Jul 8, 2018

NATO ambassador: Russia is "trying to flip many of our allies"

Axios

Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told Dana Perino on Fox News Sunday that she thinks "Russia is trying to flip Turkey," adding, "They're trying to flip many of our allies. They want to destabilize the strongest defense alliance in the history of the world."

The backdrop: U.S. allies are concerned that President Trump — who has been critical of NATO — will slam NATO members at the group's July 11-12 summit in Brussels, then lavish praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Helsinki just days later.

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Axios

Situational awareness

Photo: BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images

Catch up on today's biggest news:

  1. CDC warns it's anticipating spread of the coronavirus in the U.S.
  2. SCOTUS rules that family of Mexican teen killed by border agent cannot sue
  3. Tokyo Olympics "looking at a cancellation" if coronavirus not contained by late May
  4. Mike Bloomberg's partner brushes off NDA concerns
  5. Trump acknowledges lists of disloyal government officials to oust
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Axios

Coronavirus spreads to new countries, while U.S. confirms 57 cases

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

Public health officials confirmed Tuesday the U.S. has 57 people with the novel coronavirus, mostly those repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship — an increase they had expected after the passengers were allowed to return home from Japan against their initial advice.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,700 people and infected more than 80,000 others, mostly in mainland China. There's only been two cases of person-to-person infections in the U.S. so far, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned today that Americans should prepare for the outbreak to broaden here.

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Space tourism gets ready for launch

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Multiple space tourism companies are aiming to send their first customers to the edge of space before the end of this year.

Why it matters: Right now, most revenue in the space industry is tied up in government contracts, but experts say the maturing industry will need tourism to grow into the $1 trillion economy some predict it could be.

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