| Roosevelt who? 2020 Democrats steer clear of talking history Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PDT  Modern politicians talk less and less about the traditions and legacy of their own political parties. Joe Biden's rise in the Democratic primary shows this might be a misjudgment.
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| Should daylight saving time be eliminated? Posted: 08 Mar 2020 08:22 AM PDT  A push to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year is gaining steam in parts of the U.S. Should daylight saving time be abolished nationwide?
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| Experts: Rapid testing helps explain few German virus deaths Posted: 09 Mar 2020 10:27 AM PDT  Germany has confirmed more than 1,100 cases of the new coronavirus but — so far — just two deaths, far fewer than other European countries with a similar number of reported infections. Experts said Monday that rapid testing as the outbreak unfolded meant Germany has probably diagnosed a much larger proportion of those who have been infected, including younger patients who are less likely to develop serious complications. "We in Germany were simply at the forefront in terms of diagnostics," said Christian Drosten, the director of the Institute for Virology at Berlin's Charite hospital.
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| 'We'll disappear': Thousands of Mexican women strike to protest femicide Posted: 09 Mar 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Day Without Women protesters aim to shine a light on government inaction as more than ten women are murdered every dayAs rush-hour began on Monday morning, there were no ticket-sellers in Mexico City subway stations.Nor were there female tellers at many of the banks. Nail salons, massage parlors, and hairdressers closed. And in cities across the country, far fewer women were on the streets than on an ordinary day.Countless thousands of women and girls across Mexico have joined a historic strike to protest against the country's startling rates of gender-based violence – and the government's failure to respond to the crisis in which more than ten women are murdered every day..From factories along the Río Grande to businesses in the capital and offices in cities near the Guatemalan border, women and girls joined the unprecedented protest, billed as a Day Without Women.The strike sent a clear message to Mexican society, said Sandra Reyes, 33, a biologist at the National Cancer Institute, who was one of at least 80,000 people who joined the country's largest ever women's march on Sunday."In some ways, it's a taunt: if you do not want us out here in the streets, we'll disappear," she said.Many marchers on Sunday expressed frustration with the country's federal and state authorities: most murder cases go unsolved, and families often search for the missing on their own.Elsa Arísta González, who founded a Facebook group to report disappearances and abuse in the city of Nezahualcóyotl, in Mexico state, said that people were fed up with the impunity."We used to be able to walk home from school alone, and leave open the door to your house. Not anymore," said Arista González, 40, a law student and coffee shop employee. "We've become used to living in fear."But many protesters have reserved particular fury for the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office in December 2018 on a promise of sweeping change, but has shown little interest in the issue of violence against women.The president, popularly known as Amlo, has attributed femicides to the "neoliberal policies" of previous governments and repeatedly suggested that the women's protests are part of a rightwing plot against him.On Monday, he repeated the allegation, saying that women were free to protest, but claiming that some "wanted our administration to fail"."For a whole year, this government has responded with promises to the people's demands. But the situation for women has not improved. Women are facing the same kinds of violence as before and the country has become even more militarized. Nothing has changed," said Alejandra Santamaría, 28, a law professor.Though some women continued to work in shops, cafes, and restaurants – often for fear of being docked pay – far fewer women than usual were riding the subway to work."The strike has given us the chance to challenge our labor conditions. The question is whether we'll be able to keep up the social pressure," said Nélida Reyes Guzmán, 56, a striking metro worker.Many businesses supported the strike and told their female employees to stay at home, and some women worried that the backing of mainstream politicians and major business had diluted some of its ideological force.But others argued that the such support merely showed the strength of the women's cause."Without us, all of this collapses," said Paula León García, 33, the director of one of the closed branches of BBVA Bancomer, Mexico's largest bank.Women's strikes have been held previously in Argentina and Chile, as well as Poland and Spain. But Amneris Chaparro, a researcher at the gender studies center at the National Autonomous University, said Mexico had never before had a major women's strike – despite its long tradition of labor and student activism.But the spiraling death toll of women and girls targeted for their gender – and a horrific recent string of high-profile crimes – has inspired new passion in the country's women's movement."Every day we have more evidence that they are killing us specifically for being women," said Maria de la Luz Estrada, the executive coordinator of the National Citizen Observatory on Femicide."If this government wants a transformation of this county, they have to face the problem."
