| 'They know how to keep people alive': Why China's coronavirus response is better than you think Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:17 PM PDT  China has become a popular scapegoat for the coronavirus pandemic. But there are many lessons to be learned from how Beijing has responded to the disease, according to the top World Health Organization epidemiologist working on the coronavirus response there.
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| Pregnant teen falls from Texas border wall and dies as migrants take more risks to cross Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:21 AM PDT  A 19-year-old pregnant Guatemalan who fell attempting to scale the border barrier near El Paso has died. Her fetus did not survive.
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| U.S. launches strikes in retaliation for attack that killed 3 coalition service members Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:22 AM PDT  The strikes were aimed at five weapon storage facilities.
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| Italy's coronavirus deaths surge as Lombardy seeks tougher curbs Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:33 AM PDT  The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has jumped by 250 in the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase ever recorded by any country, as the worst-affected Lombardy region asked for a complete shutdown of factories and offices. The government this week imposed drastic curbs nationwide, shutting bars, restaurants and most shops, and banning non-essential travel in an effort to halt the worst outbreak of the disease outside China. The measures so far show no sign of slowing the number of deaths, which rose by 25% in a day to 1,266, the head of the Civil Protection Agency said on Friday.
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| Chinese official suggests U.S. Army to blame for outbreak Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:50 AM PDT  "It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan," tweeted Zhao Lijian. "Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!"
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| Coronavirus lockdown helps Italian police nab 'leading' mobster Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:10 AM PDT  A top 'Ndrangheta clan member was arrested in Italy after police, helped by the anti-coronavirus lockdown, spotted the fugitive smoking inside a seemingly deserted safe house, authorities said Friday. Cesare Cordi, described by police as a "leading figure of the 'Ndrangheta of Locri" in southern Calabria, had been on the run since August, when a judge issued a warrant for the 42-year-old's arrest. Thanks to the empty streets and stay-at-home orders imposed throughout the country due to the coronavirus risk, the police, who had been tracking Cordi for days, found him at a house in the town of Bruzzano Zeffirio, at the tip of Italy's boot, late on Thursday.
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| Utah bill forcing women to see baby on ultrasound before having abortion passes, despite walkout protest by female senators Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The entire female body of the Utah Senate staged a walkout in protest of an abortion bill mandating women to be shown the fetus on an ultrasound before being allowed to have the procedure.
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| President Trump says he'll 'most likely' get tested for coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:32 PM PDT  President Trump said Friday afternoon that he would "most likely" be tested "fairly soon" for the coronavirus, reversing course from his administration's dismissal of the need to do so earlier in the week.
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| US general: 'fairly certain' North Korea has COVID-19 cases Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:58 AM PDT  The top American general in South Korea said Friday he is fairly certain North Korea has not been spared by the COVID-19 outbreak that began in neighboring China, although the North has not publicly confirmed a single case. Speaking by video-teleconference from his headquarters in South Korea, Army Gen. Robert Abrams told reporters at the Pentagon that the North had halted military training for a month — including a 24-day hiatus in military flying — but has since resumed. Earlier this week, North Korean state media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised his second live-fire artillery exercise in a week.
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| The first COVID-19 case originated on November 17, according to Chinese officials searching for 'patient zero' Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:19 AM PDT  It wasn't until late December that Chinese officials realized they had a new kind of virus on their hands.
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| U.S. sanctions 'severely hamper' Iran coronavirus fight, Rouhani says Posted: 14 Mar 2020 04:08 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani said Iran's fight against the coronavirus was being "severely hampered" by U.S. sanctions, as state television reported that the death toll from the illness rose on Saturday to 611, up nearly 100 from a day earlier. State media said Rouhani wrote to a number of world leaders, without naming them. "In (a) letter to counterparts @HassanRouhani informs how efforts to fight #COVID19 pandemic in Iran have been severely hampered by US sanctions, urging them to cease observing them," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
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| 'We’re basing this on science': Ohio emerges as leader in U.S. coronavirus response Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Ohio's quick response to its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus was months in the making.
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| Muslims still feel unsafe a year after New Zealand massacre Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:07 PM PDT  Aliya Danzeisen rises before dawn every day to hear the news so she can prepare her school-age daughters for any harassment they may face for being Muslim. "We don't feel any safer," the Muslim community leader says, reflecting on the 12 months since the Christchurch mosque attacks, in which a self-declared white supremacist killed 51 Muslims at Friday prayers. The abuse experienced prior to the attacks on March 15 last year died down immediately after the killings, Danzeisen said, adding: "It felt the entire New Zealand population was rallying behind us."
