| Can Democrats turn Texas blue? Posted: 07 Mar 2020 10:06 AM PST  Republicans have carried Texas in every presidential contest since 1980, often by substantial margins. Both houses of the state legislature have been red for nearly 20 years. Despite all that, Democrats have eyed Texas as a possible game changer for a long time. As the second most populous state, Texas carries an Electoral College payload that could fundamentally shift the balance of presidential power.
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| Bernie Sanders Feels Joe Biden Is ‘Up to the Task’ of the ‘Rigors’ of Being President Posted: 08 Mar 2020 07:20 AM PDT  In the wake of many of his supporters and progressives openly questioning the cognitive capabilities of former Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said on Sunday that he doesn't make "personal attacks" on Biden while waving off concerns that the ex-veep isn't "up to the task" of being president.Appearing on CNN's State of the Union, the democratic-socialist Vermont senator was asked by anchor Jake Tapper about tweets his campaign staff sent over the weekend comparing Sanders' robust campaigning to Biden's lighter schedule."Bernie has three public events just today in two different states, each speaking engagement extending for close to an hour," Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir tweeted in response to a report that Biden spoke for just seven minutes at a Saturday rally in St. Louis.Why the Democratic Race Isn't Close to Over"Do you think that Vice President Biden is not up to the task in terms of the rigors of being either the Democratic nominee or being the president?" Tapper wondered aloud."No," Sanders responded. "No, I think what we're talking about is my schedule, which I just mentioned to you. By the way, we're in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and later this afternoon we'll hold a rally here."After noting that Rev. Jesse Jackson would be joining him on the trail and supporting his campaign, Sanders pointed out that he wouldn't be taking personal shots at his Democratic primary rival."But look, Joe Biden is a friend of mine and Joe and I have disagreements on the issues," Sanders added. "I do not make personal attacks on Joe."Earlier in the interview, Sanders also said that while he was the best candidate to win over Midwestern voters, such as in Michigan, he also felt that Biden could defeat Trump if the ex-veep became the nominee."I've been asked a million times and I believe Joe can beat Trump," Sanders said. "I believe if Joe is the candidate, I'll do everything I can to ensure that he does."In the wake of Biden leapfrogging Sanders as the Democratic frontrunner, many of the former vice president's critics on the left have openly begun suggesting that the 77-year-old candidate is suffering from cognitive decline."After disappearing for the week, this isn't a convincing response to growing concerns—first implied in the debates by Julian Castro, then raised by Cory Booker, today reported in @Politico—about Biden's cognitive decline," The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald tweeted on Saturday. "Soon he'll just appear by hologram, spouting phrases."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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| Iranian Lawmaker Dies of Coronavirus as Infections Spread Posted: 07 Mar 2020 07:10 AM PST |
| Two test positive for coronavirus at US conference attended by Pence Posted: 07 Mar 2020 05:02 AM PST  Two people have tested positive for the new coronavirus after taking part in a pro-Israel lobby group's conference in Washington which Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and dozens of lawmakers also attended. The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in an email to attendees, speakers and congressional offices that the infected pair had traveled from New York to go to the March 1-3 event. "We have confirmed that at least two Policy Conference attendees from New York have tested positive for the Coronavirus," AIPAC said in the message, posted to its Twitter account.
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| Coronavirus: Trump's top expert urges vulnerable elderly people to restrict travel and avoid crowds Posted: 08 Mar 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Donald Trump's top expert on coronavirus has warned elderly people with underlying health conditions to restrict their travel and avoid large gatherings.Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC's Meet the Press: "If you are an elderly person with an underlying condition, if you get infected, the risk of getting into trouble is considerable. So it's our responsibility to protect the vulnerable.
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| Nevada high court defends Tahoe bear activists' free speech Posted: 08 Mar 2020 08:12 AM PDT  Social media comments about protecting bears that were posted by Lake Tahoe activists referring to a longtime wildlife biologist as a murderer constitute "good faith communications" protected as free speech, the Nevada Supreme Court says. The recent opinion doesn't end a lawsuit filed in Washoe County District Court in Reno.
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| Italy has put 16 million people on lockdown to control the escalating coronavirus outbreak Posted: 08 Mar 2020 01:42 AM PST  Schools, museums, theaters, and swimming pools have been shut down in Lombardy and 14 other provinces. Italy has reported 5,883 cases of COVID-19 and 233 deaths so far.
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| Days After Rep. Matt Gaetz Wore a Gas Mask to Vote on COVID-19 Funding, the Virus Killed One of His Constituents Posted: 08 Mar 2020 11:50 AM PDT  Gaetz released a statement to say that he was 'extremely saddened' by the news
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| Taliban say parallel presidential ceremonies threatens progress on peace talks Posted: 08 Mar 2020 08:55 AM PDT  The Taliban militant group said peace talks with the Afghan government next week were unlikely to take place because rivals for the presidency were both holding swearing-in ceremonies on Monday, and urged them instead to focus on an end to the war. The United States is trying to push the government toward talks with the Taliban, due to start on begin on Tuesday, under an agreement signed in Doha last month. In February, Afghanistan's Electoral Commission announced incumbent Ashraf Ghani as the winner of September's presidential election, but his bitter rival Abdullah Abdullah said he and his allies had won and insisted that he would form a government.
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| Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson endorses Bernie Sanders Posted: 07 Mar 2020 05:18 PM PST  Jackson will appear alongside Sanders in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sunday.
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| Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses in China Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:25 AM PDT 
Rescuers searched through the rubble of a collapsed hotel in China on Sunday (March 8) that was being used to quarantine people under observation for the coronavirus. More than 70 people were believed to have been inside the seven-storey building in the city of Quanzhou, which collapsed on Saturday (March 7) evening. Dozens have been rescued but other remain trapped, and several have died. A rescue force of over 1,000 people including firefighters and police forces responded to the incident, authorities said. The cause of the collapse is not yet known, but the building's first floor had been under renovation, state media outlet Xinhua reported. It said the owner of the building has been summoned by police. The news comes as the spread of coronavirus continues to slow in China. The country's National Health Commission confirmed 44 new cases of the COVID-19 disease as of the end of March 7, down by more than half on the day before. Chinese cities are gradually relaxing quarantine measures put in place over a month ago while authorities keep a close watch in the spread of the virus overseas.