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| Pakistan, northern India face renewed threat of flooding from rounds of showers, thunderstorms Posted: 09 Mar 2020 09:14 AM PDT  After flooding and landslides caused numerous deaths in Pakistan late last week, parts of the country are bracing for the arrival of another potent storm system.The storm will track from southern Iran into Pakistan through Tuesday before arriving in northern Pakistan on Wednesday.Showers and thunderstorms will spread from eastern Afghanistan into far northern India, including the states of Himachal, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by Wednesday. Steadier and heavier rain is forecast for far eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and into far northern India as the storm forces moisture into the meeting point of the Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountains.By Friday, the storm will begin to move east. Rain and storms will begin to gradually taper off across Pakistan, but they will spread east along the Himalayas into northeastern India and Bhutan.Through the second half of the week, isolated showers and thunderstorms are also expected to develop in parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal of eastern India.A couple of storms can drift into northwestern Bangladesh.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPRainfall totals up to 13-25 mm (0.5-1 inch) will be common across the region from this system, but totals can accumulate up to 25-50 mm (1-2 inches) in areas of heavier rain. An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 150 mm (6 inches) is possible in the mountains of Pakistan and far northern India.Localized flooding will be possible in areas of poor drainage and in any downpours that develop through the second half of the week. Northern Pakistan will face the greatest risk after torrential rain caused flooding late last week and into this past weekend.Flooding and landslides in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan were to blame for at least 17 deaths and officials in the province declared a weather emergency to help relocate residents displaced by the disaster, reported The Express Tribune.Colder air arriving with the storm will cause precipitation to fall as snow in higher elevations, but it could also pose a risk to those displaced in the mountainous areas of Pakistan.Flooding and chilly conditions will not be the only concerns as storms return to the area. Frequent lighting strikes will be dangerous for anyone caught outside during the unsettled period.Residents are reminded to head inside at the first rumble of thunder.Some of the wet weather may prove beneficial. Lengthy periods of rain could improve air quality across northern India where air pollution reaches dangerous levels during the drier season.Occasional showers and thunderstorms are forecast to continue into the weekend near the mountains of northern India and Nepal.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Thousands of people in Italy panicked and tried to flee its 16-million-person coronavirus quarantine after the plan leaked Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:37 AM PDT  "Some of those who fled will be infected with the disease," said one virus expert — increasing the risk it will spread further.
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| Czech prime minister says China should replace its ambassador Posted: 09 Mar 2020 09:46 AM PDT  China should replace its ambassador in the Czech Republic after the Chinese embassy sent a threatening letter to Czech authorities, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said.
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| Why Is Alleged Quack Dr. Oz the Face of NBC’s ‘Coronavirus Crisis Team’? Posted: 09 Mar 2020 01:41 AM PDT  For the past week—as the global COVID-19 death toll surpassed 3,800, including at least 22 fatalities in the United States—NBC News has been promoting celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz as the most visible member of the Today show's so-called "Coronavirus Crisis Team."The 59-year-old Oz, an Oprah Winfrey protégé who registered the trademark "America's Doctor" as his self-awarded title, has been urging Today viewers to vigorously scrub their thumbs and fingertips as part of a 20-second hand-washing ritual to combat the spread of the pandemic, and on Friday, exhorted people over the age of 60—those at highest risk of succumbing to the disease—to stick close to home."If I was younger I would go ahead and travel, but if I was older, I wouldn't—and would avoid crowded places," Oz told Today co-host Craig Melvin, suggesting that senior citizens keep at an "arm's length" distance from strangers. "Why take a chance?"That is prudent counsel, to be sure. (Never mind that it directly contradicted Oz's recommendation to 88-year-old William Shatner—on Monday's episode of Access Daily—that the "apprehensive" Star Trek actor proceed with his plans for an international lecture tour: "He can go anywhere he wants. Do not make decisions based on fear… We've gotta live our lives.")The telegenic Oz might well be a talented thoracic surgeon—best known as the host of the popular syndicated daytime program The Dr. Oz Show—but he is hardly an ideal dispenser of medical advice for an increasingly anxious American public."He's just a quack," said physician and scientific researcher Henry I. Miller, one of Oz's more vocal critics in the medical community, but by no means unique in his condemnation of, among other transgressions, Oz's enthusiastic endorsements of phony weight-loss remedies, his bogus claims of dangerous levels of arsenic in children's apple juice, and his willingness to provide a platform to the debunked assertion that genetically modified food causes cancer."He's been