| 'They know how to keep people alive': Why China's coronavirus response is better than you think Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:17 PM PDT  China has become a popular scapegoat for the coronavirus pandemic. But there are many lessons to be learned from how Beijing has responded to the disease, according to the top World Health Organization epidemiologist working on the coronavirus response there.
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| Pregnant teen falls from Texas border wall and dies as migrants take more risks to cross Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:21 AM PDT  A 19-year-old pregnant Guatemalan who fell attempting to scale the border barrier near El Paso has died. Her fetus did not survive.
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| Burial pits from Iran's coronavirus outbreak have grown so large you can see them from space Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  Along with China and Italy, Iran has been hit especially hard by coronavirus. Burial pits have grown so fast in Qom, Iran, they're visible from space,
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| Chinese official suggests U.S. Army to blame for outbreak Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:50 AM PDT  "It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan," tweeted Zhao Lijian. "Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!"
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| Coronavirus: Pelosi and Trump reach deal on testing and paid leave package Posted: 13 Mar 2020 11:22 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has reached a deal with the White House to pass legislation that provides free testing for coronavirus testing, including uninsured people, as well as paid sick leave and family leave for up to three months.In a statement, she said: "This legislation is about testing, testing, testing. To stop the spread of the virus, we have secured free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test, including the uninsured. We cannot fight coronavirus effectively unless everyone in our country who needs to be tested can get their test free of charge."
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| Italy's coronavirus deaths surge as Lombardy seeks tougher curbs Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:33 AM PDT  The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has jumped by 250 in the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase ever recorded by any country, as the worst-affected Lombardy region asked for a complete shutdown of factories and offices. The government this week imposed drastic curbs nationwide, shutting bars, restaurants and most shops, and banning non-essential travel in an effort to halt the worst outbreak of the disease outside China. The measures so far show no sign of slowing the number of deaths, which rose by 25% in a day to 1,266, the head of the Civil Protection Agency said on Friday.
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| Muslims still feel unsafe a year after New Zealand massacre Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:07 PM PDT  Aliya Danzeisen rises before dawn every day to hear the news so she can prepare her school-age daughters for any harassment they may face for being Muslim. "We don't feel any safer," the Muslim community leader says, reflecting on the 12 months since the Christchurch mosque attacks, in which a self-declared white supremacist killed 51 Muslims at Friday prayers. The abuse experienced prior to the attacks on March 15 last year died down immediately after the killings, Danzeisen said, adding: "It felt the entire New Zealand population was rallying behind us."
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| Surprising Facts You Didn't Know About Pi Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:00 AM PDT |
| President Trump says he'll 'most likely' get tested for coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:32 PM PDT  President Trump said Friday afternoon that he would "most likely" be tested "fairly soon" for the coronavirus, reversing course from his administration's dismissal of the need to do so earlier in the week.
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| Last Disney cruise set to depart Orlando before company suspends all sailings Saturday Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:54 AM PDT  Disney Dream leaves Orlando on Friday for a 3-day cruise, the final sailing before Disney Cruise Line suspends operations through the end of March.
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| US general: 'fairly certain' North Korea has COVID-19 cases Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:58 AM PDT  The top American general in South Korea said Friday he is fairly certain North Korea has not been spared by the COVID-19 outbreak that began in neighboring China, although the North has not publicly confirmed a single case. Speaking by video-teleconference from his headquarters in South Korea, Army Gen. Robert Abrams told reporters at the Pentagon that the North had halted military training for a month — including a 24-day hiatus in military flying — but has since resumed. Earlier this week, North Korean state media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised his second live-fire artillery exercise in a week.
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| The first COVID-19 case originated on November 17, according to Chinese officials searching for 'patient zero' Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:19 AM PDT  It wasn't until late December that Chinese officials realized they had a new kind of virus on their hands.
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| U.S. sanctions 'severely hamper' Iran coronavirus fight, Rouhani says Posted: 14 Mar 2020 04:08 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani said Iran's fight against the coronavirus was being "severely hampered" by U.S. sanctions, as state television reported that the death toll from the illness rose on Saturday to 611, up nearly 100 from a day earlier. State media said Rouhani wrote to a number of world leaders, without naming them. "In (a) letter to counterparts @HassanRouhani informs how efforts to fight #COVID19 pandemic in Iran have been severely hampered by US sanctions, urging them to cease observing them," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
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| Court cites coronavirus in blocking Trump administration's food stamp cuts Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:08 AM PDT  Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia cited the coronavirus pandemic in her decision to suspend the rule from going into effect.