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| Saudi seals off Shiite region, halts travel over coronavirus Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:26 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Sunday cordoned off an oil-rich Shiite stronghold, suspended air and sea travel to nine countries and closed schools and universities, in a series of measures to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus. The lockdown on Qatif, an eastern area that is home to around 500,000 people, is the first action of its kind across the Gulf region, which has confirmed more than 230 coronavirus cases -- most of them people returning from religious pilgrimages to Shiite-majority Iran. Given the kingdom's 11 recorded cases of the new coronavirus are from Qatif, "it has been decided to temporarily suspend entry and exit" from the area, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
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| North Korea Launched Unidentified Projectile, South Korea Says Posted: 08 Mar 2020 04:24 PM PDT |
| Top health official to older Americans: ‘Don’t get on a cruise ship’ Posted: 08 Mar 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci offered stark advice.
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| Greek villagers enlisted to catch migrants at Turkey border Posted: 07 Mar 2020 03:16 AM PST  Over the years, villagers who live near Greece's border with Turkey got used to seeing small groups of people enter their country illegally. When Turkey started channeling thousands of people to Greece, insisting that its ancient regional rival and NATO ally receive them as refugees, the Greek government sealed the border and rushed police and military reinforcements to help hold back the flood. Greeks in the border region rallied behind the expanding border force, collecting provisions and offering any possible contribution to what is seen as a national effort to stop a Turkish-spurred incursion.
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| Televangelist ordered by New York attorney general to stop promoting ‘cure’ for coronavirus Posted: 08 Mar 2020 09:27 AM PDT  A Christian televangelist has been ordered by New York's attorney general to stop promoting a "cure" for the coronavirus to the public.The cease-and-desist letter was sent to the Jim Bakker Show after it had naturopathic doctor Sherrill Sellman as a guest on 12 February.
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| The (rare) travel upside to coronavirus? You might have a swankier plane on your spring flight Posted: 07 Mar 2020 12:00 PM PST  The airplane shuffle is happening across the country due to steep international flight cuts by U.S. airlines amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Ten die at collapsed China quarantine hotel; virus spread slows ex-Wuhan Posted: 07 Mar 2020 05:00 PM PST  SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Ten people have died and 23 remain trapped after the collapse of a hotel that was being used to quarantine people under observation for the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, authorities said on Sunday. As of 16:00 Beijing time on Sunday, authorities had retrieved 48 individuals from the site of the collapse, with 38 of them sent to hospitals, the Ministry of Emergency Management said. A rescue force of over 1,000 people, including firefighters, police forces, and other emergency responders, arrived at the site on Saturday night, authorities told a media conference organized by the Quanzhou government on Sunday.
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| Biden and Sanders win key endorsements as next voting round nears Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:27 PM PDT  Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders secured crucial endorsements Sunday from prominent black supporters just days ahead of the first round of voting to pit them in a head-to-head contest. Senator Kamala Harris, a former Democratic candidate herself, endorsed Biden, while Sanders won the backing of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson as the rival candidates competed for African American support -- a key demographic in the fight for the party's nomination. Voters in six states go to the polls Tuesday, a week after the "Super Tuesday" elections dramatically reversed the two men's fortunes, snatching the frontrunner's title from Sanders and revitalizing Biden, who now holds a lead in delegates to the nominating convention.
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| America's housing crisis Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Millions of Americans can no longer dream of buying a home. Rental apartments are also unaffordable. Why? Here's everything you need to know:What's gone wrong? From cities to suburbs to rural America, the cost of housing has far outpaced increases in salaries. Home prices are growing at twice the rate of wages, and there are fewer houses on the market than in any year since 1982. The single-family house, with a garage and a front lawn, remains a bedrock of the American dream, even as it recedes from many people's reach. Young adults are one-third less likely to be homeowners than the previous generation was at the same age, and nearly two-thirds of renters say they can't afford a house. The median single-family house costs about $280,000, with demand driving prices at the lower end of the market to rise twice as fast as those of high-end homes. Once the backbone of U.S. wealth, housing has become a civic, economic, and environmental catastrophe.Is renting any better? It's even worse. Nearly half of renters are cost-burdened — meaning they spend at least 30 percent of their income on rent. Since 1960, renters' average earnings have increased 5 percent as rents have jumped 61 percent. Eleven million Americans spend more than half of their paycheck on rent. They have little choice: After 2011, more than 4 million units renting for $800 or less per month disappeared nationwide. In trendy cities like Seattle and Austin, older, multifamily buildings are being demolished or converted into condominiums and co-ops. A minuscule percentage of new apartments are low-rent. Today, a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a two-bedroom rental in precisely zero U.S. counties; on average, it would take clocking 127 hours a week at the federal minimum wage to make paying for one possible.Are expectations too high? After World War II, home ownership went from a luxurious status symbol to a national priority. "A nation of homeowners, of people who own a real share in their own land, is unconquerable," President Franklin Roosevelt said in 1942. Zoning changes helped create the suburbs, as did improved cars and new roads, enabling people to live farther from work. Mortgage markets developed, and the rate of homeownership grew from 43 percent in 1940 to 66 percent by 2000. The size of houses per resident also doubled in that period. It became conventional wisdom to borrow as much as possible, buy the biggest house attainable, and hold on as the property steadily grew in value. But that's no longer feasible for many people: In 1990, 18 months of the median local salary could buy a house in 72 of America's 100 largest cities, Harvard University found. Now that's possible in just 25 of them.What's jacking up costs? Demand, above all. Houses are supposed to pass between generations, but Baby Boomers are living longer and staying put. People are also moving less than ever, down to 10 percent of the population annually. After the recession, private-equity firms and hedge funds spent an estimated $36 billion on more than 200,000 homes in ailing markets, and their strategy was to evict current residents and target the ultrawealthy. In New York City, homeless shelters have been filling at the same time towering new luxury condos rise into the skyline. Since 2011, the average cost of a New York condo rocketed from $1.15 million to $3.77 million. Even more perversely, nearly half of Manhattan's new luxury condos are empty.Why not build more housing? The cost of land and building materials such as timber and steel keeps climbing, and there are major shortages of construction workers. That makes it financially unfeasible to build low-income housing. In San Francisco, where the median one-bedroom rental goes for $3,700 per month, it costs $700,000 to build a single new apartment unit. "In a lot of cities, the market can't supply housing for people making less than six figures," said James Madden, a Seattle-based affordable-housing developer. Even when developers do seek to build dense rental or condo units with affordable prices, they run into NIMBY — the "not in my back yard" attitude of existing residents who insist that new construction and new residents will disrupt their views, schools, parking, and property values.Can NIMBY be defeated? Government initiatives can