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| Court cites coronavirus in blocking Trump administration's food stamp cuts Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:08 AM PDT  Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia cited the coronavirus pandemic in her decision to suspend the rule from going into effect.
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| Is coronavirus 'just a cold' or a reason to self-quarantine? Trump supporters seem split. Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:08 PM PDT  The worsening coronavirus outbreak has prompted some of Trump's allies and aides to self-quarantine — while other supporters continue to publicly minimize the risk.
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| China Launches a Fake News Campaign to Blame the U.S. for Coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:32 AM PDT  HONG KONG—Bombastic Chinese government officials are laying the groundwork to blame the United States for the global coronavirus pandemic, and in turn extricate the Chinese Communist Party from any blame. Trumpian rhetoric, it seems, has a clear mirror reflection on the other side of the globe. The American president calls the pandemic sweeping the globe "a foreign virus"? The Chinese are calling it an American one.Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry and face of the CCP, insinuated by tweet in both English and Chinese on Thursday that the United States is behind the the novel coronavirus outbreak in China: "CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!"The rant was inexplicably paired with a video clip from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield's testimony before Congress on Wednesday, subtitled in Chinese, about Americans who may have been misdiagnosed with the flu when they actually had COVID-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.Zhao's creeping escalation of rhetoric is the latest example of the Chinese Communist Party's attempt to shift blame after its officials bungled efforts to contain the virus at the onset of the outbreak. And who better than its key geopolitical foe—the United States—to be the scapegoat?The claim by Zhao was first seeded in late February, when Zhong Nanshan, a seasoned epidemiologist and pulmonologist who identified the SARS virus in 2003, said that the coronavirus "may not have originated in China" even though the first known cases were in the city of Wuhan and the majority of confirmed infections were there and in the rest of Hubei province.It didn't take long for state media and Chinese trolls to grab hold of Zhong's talking point, merging it with the crackpot theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon. Soon they were asking which nation has sophisticated biowarfare capabilities and can release its viral weapons to wipe out an unsuspecting population. The obvious conclusion, for them, was the United States.Simultaneously, on Chinese social networks like Weibo, hashtags for the "Japanese virus" and the "Iranian virus" helped shape the narrative that SARS-CoV-2 could be of foreign origin, and China merely got a raw deal. Now, the "Italian virus" tag is doing the same.Never mind that Chinese researchers, like Shi Zhengli, the "Bat Woman" virologist profiled by Scientific American, have conducted field research in China's rural areas to locate and identify dozens of lethal viruses that are similar to SARS and the coronavirus that is now infecting many around the world. They recognize that there are many more strains that could make the leap to humans, causing new viral outbreaks like the one China went through in the past three months.Like Trump, Zhao has a history of posting combative outbursts on Twitter, which is banned in China except for some of the party's officials. He is one of the first Chinese diplomats to register and run an official account on Twitter—and the first to weaponize his feed, rallying China's paid trolls through talking points spewed onto the social network. Last August, he was promoted from his post as deputy chief of mission in Pakistan to become deputy director of the Chinese foreign ministry's information department.That's all to say, in an age of post-truth misinformation and disinformation, Zhao is Beijing's vociferous master of spin. Other Chinese officials often echo his talking points online. There is little doubt that the CCP's ranks coordinate the content of their Twitter feeds.As new infection numbers taper off to mere dozens per day in China, the pandemic is politicized more than ever. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan this week in what was essentially a victory tour for the country's "war" against the virus. To prevent the embarrassing situation from the previous week, where residents shouted "It's all fake!" from their balconies when a CCP official staged a photo op, two police officers were stationed in every apartment near locations where Xi was set to appear.Right now, people in mainland China and Hong Kong are baffled by the current situations in Western Europe and the United States. There have been months of warnings from Asia, and thousands have died from COVID-19, yet all of that was insufficient for many nations in the West to prepare for the virus' landfall."If it were purely a financial crisis in Asia—an illness of capital," a venture investor said to me offhandedly this week, "institutions [in Europe and America] like banks and hedge funds would have reacted with no delay." But public health, she suggested, wasn't as much of a concern even in an era of globalization, when, normally, many millions of people are moved across continents each day.In the past three months, some of those who suffered in China thought their cases would be signals of a global threat. That their warning signs were mostly ignored may serve to feed Zhao's disinformation suggesting the U.S. is behind it all.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Russia closes land border with Poland and Norway to foreigners over coronavirus fears Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:44 AM PDT  The Russian government said on Saturday it was closing the country's land border with Poland and Norway to foreigners from midnight as a precautionary measure to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. It said the closure would apply to all foreigners passing through those border points for tourism, study, work or private visits. Russian authorities, who have already taken a slew of measures to cancel flights and trains, impose quarantine rules, and partially close Russia's long land border with China, said on Saturday they had registered 14 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
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| Coronavirus: Quebec leader asks seniors to stay in, 'snowbirds' to fly back to Canada Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:03 PM PDT  Quebec's premier told seniors Saturday to stay home to avoid contracting the new coronavirus, and urged "snowbirds" -- retired Canadians who spend winters in sunny US states -- to fly back to Canada now. "If I were them, I'd come home as soon as possible," Legault also said about more than 300,000 Canadian "snowbirds" who live up to six months each year in the United States. As of 1300 GMT Saturday, said Health Canada, 193 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed in Canada, including one death.