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| Utah bill forcing women to see baby on ultrasound before having abortion passes, despite walkout protest by female senators Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The entire female body of the Utah Senate staged a walkout in protest of an abortion bill mandating women to be shown the fetus on an ultrasound before being allowed to have the procedure.
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| Coronavirus: Quebec leader asks seniors to stay in, 'snowbirds' to fly back to Canada Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:03 PM PDT  Quebec's premier told seniors Saturday to stay home to avoid contracting the new coronavirus, and urged "snowbirds" -- retired Canadians who spend winters in sunny US states -- to fly back to Canada now. "If I were them, I'd come home as soon as possible," Legault also said about more than 300,000 Canadian "snowbirds" who live up to six months each year in the United States. As of 1300 GMT Saturday, said Health Canada, 193 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed in Canada, including one death.
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| Is coronavirus 'just a cold' or a reason to self-quarantine? Trump supporters seem split. Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:08 PM PDT  The worsening coronavirus outbreak has prompted some of Trump's allies and aides to self-quarantine — while other supporters continue to publicly minimize the risk.
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| Delta slashes flight capacity by 40%, parks 300 planes in deepest cuts in company history Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  Delta's move follows similar actions by United last week as airlines grapple with a sharp drop off in travel demand.
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| Russia closes land border with Poland and Norway to foreigners over coronavirus fears Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:44 AM PDT  The Russian government said on Saturday it was closing the country's land border with Poland and Norway to foreigners from midnight as a precautionary measure to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. It said the closure would apply to all foreigners passing through those border points for tourism, study, work or private visits. Russian authorities, who have already taken a slew of measures to cancel flights and trains, impose quarantine rules, and partially close Russia's long land border with China, said on Saturday they had registered 14 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
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| How the U.S. Can Stop the Surge of Deadly Rocket Attacks in Iraq Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Americans in Iraq are being killed by Islamic State terrorists and government-backed Shiite militias. Is there a better response than more missile strikes?
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| Philippine capital to impose night-time curfew over virus Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:39 AM PDT  Manila will impose a night-time curfew in the city of 12 million, officials said Saturday, as the Philippines steps up efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The measure takes effect Sunday along with President Rodrigo Duterte's order to seal off the capital from the rest of the country which has recorded 111 virus cases, including eight deaths. Mayors of Manila's 17 local government areas are also pushing for shopping malls -- a popular source of entertainment in the country -- to be temporarily shuttered.
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| Why Washington state is at the center of the US coronavirus outbreak Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:00 AM PDT  High numbers can be attributed in part to the fact that the state reported the first case in the US and jumpstarted testingOn Saturday, Alexandria, 22, was struggling to breathe, so she called 911 and was rushed to an isolation unit at a Seattle hospital.She had had a fever for days and was tested for the flu and strep throat, and given a chest X-ray. But, she said, the doctors told her she would not be tested for coronavirus because she hadn't traveled to China and was not in the at-risk age range.After being discharged with a diagnosis of a viral infection, with no recommendations about home isolation, she was escorted out of the hospital, where she waited on the street for her partner to pick her up.It took four days before another physician heard her symptoms, sent her in for coronavirus testing, and she was diagnosed positive.Since January, when Washington reported the first case of coronavirus in the US, the state has been the central focus of the American outbreak, documenting the most cases and deaths associated with the infection in the country. Its position in what has now been declared by the World Health Organization as a pandemic can be attributed to everything from individual missed opportunities for diagnosis and state funding gaps to restrictive federal guidelines for testing.But at the same time, those high numbers can also be attributed to the simple fact that the state diagnosed its first case before the rest of America and was forced to