only achieve so much without current homeowners making concessions. California is plagued by crippling housing costs and widespread homelessness, but recently the legislature narrowly failed to pass a law that would have overridden local zoning rules to allow high-density housing. NIMBY is on vivid display in Lafayette, Calif., a wealthy town of 25,000 outside San Francisco. Gov. Gavin Newsom has said the state must build 3.5 million homes by 2025 to ease the affordability crisis, yet Lafayette residents were outraged by a proposal to build 315 new apartment units near a commuter train station. When developers and the city manager, Steve Falk, agreed to a compromise of 44 single-family homes on the site, residents went to court to fight that too. Falk resigned, saying he couldn't oppose such a modest plan amid a massive housing crisis. "My conscience," Falk said, "won't allow it."The racial gap in home ownership Scarce housing is behind a surprising number of social problems. Transportation accounts for about one-third of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and much of that is due to obscene commuting times in cities and suburbs with inadequate mass transit. (Four million Americans spend at least three hours every day driving to and from work.) There's a substantial racial gap among homeowners, with black and Hispanic Americans more than 25 percent less likely to own a home than whites. That gap, which is at least partly caused by redlining and racist lending policies, reinforces racial wealth disparities and impedes social mobility. The poor of all races are most affected by housing shortages and costs; by one estimate, there are now only 37 available affordable units for every 100 extremely poor households. In California, state lawmakers have allowed homeowners to convert garages into residential spaces and build small homes in their backyards, known as granny flats or casitas, that they can rent out. Ben Metcalf, the state's former director of Housing and Community Development, compares renting out parts of your property to growing "victory gardens" during World War II food shortages. "Your civic duty as a Californian," he said, "is you've got to convert your garage."This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, try the magazine for a month here.More stories from theweek.com China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim Is coronavirus really a black swan event? Former FDA chief urges government to incentivize localities to shut down their economies amid coronavirus spread
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| How the coronavirus outbreak could help fuel China's dystopian surveillance system Posted: 07 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PST  Authorities have used invasive surveillance techniques to monitor citizens to try to stem the epidemic. Experts fear this could be the new normal.
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| Barr Increasingly Appears Focused on Undermining Mueller Inquiry Posted: 07 Mar 2020 07:13 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- Attorney General William Barr testified before Congress last spring that "it's time for everybody to move on" from the special counsel investigation into whether Donald Trump associates conspired with Russia's 2016 election interference.Nearly a year later, however, it is clear that Barr has not moved on from the investigation at all. Rather, he increasingly appears to be chiseling away at it.The attorney general's handling of the results of the Russia inquiry came under fire when a federal judge questioned this week whether Barr had sought to create a "one-sided narrative" clearing Trump of misconduct. The judge said Barr displayed a "lack of candor" in remarks that helped shape the public view of the special counsel's report before it was released in April.In fact, Barr's comments then were but the first in a series of actions in which he cast doubt not just on the findings of the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and some of the resulting prosecutions, but on its very premise. In the process, Barr demoralized some of the department's rank and file and lent credence to Republican politicians who seek to elevate the Mueller investigation into an election-year political issue -- including Trump."I'm deeply troubled by what I've been seeing with Barr's stewardship of the Justice Department," said Nancy Baker, a scholar of attorneys general who studied Barr's first stint in the post under President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s. At the very least, she said, he has created the appearance that he does not "respect the long-standing norms of departmental independence."Some of Barr's defenders insist that he is suffering from a situation beyond his control: namely, a president whose running commentary on criminal cases he has an interest in has sowed suspicion about the attorney general's motives. In a ruling Thursday in a Freedom of Information Act case over the Mueller report, Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District for the District of Columbia questioned whether Barr had redacted portions of the Mueller report in order to protect the president.The department's spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, said Friday that "the court's assertions were contrary to the facts" and that Mueller's team helped the attorney general decide what information should be kept out of public view.Nonetheless, the judge's criticism reinforced the impression that Barr has been on a mission to undercut the Mueller inquiry. In ever stronger terms, Barr has implied that Mueller was appointed in 2017 only because FBI officials rushed without reason to escalate their suspicions about the Trump campaign into a full-blown investigation.The Justice Department's own inspector general rejected that premise late last year, finding that the bureau's decision was justified by the facts. But Barr has assigned a federal prosecutor to investigate the matter further and has suggested that the inquiry might conclude that the FBI acted in bad faith. Investigators are also said to be examining the intelligence agencies' assessment that President Vladimir Putin of Russia interfered in the American presidential race on behalf of Trump.Last month, Barr appointed another outside prosecutor to review a case that Mueller brought against the president's former national security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI. And in a second case that the Mueller team brought against Roger Stone, Trump's longtime friend, the attorney general overruled career prosecutors to seek a more lenient prison sentence, triggering a chain of events that the federal judge overseeing the case called "unprecedented."In those and other instances, Barr has never mentioned Mueller by name. But he has increasingly sided with the view of Trump and his allies that the special counsel's inquiry was baseless. As Barr put it succinctly in a December interview with NBC News, "Our nation was turned on its head for three years, I think, based on a completely bogus narrative."He has implicitly criticized both John Brennan, the CIA director under President Barack Obama, and James Comey, who Trump fired as FBI director in 2017, for actions related to the Russia inquiry. Noting that Brennan twice warned the Russian government not to interfere in the 2016 election, Barr said it was "inexplicable" no one warned the Trump campaign that the Russians had targeted it.He also said Comey refused to take the necessary security clearance steps that would have enabled him to cooperate fully with Michael Horowitz, the department's inspector general, in his review of aspects of the Russia investigation. But he noted that John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut who is separately investigating the origins of the Russia inquiry, has the power to compel testimony. "A decision has to be made about motivations," he said.The president's allies are eager to draw Barr more publicly to their side. At an expected upcoming oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who chairs the panel, is likely to question Barr about whether he believes the Mueller inquiry was necessary or justified.Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., another staunch defender of the president, has promised to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal inquiry into whether the special counsel's office mishandled the prosecution of George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.Both Barr's critics and defenders are carefully watching the Flynn case for signs that Barr is backing away from what had been an aggressive prosecution initiated by Mueller and inherited by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington. More than two years after he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government, Flynn reversed himself and asked to withdraw his plea. He claimed prosecutors had deceived him -- accusations that the judge overseeing the case has firmly rejected.Once Flynn recanted, prosecutors stiffened their sentencing recommendation, saying Flynn deserved up to six months in prison. But in January, they seemed to soften that stance, saying that probation was also "reasonable."Outside prosecutors have now been assigned to review the Flynn prosecution, along with other politically sensitive national security cases -- a level of second-guessing that has disturbed federal prosecutors in the Washington office and elsewhere.Even some of Barr's defenders acknowledge that the sentencing of Stone, a former campaign adviser to Trump, turned into a debacle for the department. Barr overruled the sentencing recommendation of four career prosecutors after Trump wrote on Twitter that Stone was being treated too harshly.The prosecutors withdrew from the case in protest. Faced with a backlash in his department, Barr asked the president on national television to quit commenting on the department's criminal cases, and associates suggested he was on the verge of resigning. But when Trump ignored him, Barr stayed put.While Barr insisted he made his decision about Stone's proper punishment based on the merits of the case, sentencing data show the move was extraordinary.A jury convicted Stone, 67, of obstructing a congressional inquiry, tampering with a witness and lying to congressional investigators. The government requested that Stone be granted leniency despite the fact that he had refused to plead guilty.That was the case in less than 2% of the nearly 75,000 criminal defendants who were sentenced in federal courts in the fiscal year that ended in September, according to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The Stone case also stands out because the government ended up seeking a lighter punishment than the federal probation office had recommended, although that recommendation was likely guided by information provided by the prosecutors who Barr overruled.Prosecutor rarely ask for leniency after a trial because it undercuts their ability to negotiate guilty pleas with other defendants, according to Douglas Berman, a professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law who specializes in sentencing issues. "They want to be able to say, and to have a defense attorney repeat to a client, that they are willing to cut a deal, but they are never going to offer this again," he said.In fact, a review by The New York Times of more than 60 federal cases in which a defendant faced at least one similar charge to Stone's turned up no instances in which the government recommended leniency after a trial. The Times reviewed cases in which defendants were sentenced after January 2017 and that were handled by two of the biggest U.S. attorneys offices: in Washington and in the central district of California.In at least nine cases, the government asked for leniency, technically called a variance from sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors typically cited other mitigating factors, including advanced age or illness, on top of a speedy guilty plea.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Italy Locks Down Rich North as Conte Tries to Contain Panic Posted: 08 Mar 2020 12:55 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tried to contain the alarm spreading through Europe's fourth-biggest economy, unveiling drastic measures in the middle of the night to restrict the spread of the deadly coronavirus.In a hastily convened news conference Sunday morning, the head of a government already hanging by a thread said that Italy will dramatically restrict movement and activity for a quarter of its population in the economic powerhouse that is the region around Milan.As news of the measures leaked, some Italians gave their reactions. Images and posts on social media showed people rushing to get on the last train out and escape a virtual lockdown amid some of the most sweeping anti-virus measures outside China. Schools have already been shut as tourism has ground to a halt and businesses take a hit in a country already on the brink of recession.Conte's latest effort at damage control comes as cases surged to 5,883 on Saturday with 233 deaths, and as Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of one of the two major government parties, announced he had contracted the illness.Yet the premier's late appearance, and his criticism of "unacceptable" leaks, did little to dispel concern that this was a government with a tenuous grasp of a rapidly evolving national emergency. Conte said he would take "political responsibility" for managing the crisis.Market Reaction?A key test of whether he succeeded will come Monday, when investors will assess the impact of his actions on Italy's already weakened economy.Spreads between Italian and German bonds have crept up since the coronavirus crisis erupted but have so far remained below the average of the past year. A spike in yields would put a further strain on Italy's debt just as the government prepares to widen the deficit to prop up the economy.Conte's announcement came after an early draft of the new rules did the rounds and sparked confusion. Images abounded of Italians crowding trains from Milan and the north to make their way south before restrictions came into force. Train travel between northern and southern Italy appeared normal Sunday morning.The regulations are set to come into force "within hours," Conte said. They are to last until April 3, according to the draft seen by Bloomberg. A final text is still to be published.The bans will stop anyone from entering or exiting the most-affected areas, while movement inside will be allowed only for demonstrable business or health reasons, the draft said. Skiing, public events, religious ceremonies and work meetings will be suspended, while schools, museums, swimming pools and theaters will close.Bars and restaurants will have to make sure patrons keep at least one meter apart or they'll be shut. The decree specifies that failing to respect the measures is a criminal offense, and might lead to imprisonment. Police and the army will be responsible for ensuring that containment measures are respected.Some of the affected regions began signaling their resistance on Sunday morning. The Veneto region opposes the inclusion of the Padua, Treviso and Venice provinces in the decree, according to a statement published by Ansa. Maurizio Rasero, the mayor of Asti, which is in the affected zone, called the ban "madness, a disaster we didn't expect."About 16 million people will be affected by restrictions across Lombardy and in 14 provinces around cities including Venice, Modena, Parma, Rimini and Treviso. A large part of the Piedmont region is also affected but not Turin, the regional capital and the headquarters of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.A second decree with new containment rules for the rest of the country recommends citizens avoid travel outside their hometowns unless absolutely necessary, and restricts public events from demonstrations to theater shows.With Italy's economy already about to contract before the outbreak, the crisis has all but paralyzed business activity in Lombardy -- which accounts for a fifth of the country's gross domestic product -- and the rest of the north, Italy's economic engine.The government decided on Thursday to double emergency spending to 7.5 billion euros ($8.5 billion) to help cushion the economic impact of the virus.It's also calling up 20,000 doctors, nurses and medical personnel to help deal with the outbreak. Fallout from the virus's spread is slamming Italy's key tourism industry at a time when the country is already teetering on the brink of recession.The European Commission's top economic officials approved Italy's spending plans, saying in a letter to the government in Rome that its stimulus plans won't be factored in when assessing the country's compliance with the European Union's fiscal rules.(Updates with Veneto region reaction in 12th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Daniele Lepido, Tommaso Ebhardt, Alessandro Speciale, Sonia Sirletti and Ross Larsen.To contact the reporters on this story: Alberto Brambilla in Milan at abrambilla5@bloomberg.net;John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net;Alessandro Speciale in Rome at aspeciale@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson, James AmottFor 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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| At least 26 Iraqis among killed in Syria road accident Posted: 08 Mar 2020 04:13 AM PDT |
| Ted Cruz to self-quarantine after contact with man infected by coronavirus Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:04 PM PDT  The Texas senator said he would stay home for 14 days after interacting with the infected person at the recent CPAC conference in Maryland.