dishonest and he has been dispensing misinformation to millions now for years," said Miller, who in 2015 led an unsuccessful campaign to pressure Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons to fire Oz from its faculty. "I wouldn't trust any of his observations, and don't see how he would have responsible and valid views on coronavirus."NBC News declined to comment on Oz's critics or his role on the Today show, where he is one of several paid physician-contributors—but surely the most famous and camera-savvy—who've been enlisted in recent days as on-air experts to address viewers' coronavirus concerns.In a statement to The Daily Beast, Oz responded: "There are lots of detractors in life who have trouble hearing the truth or engaging in difficult debates about multi-sided topics. I have spent my career with the belief that knowledge is power and I have never shied away from that mantra. We are in the midst of one of the biggest epidemics in recent time and my focus is on educating and calming a fearful public. That's what we all should be focused on right now."Oz and the 72-year-old Dr. Miller—a former Food and Drug Administration official and ex-academic fellow at Stanford University's conservative-leaning Hoover Institution—are longtime adversaries. On an April 2015 installment of The Dr. Oz Show, Oz countered Miller's headline-grabbing open letter to Columbia University demanding his dismissal by slamming Miller as a paid shill for the tobacco, pesticide, and genetically modified food industries. (Indeed, Miller was dropped as a columnist by Forbes magazine in 2017 after The New York Times reported that one of his 2015 bylined columns largely echoed a draft prepared by employees of Monsanto.)In addition, Oz noted that one of the letter's 10 physician co-signers, Dr. Gilbert Ross, was a convicted felon who served prison time for Medicaid fraud.Still, most of Oz's critics are not so easily attacked.Three Mayo Clinic scientists—Dr. Jon C. Tilburt, M.D., and PhDs Megan Allyse and Frederic W. Hafferty—pulled no punches in their February 2017 article in the AMA Journal of Ethics about the troubling questions raised by Oz's public influence."Should a physician be allowed to say anything—however inaccurate and potentially harmful—so long as that individual commands market share?" they wrote. "In a professional sector whose history and growth is marked by the sustained and rightful denouncement of quacks and quackery… an inability to define and fence the epistemic boundaries of scientific medicine from apparent quackery on such a visible scale becomes something akin to a full-scale identity crisis for medicine…"Dr. Oz certainly appears to be someone peddling unproven and ineffective remedies for personal gain… Yet, he remains immensely popular, prompting us to wonder, if we can't effectively sanction Dr. Oz, whom can we sanction?"Meanwhile, a May 2018 article by Rina Raphael, Fast Company magazine's health and technology writer, decried Donald Trump's appointment of Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition."The inclusion of Dr. Oz took many in the health industry by surprise, especially those who have been following the TV star's snake-oil antics over the last few years," Raphael wrote. "Oz has been repeatedly called out for his support of false, deceptive products and unproven medical practices, both from the medical community and consumer watchdog groups."His appointment clearly speaks in no way to his reputation as a trusted medical source, but rather to his celebrity status—and the ability to parlay that into multiple business opportunities. Perhaps that's what Trump, who has shown a preference for pundits over experts, finds appealing."More likely, Trump was simply rewarding Oz for letting the then-Republican presidential nominee and his daughter Ivanka onto the Sept. 15, 2016 installment of his syndicated show to tell whoppers, unchallenged, about his physical condition, especially the obvious sham that the obese candidate weighed only 236 pounds. Oz accepted at face value the conclusions of Trump's discredited doctor, Harold Bornstein, who declared that his patient "will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.""Talk about two snake-oil salesman!" then-Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said at the time about Trump's appearance on Dr. Oz."I mean one of them says, 'Take a pill and you'll be thin'… from your lips to God's ear wouldn't we all love that? Not true. Not medically true. Not scientifically true. And Dr. Oz knows it," said McCaskill, who famously dressed Oz down for pushing diet scams during a 2014 Senate hearing.Trump, meanwhile, is "promising things that are totally not true. Lying every time he opens his mouth," McCaskill added. "So I think it's really a marriage made in heaven."Oz's legion of critics also includes, but isn't limited to, New Yorker science writer Michael Specter, the British Medical Journal, and Popular Science magazine.As of this writing, however, it seems highly doubtful that NBC News and the Today show will spend even a second, much less 20, washing their hands of Dr. Oz.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| South Korea sees coronavirus 'stable phase' but 'too early to be optimistic' Posted: 08 Mar 2020 06:33 PM PDT  South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed guarded hope for the country's fight against the coronavirus on Monday, saying a downward trend in new infections could lead to a phase of stability, but he warned that it was too early to be optimistic. The numbers showed the rate of increase in new infections fell to its lowest level in 11 days in one of the most severely affected countries outside mainland China. Moon said South Korea can enter the "phase of stability" soon if it continues to reduce the number of new cases.