jumpstart its testing and surveillance response.Dr Scott Lindquist, the Washington state epidemiologist for communicable disease, explained that Washington is not at the country's center of this outbreak, but rather at the "leading edge"."We are leading the rest of the country," he said. "They are using all our experience… as they're finding the same amount of activity in their state."As of Thursday, state officials have confirmed 457 cases in Washington across 13 counties, including 31 deaths.Following guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), early testing in Washington was done through the CDC and limited to individuals who had symptoms and a travel history to China or contact with a known case. These guidelines have since broadened, allowing academic and corporate labs to conduct testing and healthcare providers to decide who is eligible for the test.Janet Baseman, the associate dean for the University of Washington's School of Public Health, said she doesn't think there's anything that could have been done differently at the state and local level, as officials were following the federal guidelines. But if there had been more people tested earlier it could have had an important impact on exposure."We would have found the cases earlier, and if we would have found the cases earlier, people who tested positive would have been able to take extra precautions to isolate themselves and to possibly keep other people from becoming exposed, thereby limiting transmission," she said.The University of Washington's virology lab was one of those spaces that was prepared early to contribute to additional testing. Keith Jerome, the head of the virology division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said developed a test that detects the virus and worked with the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through February to get approval to start testing.But the lab wasn't able to start until 2 March, after the FDA changed its policy to say labs that have validated tests could begin testing immediately.The University of Washington lab can currently handle about 1,000 samples a day, and by next week may be able to process as many as 4,000 samples. Jerome said they're working toward being able to test 10,000 samples a day, but also to simply get the word out that there are labs with plenty of capacity for testing.According to the CDC website, between 18 January and 10 March, the highest number of samples collected for testing in a single day was 404.Jerome said right now it's not a priority to look at how the situation should or could have been handled, since they need to focus on responding to the outbreak at hand. But, in the future, when officials do take a careful look at how the outbreak developed, he said it's very possible that they'll determine that more people should have been tested sooner.He said it's also possible they conclude that "we should have tapped into the tremendous expertise that certain academic laboratories have in this kind of thing. To kind of keep them out of the response in the early days may not have been the right decision."But the factor that may have truly solidified the state's central position in the outbreak of coronavirus in the US was when the infection struck an acute nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, on the outskirts of Seattle.Although most coronavirus infections cause mild symptoms, for people older than 60 years and those with chronic illness or weakened immune systems, it can cause more severe issues.Over the last three weeks, the facility has seen 13 people associated with the center be diagnosed with coronavirus and die. Originally home to 120 residents and 180 employees, the center has now seen those numbers drastically reduced, with 63 residents testing positive for the virus and 66 employees showing symptoms, according to a report released by the facility on Thursday.Washington state's health department said Saturday that 18 CDC employees had been at the facility, and they along with Seattle and King county public health have provided technical assistance to the center's staff. The department said it has also provided the facility with an infection control expert, and there is a team of clinicians on site from the US health and human services department.The state's health department has spent $3.4m on coronavirus response. Lawmakers are currently in the process of approving $200m to go toward fighting the outbreak.Lindquist said the public health system in Washington has been severely underfunded for years. If the funds they've requested in the past had been approved and in place at the start of this outbreak, they would have been more prepared to handle it.For example, during the 2019 legislative session, local health partners advocated for $100m in ongoing funding to support activities in such areas as communicable disease. The final budget included $22m in funding, according to the state health department."I think we would have had more people working here, so we could have processed things with the latest technology instead of having to upgrade as we're going along in this," he said. "We would have had enough machines to do this, we would have had enough staff to do this, we would have had enough epidemiologists to give help to the counties that were overly burdened."