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| Grand Princess passengers prepare to disembark, quarantine; 'Don't get on a cruise,' health official advises Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:31 PM PDT  Grand Princess passengers ready to disembark Monday, while health official Anthony Fauci urges, "Just don't get on a cruise ship" to protect elderly.
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| Bossert is 'very disappointed' by Carson's message of 'individual prevention' Posted: 08 Mar 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Dr. Jen Ashton and Tom Bossert discuss the threat that coronavirus poses to Americans and the Trump administration's preparedness for the spread of the virus on "This Week."
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| Amy Klobuchar sparks Biden vice president rumours after slip of the tongue at rally Posted: 08 Mar 2020 07:49 AM PDT  Amy Klobuchar had a slip of tongue when speaking to a crowd of supporters, suggesting she might be Joe Biden's pick for vice president.The Minnesota senator was speaking at a campaign rally for Mr Biden on Saturday in Michigan when she sparked the rumours.
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| Pakistani Women's Day marchers hit with stones, sticks Posted: 08 Mar 2020 12:57 PM PDT  Protesters marking International Women's Day in ultra-conservative Pakistan on Sunday came under attack with stones and sticks, reflecting the movement's challenge in a society where females are still put to death under ancient "honour" codes. During a march in the capital, Islamist counter-protesters hurled sticks and stones at the women's rights demonstrators, causing some injuries and forcing a crowd of people to seek cover before the police intervened. Tension had risen in Islamabad when about 1,000 women and men gathered to call for greater reproductive and other rights.
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| Trump is reportedly fixated on keeping the number of official US coronavirus cases as low as possible—despite indications the disease has spread wider than he wants Posted: 07 Mar 2020 09:20 PM PST  Trump has expressed that he wants the number of US coronavirus cases kept as low as possible, and frequently compares the numbers to other countries.
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| Report: Iran Revolutionary Guard commander killed in Syria Posted: 07 Mar 2020 05:41 AM PST |
| The Desert Town That’s Home to U.S. Drones and People Smugglers Posted: 07 Mar 2020 08:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Moctar raised his right hand above his head and from an almost impossible height poured hot tea into a glass as he recounted his latest trip to Libya transporting migrants seeking to make the hazardous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.The 72-hour journey across the border from Niger to Libya was perilous, with the list of potential dangers including attacks by bandits and Islamist militants to the more mundane of crashing into sand dunes or simply running out of gas. Luckily he reached his destination.He then stuffed his Toyota Hilux with pasta, canned tomatoes, sugar, flour and cooking oil for sale back home. It was one of dozens of such excursions Moctar, 30, has made over the years from Agadez, a sprawling cluster of low, sand-colored compounds huddling in the desert of northern Niger. Now it's also the front line of both Europe's anti-migration efforts and the fight by U.S., French and African forces against the spread of Islamist militancy. Increasingly, Moctar, who is not being identified in full because of the nature of his work, and other smugglers are finding times tough because of the crackdown on trafficking by the Nigerien authorities in cooperation with European nations. Sometimes he turns to smuggling the opioid tramadol, which is popular in neighboring Nigeria."The trafficking of migrants continues, the only difference is now sometimes I fill up the car with drugs, mostly tramadol, when I can't find enough migrants," he said. "If you're taking the risk of breaking the law, there's no point holding back. You might as well go big, at least that'll make it worth the risk." Agadez's role as a hub for trans-Saharan trade dates back centuries — from salt caravans in the 15th century to illicit convoys of migrants."People here live off migrants, it's how we feed our families," said 38-year-old Andre, who's been driving migrants from Agadez, a city of about 100,000 people, to southern Libya since 2007, but these days struggles to find work. "The authorities treat us like criminals when we are just trying to do our job. I know at least two dozen people who have become bandits for lack of work."Today Agadez is playing a new role in the region as home to Air Base 201, where American forces target insurgents affiliated to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in cooperation with the French military throughout the Sahel, an arid area on the southern fringe of the Sahara. The expanded U.S. profile in the region was highlighted in 2017 when four American soldiers died in an ambush in Niger."With Mali and Burkina Faso having lost control of large swaths of territory and the presence of the jihadists' bases, the risk is that they link battlefields across the Sahel," said Frank Van der Mueren, head of the European Union's civilian capacity-building mission in Niger, known as EUCAP Sahel Niger. Niger is now seen by the Europeans as a strategic partner and a "lock on the door'' for security in the Sahel, he said. The Nigerien authorities passed a law in 2015 that made trafficking in migrants a criminal offense and reinforced border patrols. A quarter of the 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in aid the EU has provided Niger over the 2017-20 period has gone to policies to curb migration. The Nigerien measure followed an agreement between African and European leaders to a common approach to address the root causes of migration amid a surge of arrivals by sea and on land at the EU's external borders, with more than 1 million asylum seekers and migrants trying to reach EU member states that year. In 2018, the EU border control authority Frontex opened its first Risk Analysis Cell on the continent in Niger's capital, Niamey, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) southwest of Agadez.The efforts appear to be working. In 2018, illegal crossings on the Niger route plunged by 80% to 23,000, the lowest number since 2012, according to Frontex.At the same time, migration has now picked up along a western route through Morocco, and prompted smugglers to forge new, more dangerous routes through its eastern neighbor Chad, the European Council on Foreign Relations said in an October 2019 policy brief.And some of Niger's tougher measures on migration have fueled concerns that they're worsening security."The largely military approach has pushed the traffic underground and reinforced criminal networks, including the militias in Libya and some terrorist groups," said Mohamed Anacko, the president of Agadez's regional council.Competition over drug trafficking routes between ethnic militias in the