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| A Look at the Complete Works of Antoni Gaudí Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:02 PM PDT |
| Wuhan Official Called for ‘Gratitude Education’ to Teach Citizens to Thank Xi Jinping for Coronavirus Response Posted: 09 Mar 2020 12:09 PM PDT  The top Communist Party official in Wuhan suggested Saturday that the government conduct "gratitude education" to teach citizens how to properly thank the party and general secretary Xi Jinping for the government's response to the coronavirus outbreak."The people of Wuhan are heroic people who understand gratitude," Wuhan party secretary Wang Zhonglin said in comments published by Changjiang Daily. "[We] must through various channels carry out gratitude education among the citizens of the whole city as well as cadres so that they thank the general secretary [Xi Jinping], thank the communist party, listen to the party's words, follow the party's way, and create strong positive energy."The comments were first reported on in English by the China Media Project, and were subsequently seen by The Guardian. China Media Project reported that the remarks drew strong backlash on social media and from Chinese journalists, and Changjiang Daily apparently removed the article from its website.Chinese authorities have faced unprecedented criticism from the country's citizens over its response to the coronavirus outbreak. On Thursday, quarantined Wuhan residents angrily shouted from their windows as Vice-premier Sun Chunlan, one of the highest-ranking officials in the government, visited a residential complex."It's fake, it's fake, everything is fake!" residents shouted. Video of the incident went viral, and was even shared by China state newspaper The Global Times.> "It's fake! It's fake!" shout residents of a community in COVID19 epicenter Wuhan in a viral video on China's social media. They have accused property management of cheating them by only appearing to provide promised necessities. Investigation is underway https://t.co/kzq4gbB4RM pic.twitter.com/0ujObfedR8> > -- Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 6, 2020Wuhan residents have been quarantined at home for weeks now, relying on local government workers to provide basic necessities.China has confirmed over 80,000 cases of the coronavirus and reported 3,119 deaths from the illness.
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| Italy's prime minister just placed the entire country on lockdown in a nationwide extension of its coronavirus restriction zone Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:04 PM PDT  The number of coronavirus cases in Italy surpassed 9,000 on Monday, prompting the government to quarantine the whole country. Over 460 people are dead.
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| 'I'm frightened there's not a sense of urgency': Most Americans don't approve of Trump's handling of coronavirus Posted: 09 Mar 2020 01:50 PM PDT  A slight majority of Americans disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the coronavirus outbreak, and just under 40 per cent say his response would make them less likely to vote for his re-election.The survey, conducted last week by Public Policy Polling, found 51 per cent of Americans disapprove of the president's response to the virus, with 42 per cent saying they approve.
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| James Biden’s health care ventures face a growing legal morass Posted: 09 Mar 2020 01:30 AM PDT  A mysterious FBI raid. New allegations from former executives. Questions are swirling about the business dealings of Joe Biden's brother.
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| Transgender queen crowned in Thailand as coronavirus limits crowd Posted: 07 Mar 2020 06:12 PM PST  After temperature checks for contestants and with a smaller crowd than last year because of coronavirus fears, Mexico's Valentina Fluchaire was crowned in Thailand as winner of what is billed as the world's biggest transgender pageant on Saturday. Although Miss International Queen 2020 went ahead, unlike many events cancelled around the world since the coronavirus outbreak emerged in China, the crowd was markedly smaller than in previous years, with many empty seats. The contestants all had their temperatures taken with hand scanners before being allowed to go on stage in national costumes, swimsuits and glamorous evening gowns.
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| Pentagon awards contracts to design mobile nuclear reactor Posted: 09 Mar 2020 10:42 AM PDT  The Department of Defense has two parallel nuclear reactor programs underway, one for domestic use, one for use abroad.
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| Over 2 dozen charged in horse racing drug scam Posted: 09 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Authorities have charged more than two dozen horse racing professionals over a widespread drug scheme to make horses perform better.
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| Oil price war, Mecca ban are latest risks by Saudi prince Posted: 09 Mar 2020 05:26 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind the kingdom's boldest and riskiest moves in decades, most recently shutting down Islam's holiest sites to pilgrims to stymie the spread of a new virus and the government's decision to slash oil prices in what analysts say has sparked a price war with major producer Russia. As his father's favored son, the 34-year-old prince oversees nearly every major aspect of the country's defense, economy, internal security, social reforms and foreign policy. The prince's headline-grabbing path to power has been paved with controversy, conflict and combat.
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| Elizabeth Warren is out of the race, but advocates hope her disability plan is the new standard Posted: 09 Mar 2020 08:42 AM PDT  Elizabeth Warren exited the presidential race this week, but advocates who worked on her disability plan hope it will set a "standard" going forward.
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| Russia has been accused by the US of spreading conspiracy theories that coronavirus is a biological weapon created by the CIA, and now the UK has set up a unit to fight them Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:45 AM PDT  Thousands of social-media accounts have been made to spread conspiracy theories that the novel coronavirus is a biological weapon created by the CIA.