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| Trump World Descended on Mar-a-Lago as It Became a Coronavirus Petri Dish Posted: 14 Mar 2020 02:15 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's treatment of the coronavirus pandemic gained a sense of urgency late last week, just as he was forced to grapple with a potential outbreak among his inner circle and at his favorite Florida club.Two individuals who tested positive at a party last Saturday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, and one more at a Republican fundraiser at the club the next morning, brought the reality of the pandemic right to Trump's doorstep. But the severity of the exposure may not be fully appreciated. Those present at the events, according to a Daily Beast scouring of public social media posts, included Trump family members, administration and campaign aides, donors, activists, at least one staffer for an allied U.S. senator, and some of the president's most prominent media boosters.The prospect of an outbreak amid the president's inner circle was a wake-up call for a president who was initially reluctant to acknowledge the potential scale of the pandemic and convinced that his enemies were inflating its dangers to damage him. On Friday, just hours after his doctor said Trump wouldn't need to be tested for coronavirus, he was, in fact, tested. The White House announced late Saturday that the test came back negative. That was about a week after Trump visited Mar-a-Lago with Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, who has self-quarantined and is awaiting the results of a coronavirus test. She reportedly has "flu-like" symptoms, which can resemble those of the virus.Reporters Hammer Trump on Coronavirus Testing: 'Are You Being Selfish?'The Mar-a-Lago event last Saturday night was a birthday party for Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News personality who now dates Donald Trump Jr. Mingling among the roster of Trumpworld luminaries were Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and a coterie of aides, two of whom would test positive for coronavirus in the subsequent days.A video taken during the party shows Trump and Vice President Mike Pence chatting with Bolsonaro and introducing him to various attendees, including Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson. Standing just feet from Trump and Pence is Fabio Wajngarten, one of the two infected Bolsonaro staffers. The other one, it turns out, was seated at Trump's table at the event.The president's doctor released a statement on Friday evening downplaying the risks of exposure—and saying neither a test nor a self quarantine were necessary at the time. That was a notable contrast from comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus task force's top medical expert, who said in an interview on Friday that "standing next to someone" with coronavirus would merit isolation.Indeed, some attendees at the Mar-a-Lago event who say they did not come nearly as close to a known coronavirus case as Trump did say they're taking precautions. Ivanka Trump, for instance, stayed home from work on Friday as a precautionary measure due to her apparent exposure. After College Republican National Committee chairman Rick Loughery attended, the CRNC announced it was canceling its annual conference in Washington."I was at the party but was not near anyone who has since been reported as infected," Doug Deason, a high-dollar Republican donor, told The Daily Beast in a text message. "None the less, I have scaled back my activities and am not going around elderly or sick family and friends."Any additional "self-quarantining" among attendees could sideline some key figures in the president's orbit. The guest list at Saturday's party was stacked. The Trump family was out in force, of course—not just Don Jr. and Ivanka, but also Jared Kushner, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Tiffany Trump."State Department represents," wrote Ric Grennell, the acting Director of National Intelligence, in an Instagram post noting attendance by him and State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. Trump campaign aide Katrina Pierson was there as well, as was RNC spokesperson Kayley McInerny. Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, made sure to snap a photo with Bolsonaro.Beyond Carlson, the Fox News personalities in attendance included Jeanine Pirro, Jesse Watters, and Gina Loudon. Turning Point USA chief Charlie Kirk was there, as was Republican fundraiser Caroline Wren, senior Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) aide Sergio Gor, and Christl Mahfouz, who owns the company that produces much of the Trump campaign's merchandise, including its iconic MAGA hats.Those were just some of the more prominent attendees of the roughly fifty that The Daily Beast was able to identify through social media posts. They're also some of the most prominent people in Donald Trump's orbit—and they routinely interact with others in the upper echelons of U.S. political power.Indeed, the night before the birthday party at Mar-a-Lago, Gor and two other attendees, New York publicist Susan Shin and Alabama socialite Danielle Yancey, had gone out to an Italian restaurant in Palm Beach. They were pictured there with, among others, Don Jr. adviser Arthur Schwartz and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who a couple days later would self-quarantine after coming into contact with another coronavirus carrier at the Conservative Political Action Conference."Isn't that Wuhan @repmattgaetz in the middle there?" Schwartz joked in an Instagram comment. Gaetz eventually tested negative for the virus.CPAC itself marked the first time that the coronavirus threatened to infect the president's inner circle—or even Trump himself. An attendee who interacted with a number of high-profile guests, including Gaetz and Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the nonprofit that hosts the annual conference, later tested positive for the virus.For CPAC and Schlapp in particular, it turned into a public relations dilemma. Publicly, Schlapp was toeing the administration line on the virus: fears were largely overblown, thanks mostly to a political press determined to damage the president. The possibility that high-profile attendees had been exposed to the virus would do a number to that narrative. So Schlapp was reduced to insisting that health officials in Maryland, where the conference took place, had "screened" about two thousand attendees, a claim that the hotel that hosted the conference disputed.Schlapp continues to insist that the hype over coronavirus at CPAC—and the possibility of widespread infection more generally—is overblown. But he also decided, as a precaution, not to attend mass this Sunday, he said on Twitter.Though he said he was taking precautions, Deason also maintains that the Trump administration is well equipped to keep the coronavirus under control, in spite of its detractors."Obviously, the POTUS didn't have enough resources to deal w/ this virus but ramped up quickly," he wrote. "He has done his best and all of us deplorables can see that. What the left coasts think is generally irrelevant since they have already been infected w/ Trump derangement syndrome, for which there is no known cure."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| 'We’re basing this on science': Ohio emerges as leader in U.S. coronavirus response Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Ohio's quick response to its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus was months in the making.