tri-border area between Niger, Chad and Libya further risks destabilizing northern Niger."The situation in Libya boosts the development of transnational border crime and the circulation of arms that reinforces the armed actors and feeds into the conflicts across the Sahel," said Niger's interior minister, Mohamed Bazoum. "The conflict in Libya is fuel on the fire."The exploration of new gold deposits and oil with the construction of a $5 billion oil pipeline by the China National Petroleum Corp., from the Agadem fields in northeastern Niger, brings its own risks. Small-scale gold mining is an increasingly important source of revenue for jihadists operating in the Sahel, including Niger.In northern Niger, most people live off farming, construction work, seasonal migration to Libya and the migrants who still pass though. At one point, young men left to fight with the rebels in Libya, until the spread of Islamic State made the situation there too dangerous.Until 2015, migration-related activities contributed as much as $100 million per year to the regional economy around Agadez, according to the International Crisis Group, citing local authorities in a recent report. At one point, the industry was estimated to support more than half of the households in the town.Authorities managed local conflicts by turning a blind eye to former ethnic Tuareg rebels-turned-smugglers running unofficial travel agencies and moving people, gold, drugs and pasta across the desert. Travel agents made as much as $5,000 a week, employing drivers, cooks, guards and coaxers who picked up migrants from bus stops and brought them to so-called ghettos, or migrant housing, in town.Today, they've seen their revenue dwindles.Dealing with illegal migration by banning the movement of contraband goods and people could be counter-productive, said William Assanvo, an analyst with the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar, Senegal."In some areas, contraband and illicit activities is simply the way in which people are making an income and how the economy is structured," Assanvo said.The U.S. drone base hasn't been much help, either. For a few months in 2017, Agadez residents were bused to the base to help elongate the airstrip for the armed drones that started taking off last year. When that was done, the offers of work quickly dried up."First, the tourists stopped coming," said Surajh Rabiou, a craftsman selling jewelry and wooden carvings near the town's mosque. "Then Europe decided to shut down migration, so we lost that income too. Now the American troops are here, but they don't buy my jewelry like the tourists used to do."\--With assistance from Pauline Bax and Jeremy Diamond.To contact the author of this story: Katarina Hoije in Accra at khoije@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Paul RichardsonFor 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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| Coronavirus live updates: US death toll hits 21; Grand Princess to dock Monday; Sen. Ted Cruz to self-quarantine Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:33 PM PDT  The U.S. death toll climbed to 19 this weekend, but there was some good news for passengers and crew of a cruise ship hit by the new coronavirus.
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| We shouldn't have to pay for Jack Dorsey's $40m estate when it crumbles into the sea Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:11 AM PDT  By using public money to protect California homes from climate change, the state is transferring wealth from working-class people of color to white property owners Even by the standards of overpriced San Francisco, the Sea Cliff neighborhood is astronomically expensive. Nestled between two gorgeous parks and with what a realtor might describe as commanding views of the Golden Gate, it could hardly be different. Homes in the area routinely go for more than $10m. Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and the payment service Square, recently bought a place here for $21.5m – next door to his $18m present home. The 0.62 acre compound is recessed from the street and perched on a cliff overlooking the beach.And that's where things get interesting, because cliffside living has become an increasingly risky proposition in California. Warming ocean temperatures are whipping up stronger surfs and more brutal winter storms, causing cliffs to crumble ever faster into the sea. The consequences for thousands of cliff-top houses such as Dorsey's could be catastrophic. Still, @Jack's bet isn't a bad one: depending on when the house goes over the edge, it might well be the rest of us that gets stuck with the bill.That's because most of the cost of protecting California properties from coastal erosion, wildfires and other effects of the climate crisis will be met by the state, with public money. This means those costs won't fall on the disproportionately white and wealthy people who own property. Rather, they'll be increasingly borne by the working- and middle-class Hispanic, black and brown Californians that make up the majority of the state, many of whom don't own real estate. Without really grappling with this reality, the state is slipping step by step towards a massive wealth transfer from the general public to the owners of private property. It's one more way in which the climate crisis is also a crisis of racism and inequality.What Sea Cliff could look like in a few years' time can be glimpsed in the town of Pacifica, 14 miles to the south. Parts of the town, which is much more middle-class than Sea Cliff, sit directly on beautiful bluffs that overlook – and are tumbling into – the Pacific Ocean. When the town's mayor proposed a "managed retreat" from the coast, home owners and local realtors revolted: the proposal would have effectively taken their homes off the market, cutting them off from potential profits. (Owners does not mean residents: about a third of Pacifica's housing stock, including many of the most threatened buildings, consists of rental units.) So instead of a managed retreat, the city is taking money from the public coffers and using it to protect property investments by building sea walls and replenishing eroding beaches with trucked-in sand, among other measures.This is a dynamic we've seen throughout the late capitalist economy. The sociologist Ulrich Beck described it as a change from "a logic of wealth distribution" to one of "risk distribution". Profits are privatized, but risk is made public. The banks made a bunch of bad bets on crappy mortgage debts? Bail them out with public money and give the executives multimillion-dollar bonuses. Someone half bakes a fundamentally unprofitable tech business? Let them IPO it so they can liquidate hundreds of millions of dollars of stock options while transferring the ultimately worthless company into the hands of public pension funds and workers' 401ks.That's the same thing that is now happening in California, where the land is uniquely threatened and at the same time uniquely valuable. There is a concerted political effort not to manage the risk, but rather to keep it from impacting value by making the public bear the