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| Trump feuds with airlines over coronavirus after White House asks for passenger information Posted: 09 Mar 2020 08:16 AM PDT  Requests by the Trump administration to the airline industry to collect more passenger information to help stem the spread of coronavirus have resulted in heightened tensions between the industry and the White House.The administration - at the urging of the Centers of Disease Control - has asked airlines to begin collecting data on travellers to help the government slow the spread of coronavirus. Airline industry officials claim they don't have the technology available to meet the government's requests, but the CDC is sceptical.
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| Trump only wants to hear good news about the coronavirus outbreak, hindering the response, officials say Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:33 AM PDT  When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar met with President Trump in late January, he "was having trouble focusing Trump's full attention on his coronavirus briefing," The Washington Post reports. "Trump instead interjected, badgering the health chief about the administration's messy decision to implement a limited ban on flavored e-cigarettes."Azar "had concluded that the new coronavirus posed a public health risk and tried to share an urgent message with the president: The potential outbreak could leave tens of thousands of Americans sickened and many dead," Politico adds. "But Trump's aides mocked and belittled Azar as alarmist," and Azar, trying to ingratiate himself with Trump after a bruising fight with CMS chief Seema Verma, wasn't "in the position to deliver the message that the president didn't want to hear," one former official told Politico.The coronavirus had already proved its ferocity in China by that point, but "the boss has made it clear, he likes to see his people fight, and he wants the news to be good," an adviser to a senior coronavirus team member tells Politico. "This is the world he's made."Last Monday there were 89 cases in the U.S., Stephen Collinson writes at CNN. But after "a week packed with conflicting messages, misplaced optimism, and obfuscation by the president," the coronavirus "has now spread into 34 states and the District of Columbia, at least 550 cases have been confirmed, and at least 21 people have died," and "the true extent of the crisis was disguised by delays and malfunctions in coronavirus testing that suggest the administration squandered valuable time as the virus ravaged China to properly prepare for its U.S. arrival.""For a president who lives in the moment, rarely planning too far ahead, the coronavirus has proved to be a leadership challenge he was not prepared for either," Peter Baker writes at The New York Times. Trump "has expressed an astonishing lack of knowledge while at the same time claiming to be a medical savant. He has treated the crisis as a partisan battle. ... He even admitted that he wanted to leave passengers stranded on a cruise ship rather than see statistics for the number of cases on American soil go up because it would look bad." Trump also incorrectly said tests were available for anyone who needs them.Trump insists his administration has the COVID-19 outbreak under control.More stories from theweek.com Trump retweets White House photo of him fiddling, says he doesn't know 'what this means' Washington nursing home with coronavirus outbreak reported shocking escalation from 'no symptoms to death' S&P 500 has 7th worst decline since World War II
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| Italy Prison in Flames in Coronavirus Lockdown Riot Among Cut-Off Inmates Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:42 AM PDT  ROME—As least six inmates have died, and at least 50 others have escaped from an Italian prison in the southern region of Puglia on Monday amid extensive rioting in 27 prisons across the country after visitation rights were curtailed due to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. Italy Locks Down 16 Million People To Contain CoronavirusRiots broke out Sunday afternoon in half a dozen prisons after the Italian government enacted a draconian decree that has locked down 16 million people and curtailed movement across the entire country to try to contain the spread of COVID-19. By Monday, the riots had spread to nearly 30 detention facilities.The number of coronavirus cases in Italy reached 9,172 on Monday, the highest number outside of China. At least 463 people have died in Italy with the virus, the second highest number of fatalities after China. In Modena, now part of the extended outbreak red zone designated by the government, prisoners were able to take two guards hostage Sunday and steal keys before climbing a barrier fence to try to escape. They were eventually pushed back by riot police, but the prison had been so damaged that all inmates had to be moved to temporary facilities. In a prison in Pavia, inmates lit mattresses on fire, causing a wing of the facility to be evacuated Sunday. Flames coming from the prison could be seen more than a half-mile away.On Monday, prisoners were seen on top of the San Vittore Prison in Milan, at the heart of the outbreak. There, fires were burning in some areas after all visitation rights were banned after the city was put on lockdown Sunday. During morning recreational time, inmates charged guards and gained access to the roof.In Rome, where nearly 90 people have tested positive for the disease across the province, prisoners have been prohibited from congregating in open areas for recreation. In the Regina Coeli prison in central Rome, inmates could be heard yelling and banging objects in their cells on Monday. Prisoners in the city's Rebibbia prison also set that facility on fire on Monday afternoon, after which around 30 prisoners escaped. Helicopters were flying low over the city center, and sirens wailed for most of the afternoon as the inmates were apprehended. Most criminal trials that have not been suspended across the country will be held in closed courtrooms without prisoners present—out of fear of them contracting the virus in court and spreading it to other inmates. The murder trial involving American teens Finnegan Elder and Gabe Natale for the stabbing death of an Italian police officer last July was in session behind closed doors Monday, but the suspects were not allowed to leave the prison to attend the hearing. Italian prisons are severely overcrowded, with 61,230 inmates in detention centers meant to hold a capacity of no more than 50,950. Inmate-rights groups have complained that testing is not being conducted inside prisons across the country and that a lack of confirmed cases among the incarcerated is not reflective of the current situation. 