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| Comcast, Charter, Verizon, and dozens of other internet and phone providers have signed an FCC pledge to 'keep Americans connected' even if they can't pay during disruptions caused by coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:22 AM PDT  The pledge means that participating companies won't cut off your internet if you can't pay your bill, and late fees will be waived.
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| Wisconsin man who plowed truck into Girl Scout troop, killing 4, gets 54 years in prison Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:48 AM PDT  "You know it's been called a tragedy — that doesn't seem to be enough," said the judge who handed down 23-year-old Colten Treu's sentence.
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| Guatemala bans arrivals from U.S., Canada to fight coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:43 PM PDT  Guatemala will from Monday widen travel restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus, banning arrivals from the United States and Canada, President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday. "We are therefore announcing that everyone who arrives from Canada and the United States between now and midnight on Monday will be subject to quarantining," Giammattei said in a televised address. The president said he had also asked the Mexican government to halt deportations of migrants by land to Guatemala.
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| Sasse Rips Pelosi for Trying to Smuggle Hyde Amendment Loophole into Coronavirus Package Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:36 AM PDT  Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Democrats for reportedly trying to ensure federal funding for abortion as part of the coronavirus economic stimulus plan."While schools are closing and hospitals are gearing up, Speaker Pelosi is waging unnecessary culture wars. Speaker Pelosi should be fighting the coronavirus pandemic, not politicizing emergency funding by fighting against the bipartisan Hyde Amendment," Sasse told National Review in a statement. "We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood. Good grief."Pelosi attempted to secure a funding stream of up to $1 billion for reimbursing laboratory claims. According to White House officials who spoke with the Daily Caller, that provision would establish a precedent under which health claims for all procedures, including abortion, could be reimbursed with federal funds. That precedent would render the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding for abortion clinics, obsolete.Pelosi resisted efforts by Democrats to end the Hyde Amendment in recent months, with progressives being forced to abandon an attempt to "ensure" abortion coverage for people using federal health programs as part of a $190 billion budget bill passed in July."It is the law of the land right now, and I don't see that there's an opportunity to get rid of it with the current occupant of the White House and this U.S. Senate," Pelosi said at the time, adding that she does not support the Hyde Amendment herself.But Pelosi's tactics were seemingly confirmed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), who claimed in an interview on Fox News Thursday night that "right now we are hearing that some of the fights and some of the gridlock is because people are trying to put pro-life provisions into this."> .@AOC talking about the response to Coronavirus with @BretBaier pic.twitter.com/WcXWvI3g62> > -- Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 12, 2020Pelosi went back and forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Thursday, ultimately coming close to a deal, with the House set to vote on the package Friday after the Speaker reportedly dropped the matter."We've resolved most of our differences, and [for] those we haven't we'll continue the conversation, because there will obviously be other bills," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
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| Trump announces a national emergency, 'two very big words,' over the coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:10 PM PDT  President Trump has officially declared a national emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.Trump spoke in the Rose Garden on Friday afternoon and said he is declaring a national emergency after Bloomberg reported he would take this step in order to make more federal aid available for states and municipalities as they respond to the virus.After touting "what we've done compared to other areas of the world" to combat the coronavirus, Trump said he is "officially declaring a national emergency, two very big words," to open up access to up to $50 billion to states and localities. Vox explains that "the biggest impact of this declaration is that it will give states a boost in funding to address the need to pay more medical staff, bolster facilities, and treat patients." Trump had been facing pressure to take this step, but a report from Politico previously suggested he was reluctant to do so after downplaying the threat of the novel coronavirus. Trump during his news conference also announced a "new partnership with private sector to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus," saying Google would be developing a website that will "determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.""This will pass through, and we're going to be even stronger for it," Trump said of the pandemic. "We've learned a lot. A tremendous amount has been learned." More stories from theweek.com Trump just gave the worst speech of his presidency Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting the spread of coronavirus White House will extend Europe travel ban to Ireland, UK, considering domestic restrictions