costs of the climate crisis through things such as the sorts of publicly funded disaster relief programs and state-subsidized insurance payouts that Jack Dorsey could theoretically benefit from. This is, in fact, what many of the owners of capital and real estate think the government is for: protecting the value of private property at all costs. It's one of the reasons we have a climate crisis – instead of a robust, rapid transition away from fossil fuels – in the first place.The sheer immensity of the climate crisis, and of California, ensures that more and more of the costs will be borne by the public. The LA Times estimates that $150bn in California property might be impacted by coastal flooding and erosion by 2100. That's $150bn in private wealth which the government has made it a public priority to preserve. But those costs are dwarfed by the risks created by the region's intensifying wildfires, which threaten millions of properties around the state. The financial response to wildfires so far shows how these risks will inevitably be collectivized.It will go something like this: as houses become astronomically expensive, insurance payouts become astronomically large. In response, in threatened areas, private insurers will cancel coverage, or multiply rates to the point of unaffordability. The state will be forced to step in to stabilize the rates, and keep the land valuable, which will likely involve something like the National Flood Insurance Program, which subsidizes flood insurance provided by private insurers and underwrites the full extent of their losses.The racist dimension to this wealth transfer must not be overlooked. Fewer than 55% of California households own their dwelling and only 42% of Latino households and 33% of black ones do. Non-urban space, open space, and at-risk space in California is today particularly white, or at least white-owned.Especially in the sorts of rural areas threatened by wildfire, that disparity is highly dependent on California's history of racial violence and exclusion. The genocide of California's first peoples; restrictions on the citizenship status of Asian immigrants; the seizure of Japanese American land during the second world war; the arrogation of land for infrastructure projects in the postwar period; discriminatory lending practices, racial covenants and other racist real estate policies, perpetuated by de facto segregation – all worked to ensure that non-white property ownership in rural California has remained low and concentrated in dense cities.All of this creates an unjust mismatch: the collective that is underwriting the risk of climate catastrophe is not the same as the group that is incurring it. As a result, the siphoning off of public wealth to protect private property favors white Californians.Of course, that's one of the reasons it's been politically acceptable. It would be difficult to imagine the government sanctioning a massive wealth transfer in the other direction, for example by relieving the mortgage debts of the black and brown Americans who were the primary victims of the subprime crisis. But when fire and other types of home insurance markets fail, as they are already beginning to do and inevitably will, the state will have to step in to shore up the largely white property market with black, brown, working and middle-class public money.As the incalculably large price tag of climate change comes due, those excluded from the property market will increasingly foot the bill for California's cult of the homeowner. It remains to be seen whether that cult will endure, or whether the state can rethink its relationship to real estate.
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| Best Wireless Routers of 2020 Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Your wireless router is responsible for handling all the data that flows into and out of your home through your internet service provider. And though the best routers in Consumer Reports' ratings...
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| Senator Cruz self quarantines after contact with coronavirus carrier Posted: 08 Mar 2020 04:57 PM PDT  Cruz "briefly interacted" with the person at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Maryland ten days ago, according to a statement by the former Republican presidential hopeful. "Out of an abundance of caution, and because of how frequently I interact with my constituents, I have decided to remain at my home in Texas this week, until a full 14 days have passed since the CPAC interaction," he said. Cruz is one of the highest-profile Americans to undergo coronavirus self-quarantine since the United States reported its first COVID-19 case in late January.
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| The Muslim running for mayor in Christian Bavaria Posted: 07 Mar 2020 09:28 PM PST  With his neatly trimmed beard, sharp suit and broad smile, Ozan Iyibas looks like a typical politician out to win votes ahead of a municipal election in southern Germany's Bavaria region. "I don't see any contradiction in this choice," says the 37-year-old, sitting back in an armchair and clutching a mug of tea in the town of Neufahrn. While Iyibas won the local CSU's nomination unanimously, such support is not always a given in the region where party chief Markus Soeder in 2018 ordered crosses to be displayed at the entrances of all public buildings, as a way of honouring the region's "cultural heritage".
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| Trump impeachment: Key witness says Putin has US 'exactly where he wants us' Posted: 08 Mar 2020 08:17 AM PDT  One of the former officials who testified in the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump has warned that Vladimir Putin has the US "exactly where he wants us".Speaking to CBS's 60 Minutes in her first major interview since her testimony last year, Fiona Hill said that while the Russians did not invent the divisions in US politics and society they knew how to exploit them.
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| Argentina announces first coronavirus death in Latin America Posted: 07 Mar 2020 04:07 PM PST  A 64-year-old man died in Argentina as a result of the new coronavirus, the first such death in Latin America, health authorities announced Saturday. The Ministry of Health said the patient lived in Buenos Aires and had been confirmed with COVID-19 after coming down with a cough, fever and sore throat following a recent trip to Europe.
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| Italy's coronavirus death toll shot up to 366 in a day as the country put 16 million people on lockdown Posted: 08 Mar 2020 01:22 PM PDT  The 366 identified deaths in the country make the country home to the largest number of infections outside China, where the virus originated.
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| Princess says passenger brought coronavirus on ship; cruise companies to change boarding protocols Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:28 AM PDT  Princess Cruises said Saturday that a California man who died on Wednesday was likely infected with the coronavirus before he boarded a ship.