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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| Chinese Propagandists Stoke Theory That Coronavirus Originated in U.S. Posted: 09 Mar 2020 12:17 PM PDT  Chinese state media are amplifying a conspiracy that the Wuhan coronavirus may have originated in the U.S.The media push may have begun in earnest on February 27 when Zhong Nanshan, a pulmonologist who has made major announcements on Chinese state media, said at a press conference: "The coronavirus first appeared in China but may not have originated in China." Other media outlets have repeated or implied the same message."If it's true that the virus originated in the United States, should China still apologize to the world?" read an article in College Daily, a WeChat account based in New York City popular with Chinese students studying abroad. On Saturday, China's ambassador to South Africa wrote on his Twitter account, "Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus is originated from China, let alone 'made in China.'""Go on WeChat, go on Weibo, look on Baidu search, and it's full of 'look at all the other countries getting sick,' or 'the virus came from the United States,' or all different levels of conspiracy theories," Xiao Qiang, founder of the China Digital Times and adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Information, told the Washington Post."It's more than just some disinformation or an official narrative," Xiao said. "It's an orchestrated, all-out campaign by the Chinese government through every channel at a level you rarely see. It's a counteroffensive."Dali Yang, professor of political science at Chicago University, said the media campaign was an attempt to draw citizens' attention away from China's response to the outbreak."The purpose is to lessen the focus on how China bungled its response," Yang said. "It's a kind of blame-shifting."
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| Hands off: 'No touch' virus policy for Philippines president Posted: 09 Mar 2020 04:31 AM PDT  Well-wishers will not be allowed to touch Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte under new measures announced Monday by his security detail, as the deadly coronavirus spreads in the country. At 74, Duterte is in a vulnerable age group for the virus, which has proven particularly harmful in older people with pre-existing conditions. "The PSG (Presidential Security Group) will implement a no-touch policy between the president and the public," group commander Jesus Durante said in a statement.
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| Coronavirus may force Americans to avoid crowds and cancel cruises, health official warns Posted: 08 Mar 2020 11:15 AM PDT  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans, especially those who are vulnerable, may need to stop attending big gatherings as the coronavirus spreads through U.S. communities, a top health official said on Sunday, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets. Anthony Fauci, the head of the infectious diseases unit at the National Institutes of Health, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that after initial missteps distributing tests, there should be 400,000 more tests available by Monday and 4 million by the end of the week. In the United States, 19 people have died out of about 450 reported cases of coronavirus, which originated in China last year and causes the sometimes deadly respiratory illness COVID-19.
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| Destroyers left behind: US Navy cancels plans to extend service lives of its workhorse DDGs Posted: 09 Mar 2020 07:16 AM PDT  The Navy is killing a plan to add 10 years to the hull life of its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
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| 'Every day is getting worse': Coronavirus patient sends stark warning to others about disease Posted: 09 Mar 2020 11:28 AM PDT  The first confirmed coronavirus patient in New Jersey has spoken out about his experience of contracting the virus.James Cai, a 32-year-old physician's assistant, who was the first patient to test positive for the virus in the state, spoke to CBS2's Hazel Sanchez about how rapidly he had fallen ill after contracting Covid-19.
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| The Middle East is coping with the coronavirus by disinfecting mosques and canceling Muslim prayers Posted: 09 Mar 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Mosques across the Middle East are being disinfected to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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| Iwo Jima hero, 96, sees US warship commissioned in his honor Posted: 08 Mar 2020 03:29 PM PDT |
| Trump spreads fake video of Joe Biden Posted: 09 Mar 2020 03:11 AM PDT  Donald Trump has been criticised for retweeting a doctored video of Joe Biden supposedly endorsing his re-election – spurring Twitter to use its "manipulated media" warning tag for a video for the first time.In the clip, originally shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino, Mr Biden first stumbles over his words and then says "we can only re-elect Donald Trump".
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| Remains of 'Baby Evelyn' Boswell are believed to have been found at relative's home Posted: 08 Mar 2020 12:04 PM PDT  The remains were found at a property owned by her mom's relative.
