is good news to be found: Daily cases are steadily declining and a lower percentage of tests are coming back positive.

August 31, 2020
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE **

Pro-Trump cops: Joe Biden would ‘sit by’ amid riots

The Trump campaign and its law enforcement surrogates accused former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Monday of being an "apologist" who refuses to condemn rioting and will be "led around by the nose" by leftist activists and undercut police who must grapple with the mayhem.

August 31, 2020
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence greet supporters on the third day of the Republican National Convention at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

RNC coronavirus message a stark contrast to DNC

People who watched the Republican and Democratic national conventions a mere week apart could be forgiven for thinking they lived in two different countries, each with its own reality.

August 27, 2020