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| Duterte Won’t Ban China-Centric Casinos Linked to Illicit Funds Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:46 AM PDT |
| 'The Only Choice Is to Wait for Death' Posted: 07 Mar 2020 07:22 AM PST  IDLIB, Syria -- Before the war in Syria, Idlib city, with its tree-lined avenues and white-stone buildings, was known for its calm, provincial air.Today it overflows with families who fled the war in other parts of Syria, swelling the population to nearly 1 million people.Some shelter in bombed-out buildings. Those who can't find shelter are camped in the soccer stadium, and more line up outside for food handouts.Residents are so used to the shelling that no one even flinches at the sound of an explosion.But for Syria's last rebel-held city the worst is yet to come.To the north, nearly 1 million people are living along roadsides and in olive groves in what is already one of the worst humanitarian disasters of Syria's brutal nine-year war.To the south and east, Syrian government forces backed by Russian warplanes are closing in, now just 5 miles away. When they reach Idlib city, its million residents are likely to flee, doubling the number of displaced people in the north.Dr. Hikmat al-Khatib, an orthopedic surgeon, urged his parents to move to a town to the north. But when it was bombed his mother decided to stay put."Her words shocked me," al-Khatib said. "The only choice is to wait for death."I made a rare visit into Idlib with a photographer and interpreter on Wednesday, crossing the border from Turkey. We were accompanied by relief workers of a Syrian charity and members of a jihadist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls the province.We found 100 families camped in the stadium, which has been converted into an emergency shelter.Amina Sahloul was sitting on the floor around a stove in a large underground room for women and children. She had arrived hours earlier, after fleeing her village in the dead of night, clinging with her five grandchildren behind her son on a single motorcycle."We came away because of the airstrikes," she said. "They started dropping cluster bombs. It was like fire raining in the sky."There has been no letup for the people of Idlib province as the forces of President Bashar Assad of Syria, backed by Russian air power, have smashed their way forward, demolishing towns and villages in the south and east of the province with punishing airstrikes.A cease-fire declared Thursday by Turkey, which backs Syrian opposition forces, and Russia, which backs the Syrian government, seemed to be holding on Friday but few believe it will last. Assad has insisted he will continue his offensive to retake Idlib province, and rebel groups have vowed to resist.At the soccer stadium, as word came across the radio that Russian planes were near, tension rose as people nervously scanned the skies.Earlier that day, when an artillery shell slammed into a nearby neighborhood, few people even looked up. The Syrian government fires rockets all the time.But when Russian planes begin a concerted assault, they use overwhelming force, laying down lines of repressive fire that force people to run for their lives with only minutes to get away."Whenever I hear planes I start running like crazy, I lose my mind," Hassan Yousufi said as he paced angrily around the men's shelter in the stadium. "I lived beside the highway for 45 years. I memorized the Quran and was just biding my own life. My brother was killed. The Russians bombed us."Outside of the stadium, life is on a war footing. The streets are busy with cars and motorcycles and women walk together in the main shopping street, but the city has only two hours of electricity a day and boys sell gasoline in plastic jerrycans on street corners.Idlib province has been free from government control for the length of the war and today is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group. But there were few armed fighters in sight in Idlib city, the provincial capital, on Wednesday.Police officers loyal to the opposition stand guard outside the governor's office and the police station which still bear the scars of fighting from the first days of the revolution.Billboards around the city bear glossy posters of uniformed rebel fighters, calling on people to join the fight."It is your turn to heed the call," reads one. "There is no honor without jihad," urges another, beside a military checkpoint.Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, has been designated a terrorist group by the United Nations but recently allowed Western journalists into Idlib in cooperation with Turkey, which has wanted to build international pressure against Russia and Syria.On the front lines to the south and east, the rebels, by their own account, have taken a pounding."In the last one-and-a-half months we had a collapse," said Abu Ahmed Muhammad, an HTS spokesman. But he added that the Syrian government had lost many more soldiers than the opposition had, and had to bring in Iranian-backed fighters to retake the strategic town of Saraqib, which has changed hands several times in the last two weeks.Hours before Russia and Turkey agreed to the cease-fire, he warned that nothing would come of it."Both sides will escalate," he said "We in the HTS factions will never accept to de-escalate because the Russians are on top and they may not agree to a peace settlement."But most of the province's three million people are civilians, and they are desperate for an end to the violence. They cling to the hope that Turkey's growing deployment of troops into the province will stop the onslaught."Anything that makes us feel secure or takes the regime away from us is a very good thing," said Abdul Razzaq, the head of the emergency relief for the Syrian charity, Violet. His teams were still helping people flee villages on the front line and preparing in case of a mass evacuation of the city. "But Idlib city is huge and where to take them?" he said.An hour's drive north of the city, blue and white tents pockmark the rocky hillsides and olive groves of the border area. Camps for thousands of displaced families sprouted up from the early days of the war and over the years have turned into settlements of concrete-block housing, built with foreign assistance.Hundreds of thousands more people have joined them in the last six weeks, pitching tents beside the roads and among the rocky limestone outcrops in a densely crowded strip along the Turkish border. Families are sheltering in mosques and schools, empty stores and factories.Even those are not safe. A woman who gave her name as Umm Abdul fled her village three months ago and took refuge with her family in an old brick factory outside the town of Maaret Misrin. On Monday, she was out picking herbs with two of her children when she heard a sound like birds and looked up to see two missiles tumbling out of the sky toward her."I lay the kids on the ground and covered them with my body," she said. "They say if you lie down you don't get hit by shrapnel."She was knocked unconscious and her 18-month-old daughter was wounded but all three survived.At an emergency shelter near the Turkish border, Alia Abras, 37, pushed forward to speak. "Do you know the meaning of displacement?" she asked. "You are like stray dogs."Rescuers took two-and-a-half hours to dig her and her three children out of the rubble of their home in the town of Ariha a month ago, she said. It was the middle of the night but they were left on the street beside their ruined home because there were others still to be rescued. The whole neighborhood around the main hospital had been hit."We spent two days sitting in the street," she said until Violet's rescue team found them and brought them to the shelter, which houses 45 families in a shopping center in the town of Sarmada."I wish I had died under the ruins and my children with me," she said. "We lost everything my husband and I spent our lives building up. We are at zero."In a camp called Al Nasr, new arrivals have pitched tents just yards from the concrete wall topped with rolls of barbed wire that marks the Turkish border. Some are already building breeze-block houses on a hill facing Turkey.Four families were squeezed into one tent set up on top of the camp sewer. They had no other option, they said. Behind the tent, sewage drained down the hill into a fetid pool."No one else would take it," said Hannah al-Mijan, a farmworker and mother of seven. "We do not have money to build."The family had been displaced twice and without work they had fallen into debt. "We are below zero," she said. Her husband, Muhammad, shushed her, telling her not to shame them.This time they chose to live within 100 yards of the border wall. Were they not scared that this place would also be bombed?Al-Mijan shook her head, and gestured at the hill opposite. "That's Turkey," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| China reports zero locally transmitted coronavirus cases outside Hubei Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:22 PM PDT  Mainland China outside Hubei reported no new locally transmitted cases of coronavirus on Sunday for the second straight day, while 36 were reported in Wuhan, officials said Monday. China had 40 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Sunday, the National Health Commission said on Monday, down from 44 cases a day earlier, and lowest number since the health authority started publishing nationwide data on Jan. 20. Of the new cases on Sunday, 36 were new infections in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, while the remaining four in Gansu province were imported from Iran.
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| Hillary Clinton says Biden's following in her footsteps Posted: 08 Mar 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton said in a new interview that Joe Biden's path to the 2020 nomination looks similar to hers back in 2016.
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