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| Two Marines Killed in Iraq During Counter-ISIS Operation Posted: 09 Mar 2020 11:20 AM PDT  Two members of a Marine Special Operations team were killed Sunday in northern Iraq while conducting an operation with Iraqi forces against Islamic State fighters hiding in a cave complex.The operation, which occurred in the mountains south of Erbil, resulted in an additional mission to rescue the bodies, which took nearly six hours. The identities are being withheld while family members are notified."The forces trekked through mountainous terrain and eliminated four hostile ISIS fighters who were barricaded in the caves," Colonel Myles B. Caggins III, a spokesman for the American-led mission in Iraq and Syria, said.The Iraqi military said that the larger operation resulted in at least 25 ISIS fighters killed, and the destruction of nine tunnels and a terrorist training camp.The U.S. causalities are the first of 2020 in Iraq. The last soldier killed in Iraq was Marine Gunnery Sergeant Scott A. Koppenhafer, also a member of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), known as Marine Raiders. Koppenhafer died during a mission in Iraq's Nineveh province in August.In October, the U.S. withdrew the majority of its forces from northern Syria and repositioned roughly 700 of them in Iraq, with a focus on limiting the resurgence of ISIS. "[One objective] is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a counter-ISIS mission as we sort through the next steps," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on the shift.U.S. special forces then conducted a daring night raid from Iraq to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib."Baghdadi's demise demonstrates America's relentless pursuit of terrorist leaders, and our commitment to the enduring and total defeat of ISIS," President Trump said following the news.
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| Italy quarantines millions as coronavirus deaths jump 50% Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:03 AM PDT  Italy is the hardest hit country outside of Asia with more than 7,300 reported infections.
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| Turkey issues new arrest warrant for jailed businessman Kavala Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:01 PM PDT  A Turkish court issued a new arrest warrant on Monday against Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was re-arrested last month after being acquitted in a separate trial, one of his lawyers told Reuters. Kavala had been cleared of charges related to nationwide protests in 2013, but was re-arrested the following day, accused of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in a failed coup in 2016. On Monday, a second arrest warrant was issued in relation to the coup attempt, this time for espionage.
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| Delta ups the ante, announces no change fees for all flights through April amid coronavirus Posted: 09 Mar 2020 01:21 PM PDT  Delta and others previously relaxed change fee policies for new tickets. This covers all tickets for travel in March and April.
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| The U.S. doesn't have enough ICU beds or ventilators to deal with even a moderate coronavirus outbreak Posted: 09 Mar 2020 06:59 AM PDT  While the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have refrained from calling the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, CNN started referring to it as such on Monday. And although that should not "cause panic," it does mean the U.S. needs to shore up its medical resources before things get worse, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explained in a Monday article.So far around the world we've seen 100,000 cases and 3,000 deaths from COVID-19, and in Gupta's opinion, that fits the CDC's definition of pandemic as "an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people." And while the government isn't using that word yet, it is admitting that coronavirus spread is a question of not if, but when.Looking at how COVID-19 affected China can provide a preview of what it'll look like in the U.S. In China, "around 80 percent of those infected with the coronavirus had symptoms of a bad cold and are expected to recover. Another 14 percent became severely ill, and 5 percent became critically ill," Gupta writes. So according to estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services, that translates to about 200,000 people needing intensive care in the case of a moderate outbreak. That could be a big problem, seeing as the U.S. has less than 100,000 ICU beds.An estimated 64,000 people will also need ventilators in a moderate outbreak, CNN reports, but the U.S. only has about 62,000 of those machines ready to go. It has another 8,900 in its national stockpile, but "given that this is flu season, many of those are already in use," Gupta writes. Read more about the preparedness problem at CNN.More stories from theweek.com Trump retweets White House photo of him fiddling, says he doesn't know 'what this means' Washington nursing home with coronavirus outbreak reported shocking escalation from 'no symptoms to death' S&P 500 has 7th worst decline since World War II
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| Samsung's new Galaxy S20 Ultra costs twice as much as Apple's iPhone 11 — and it feels out of touch at a time when smartphones are finally getting cheaper Posted: 08 Mar 2020 06:12 AM PDT  It's going to be harder than ever for Samsung to justify the $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra's price as a wave of cheaper smartphones are on the horizon.
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| Oil crash sparks 'Black Monday' meltdown on virus-hit markets Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:35 PM PDT  World oil prices crashed Monday, fueling a vicious selloff on stock markets which were already buckling from the spreading coronavirus outbreak.