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| ECB Rebuts Attacks as Visco Signals It Can Buy Italian Debt Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:52 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank signaled it's ready to buy more debt of nations such as Italy to calm mounting financial panic, and pushed back against political criticism of President Christine Lagarde's handling of the coronavirus crisis.A day after Lagarde sent Italian bonds into a tailspin and stirred memories of turmoil by saying the ECB's job isn't to rein in yields, her colleagues went on the counterattack. Italian Governing Council member Ignazio Visco told Bloomberg Television that officials can skew purchases toward the worst-hit countries -- such as his."We can frontload, we can concentrate on particular jurisdictions according to the circumstances," Visco said in the interview. "There is no question that if there are movements in the spreads caused by fears about the effects of coronavirus, this will make more difficult our provision of liquidity and the impetus we are giving to the economy."Italian bonds erased losses after Bloomberg's interview with Visco on the prospect of the ECB front loading purchases of Italian debt. The rate on 10-year bonds fell 18 basis points to 1.58% as of 11:41 a.m. in London, after earlier rising as much as 19 basis points."Yesterday Lagarde wasn't so clear about a possible ECB purchase of bonds, so the ECB is trying hard now to convince market that it stands ready," said Joost Beaumont, senior fixed-income strategist at ABN Amro. "Visco's remarks go in this direction and his clarification seems to be working."Surging bond spreads -- the difference between yields on debt of stressed nations and safer options such as Germany -- were a hallmark of the euro zone's 2012 debt crisis that almost broke up the currency bloc.The ECB's view is that the market misinterpreted Lagarde's comments, and that if spreads are driven by liquidity needs or a flight to safety, that's absolutely the central bank's job. Despite 2.6 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion) of asset purchases so far and hundreds of billions more to come, it doesn't see any imminent risk of breaching European Union law banning it from financing governments."We will not tolerate any risks to the smooth transmission of our monetary policy in all jurisdictions," ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane wrote in a blogpost. "We clearly stand ready to do more and adjust all of our instruments, if needed to ensure that the elevated spreads that we see in response to the acceleration of the spreading of the coronavirus do not undermine transmission."What Bloomberg's Economists Say"Lagarde didn't offer the broad-spectrum stimulus that financial markets may have wanted, but she's taken appropriate action to deal with the shock at hand. Her comments on spreads were ill-judged and have required a lot of subsequent clarification, but markets should take her advice -- don't "overinterpret" her."-Jamie Rush. Read his ECB INSIGHTLane added that officials will cut interest rates if needed. Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau declared earlier that the ECB will use all the flexibility it has to combat fragmentation in the euro area if necessary."We will use our full firepower, with maximum agility and all possible flexibility," Villeroy told France's Radio Classique. We can "buy more of certain country debt and less of others."Policy makers unexpectedly opted not to cut rates on Thursday, instead pledging to spend an extra 120 billion euros on quantitative easing by the end of the year. The ECB will also start a new program to make it easier for banks to support smaller companies hit by cashflow disruptions.In rare swipes at the central bank, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte both rebuked the decision. Macron said he didn't think it'll be enough, and Conte said the task of the ECB is "not hindering but facilitating."The ECB was so keen to roll back Lagarde's remarks, that it even included a rare addendum in its official transcript of its press conference, referring to comments she made afterward in an interview with CNBC.Spanish Governing Council member Pablo Hernandez de Cos said in an interview in Madrid that Lagarde was misinterpreted and is the best person to spearhead the crisis. "What do we need to focus on? On the clarification she gave afterward," he said.Still, the ECB has repeatedly said that it can't combat the virus impact alone, and governments need to do more. The mood may be shifting -- Germany pledged to spend whatever is needed to dull the economic impact of the coronavirus, while the European Commission said it's ready to give a green light to widespread fiscal stimulus if the situation deteriorates.German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday that his country would spend billions of euros to cushion the economy, and called the situation "very serious."Back in 2012, President Mario Draghi curbed the turmoil with his famous pledge to do "whatever it takes," and his subsequent emergency bond-buying program. That comment was so successful that the measure was never needed -- which only highlights the damage Lagarde wrought with her misstep."Markets have a way to force policy makers to the drawing board when they get it wrong so eventually we might see more support," said Antoine Bouvet, senior interest-rate strategist at ING Groep NV. "After yesterday's debacle, I think more purchases would be necessary to calm markets down."(Updates with European Commission announcement in 14th paragraph)\--With assistance from Greg Ritchie and Carolynn Look.To contact the reporters on this story: Francine Lacqua in London at flacqua@bloomberg.net;Paul Gordon in Frankfurt at pgordon6@bloomberg.net;Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net;William Shaw in London at wshaw20@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow, Craig StirlingFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| An elderly couple has sued Princess Cruise Lines for more than $1 million after being stuck on coronavirus-stricken ship near San Francisco, and their legal counsel says more lawsuits are on the way Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:53 PM PDT  The lawsuit claims gross negligence, in that Princess Cruises failed to adequately warn about the risk of coronavirus exposure on the Grand Princess.
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| Prosecutor Kim Foxx touts record as Smollett case engulfs Illinois primary Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:22 AM PDT  Foxx seeks a second term as three Democratic primary challengers seize on the Smollett case and a fractured relationship with police.
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| New Zealand, Australia tighten lockdown to combat coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:24 PM PDT  WELLINGTON/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - New Zealand on Saturday announced the world's tightest border controls to combat the spread of coronavirus, requiring all incoming travellers, including its own citizens, to self-isolate for two weeks starting midnight Sunday. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the extreme measures were needed to prevent the rapid spread of the virus. "Alongside Israel, and a small number of Pacific Islands who have effectively closed their border, this decision will mean New Zealand will have the widest ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world," Ardern said.
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| How Coronavirus Affects Older Adults Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:30 AM PDT |
| Trump disbanded pandemic unit that experts had praised Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:24 AM PDT  Public health and national security experts disagreed when President Trump said the coronavirus "came out of nowhere" and "blindsided the world."
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| House Republicans are reportedly 'skittish' about supporting coronavirus response package without Trump's support Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:51 AM PDT  House Republicans are wary of supporting a coronavirus aid package until President Trump gives his stamp of approval, Politico reported Friday. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said late Thursday that she and the White House are "near to an agreement" on an aid package to respond to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Republican lawmakers have backed away from initial support of a bipartisan bill, feeling "skittish" about the move until Trump voices support, says Politico.The package would require businesses to give employees up to 14 days of paid leave if they have to stay home with the new coronavirus, and reimburse companies through tax credits. It also has measures to boost paid family leave, unemployment benefits, and nutrition programs, while providing free coronavirus testing. Pelosi said she expected a vote on the deal on Friday, but Politico now says it's "stalled." While Democrats, who have the House majority, could pass the bill along party lines, it would likely hit a roadblock in the Senate, where the Republican majority may not bring the bill for a vote if it doesn't have Trump's approval. Trump publicly suggested a payroll tax cut as a response to the outbreak, but Politico reports "congressional leaders in both parties have been lukewarm to Trump's proposal at best." Several lawmakers, as well as Mnuchin, have said the package is as good as done, now that Pelosi has hammered out the details, but Trump tweeted on Friday to again push for payroll tax cuts, which are currently not a part of the bill, signaling he could oppose the package and spook Republicans away from an approving vote. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump just gave the worst speech of his presidency Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting the spread of coronavirus White House will extend Europe travel ban to Ireland, UK, considering domestic restrictions
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| Las Vegas is still loaded with tourists. Who's partying through the coronavirus pandemic? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 10:57 AM PDT  Fear and loathing in Las Vegas? Not among the tourists partying through the coronavirus pandemic.