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| Donald Trump Jr. Defends ‘Hyperbole’ About Democrats and Coronavirus Posted: 08 Mar 2020 05:32 PM PDT  Just over a week ago, as the severity of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak was just starting to become apparent, Donald Trump Jr. went on Fox & Friends and said this about Democrats: "Anything that they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will… But for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so they can end Donald Trump's streak of winning is a new level of sickness." In a new clip from Sunday night's episode of Axios on HBO, the first son is asked by co-host Jim VandeHei if he has any "regrets" about those remarks. "Not at all, not at all," Trump Jr. said, looking down. He stammered a bit as he added, "I think I can talk about it in hyperbole. You know, I don't know that they want 'millions' of people—but you could see them, there was nothing that Trump could do that could turn his response to coronavirus into, 'Hey, he did a good job.'" After trying to shift blame to The New York Times for an op-ed column headlined, "Let's Call It Trumpvirus," Trump Jr. repeated, "I'm entitled to speak with hyperbole and I think that drives home the point of what I'm saying." And yet even as he was defending his "right" to accuse Democrats of wishing for mass death, Trump Jr. did finally acknowledge that it was all for political sport. "I don't actually think that," he said. SNL Roasts Trump's Coronavirus Response: 'We're All Gonna Die'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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| Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea Posted: 08 Mar 2020 09:53 PM PDT  Researchers say China's maritime militia has constantly lingered around Thitu Island, the largest of the Spratly Islands occupied by the Philippines, for over 450 days, but that Manila is proceeding with improvements to the island's infrastructure.
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| World Must Move Fast to ‘Whatever It Takes’ Mode, El-Erian Says Posted: 09 Mar 2020 07:10 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Mohamed El-Erian said the world's policy makers will do all they can to keep the coronavirus from spurring a deeper economic slump, but he said it's worrisome that international policy coordination isn't as solid as it was in the past."I foresee a whatever-it-takes policy approach that is going to be both in central banks and government agencies," El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview Monday. A sudden economic halt "is particularly dangerous because it destroys both demand and supply, and that is what we are living through right now."Policy makers "have massive catch-up to play" as the scope of the challenge becomes clearer, said El-Erian, who's also a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He said he doesn't see direct parallels with the start of the crisis in 2008 because he isn't worried about banks and potential issues with the payments and settlements system. But he said another comparison is more worrying: the world's economic authorities so far aren't acting in concert as they have in the past."The extent of global policy coordination is much lower, and whether it's the coronavirus, whether the excessive reliance on liquidity, whether it is markets that have been mispriced for a long time, this is a global problem that requires collective action," he said.But the kind of action that Group of 20 leaders took during the global financial crisis, when they met in London to coordinate a response, will likely be harder now, El-Erian said. "The bad thing relative to 2008 is that we're not going to get a London Summit quickly." that will allow to put in an economic bottoming."'Do Not Buy'In a subsequent interview on Bloomberg Television as U.S. stocks plunged at the open in New York, El-Erian said it's too soon for investors to start buying again."Do not buy this dip, respect the technicals," he said. "This will sort itself out, but will not sort itself out before some further damage unfortunately. You should also not panic."It's time to stay on the sidelines and wait for technical factors to play out, as painful as it might be, he said. He added that there's been a turn in credit cycle as economic and earnings prospects have worsened and that the corporate bond market is likely to see an increase in defaults."You're going to get more of a freeze on new issuance, companies with vulnerable balance sheets -- meaning little cash, high maturing debt -- are going to have difficulty re-funding themselves," he said.(Updates to add comments from television interview under 'Do Not Buy' subheadline)\--With assistance from Jonathan Ferro, Tom Keene and Sarah Ponczek.To contact the reporters on this story: Max Reyes in Washington at mreyes125@bloomberg.net;Jeff Kearns in Washington at jkearns3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Jeff KearnsFor 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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| Islamists hurl stones and shoes at Women's Day marchers in Pakistan Posted: 08 Mar 2020 09:34 AM PDT  Islamists pelted campaigners with stones, shoes and sticks as they marched through Pakistan's capital on Sunday to mark International Women's Day. Women and men joined the event in Islamabad, one of several rallies across the country, for what is known in Pakistan as the Aurat March, using the Urdu word for women. Hundreds of men and women from the Red Mosque brigade, consisting of several local militant groups, and a Taliban allied religious party staged a rival rally just across from the women's march venue, District Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said.
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| Report: Iran commander killed in Syria Posted: 09 Mar 2020 07:39 AM PDT  An official with Iran's Revolutionary Guard who took part in battles around war-torn Syria was killed near the Syrian capital, an Iranian semiofficial news agency and an opposition war monitor reported Saturday.
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| 'It is likely that people you know will die': Coronavirus could be like 1918 flu pandemic, warns ex-CDC expert Posted: 09 Mar 2020 02:25 PM PDT  The coronavirus crisis could be as serious and deadly as the 1918 flu pandemic which killed up to 50m people around the world, a former CDC infectious disease specialist has warned.As health experts from Milan to Wuhan scrambled to try and stop the spread of COVID-19, which has now infected more than 108,000 people and killed 3,800, an epidemiologist in Washington state has warned that "people you know" will likely die.
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