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| China Launches a Fake News Campaign to Blame the U.S. for Coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:32 AM PDT  HONG KONG—Bombastic Chinese government officials are laying the groundwork to blame the United States for the global coronavirus pandemic, and in turn extricate the Chinese Communist Party from any blame. Trumpian rhetoric, it seems, has a clear mirror reflection on the other side of the globe. The American president calls the pandemic sweeping the globe "a foreign virus"? The Chinese are calling it an American one.Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry and face of the CCP, insinuated by tweet in both English and Chinese on Thursday that the United States is behind the the novel coronavirus outbreak in China: "CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!"The rant was inexplicably paired with a video clip from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield's testimony before Congress on Wednesday, subtitled in Chinese, about Americans who may have been misdiagnosed with the flu when they actually had COVID-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.Zhao's creeping escalation of rhetoric is the latest example of the Chinese Communist Party's attempt to shift blame after its officials bungled efforts to contain the virus at the onset of the outbreak. And who better than its key geopolitical foe—the United States—to be the scapegoat?The claim by Zhao was first seeded in late February, when Zhong Nanshan, a seasoned epidemiologist and pulmonologist who identified the SARS virus in 2003, said that the coronavirus "may not have originated in China" even though the first known cases were in the city of Wuhan and the majority of confirmed infections were there and in the rest of Hubei province.It didn't take long for state media and Chinese trolls to grab hold of Zhong's talking point, merging it with the crackpot theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon. Soon they were asking which nation has sophisticated biowarfare capabilities and can release its viral weapons to wipe out an unsuspecting population. The obvious conclusion, for them, was the United States.Simultaneously, on Chinese social networks like Weibo, hashtags for the "Japanese virus" and the "Iranian virus" helped shape the narrative that SARS-CoV-2 could be of foreign origin, and China merely got a raw deal. Now, the "Italian virus" tag is doing the same.Never mind that Chinese researchers, like Shi Zhengli, the "Bat Woman" virologist profiled by Scientific American, have conducted field research in China's rural areas to locate and identify dozens of lethal viruses that are similar to SARS and the coronavirus that is now infecting many around the world. They recognize that there are many more strains that could make the leap to humans, causing new viral outbreaks like the one China went through in the past three months.Like Trump, Zhao has a history of posting combative outbursts on Twitter, which is banned in China except for some of the party's officials. He is one of the first Chinese diplomats to register and run an official account on Twitter—and the first to weaponize his feed, rallying China's paid trolls through talking points spewed onto the social network. Last August, he was promoted from his post as deputy chief of mission in Pakistan to become deputy director of the Chinese foreign ministry's information department.That's all to say, in an age of post-truth misinformation and disinformation, Zhao is Beijing's vociferous master of spin. Other Chinese officials often echo his talking points online. There is little doubt that the CCP's ranks coordinate the content of their Twitter feeds.As new infection numbers taper off to mere dozens per day in China, the pandemic is politicized more than ever. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan this week in what was essentially a victory tour for the country's "war" against the virus. To prevent the embarrassing situation from the previous week, where residents shouted "It's all fake!" from their balconies when a CCP official staged a photo op, two police officers were stationed in every apartment near locations where Xi was set to appear.Right now, people in mainland China and Hong Kong are baffled by the current situations in Western Europe and the United States. There have been months of warnings from Asia, and thousands have died from COVID-19, yet all of that was insufficient for many nations in the West to prepare for the virus' landfall."If it were purely a financial crisis in Asia—an illness of capital," a venture investor said to me offhandedly this week, "institutions [in Europe and America] like banks and hedge funds would have reacted with no delay." But public health, she suggested, wasn't as much of a concern even in an era of globalization, when, normally, many millions of people are moved across continents each day.In the past three months, some of those who suffered in China thought their cases would be signals of a global threat. That their warning signs were mostly ignored may serve to feed Zhao's disinformation suggesting the U.S. is behind it all.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration suspended an 82-year-old road safety law for some truck drivers, showing how much coronavirus is pressuring retailers and hospitals to maintain cleaning and medical supplies Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:07 PM PDT  The hours-of-service regulations are some of truck drivers' most-hated laws, and some drivers won't have to follow them amid the national emergency.
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