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| New Zealand PM makes 'no apologies' after announcing 'toughest border restrictions' in the world amid coronavirus fears Posted: 14 Mar 2020 05:22 AM PDT  Countries around the world continued Saturday to enact strict measures such as border closures and flight cancellations to combat the spread of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus.That includes New Zealand, whose Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Saturday the government will implement a policy under which all travelers, even New Zealanders, must self-isolate upon their arrival in the country for 14 days starting Sunday at midnight.Ardern said New Zealand, along with Israel and several Pacific Island nations, "will have the widest ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world," adding that she's not making any apologies in this "unprecedented time." All cruise ships will be banned from coming to New Zealand until June 30, as well. There are only six confirmed cases and no deaths attributed to COVID-19 in New Zealand so far.Ardern has proven herself to be a swift actor in the past. Almost exactly one year ago, a white nationalist gunman killed more than 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, prompting Ardern to usher in a ban on semiautomatic rifles and institute mandatory buybacks in less than a week. It's no surprise she's not taking her time this time, either. Read more at Reuters and New Zealand Herald.More stories from theweek.com Trump just gave the worst speech of his presidency Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting the spread of coronavirus White House will extend Europe travel ban to Ireland, UK, considering domestic restrictions
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| Official: Pentagon launches airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militia after rocket attack on U.S., British troops Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:55 AM PDT  The U.S. airstrikes came after the U.S. military confirmed three coalition personnel in Iraq were killed after rockets hit Iraq's Camp Taji base.
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| Sasse Rips Pelosi for Trying to Smuggle Hyde Amendment Loophole into Coronavirus Package Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:36 AM PDT  Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Democrats for reportedly trying to ensure federal funding for abortion as part of the coronavirus economic stimulus plan."While schools are closing and hospitals are gearing up, Speaker Pelosi is waging unnecessary culture wars. Speaker Pelosi should be fighting the coronavirus pandemic, not politicizing emergency funding by fighting against the bipartisan Hyde Amendment," Sasse told National Review in a statement. "We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood. Good grief."Pelosi attempted to secure a funding stream of up to $1 billion for reimbursing laboratory claims. According to White House officials who spoke with the Daily Caller, that provision would establish a precedent under which health claims for all procedures, including abortion, could be reimbursed with federal funds. That precedent would render the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding for abortion clinics, obsolete.Pelosi resisted efforts by Democrats to end the Hyde Amendment in recent months, with progressives being forced to abandon an attempt to "ensure" abortion coverage for people using federal health programs as part of a $190 billion budget bill passed in July."It is the law of the land right now, and I don't see that there's an opportunity to get rid of it with the current occupant of the White House and this U.S. Senate," Pelosi said at the time, adding that she does not support the Hyde Amendment herself.But Pelosi's tactics were seemingly confirmed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), who claimed in an interview on Fox News Thursday night that "right now we are hearing that some of the fights and some of the gridlock is because people are trying to put pro-life provisions into this."> .@AOC talking about the response to Coronavirus with @BretBaier pic.twitter.com/WcXWvI3g62> > -- Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 12, 2020Pelosi went back and forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Thursday, ultimately coming close to a deal, with the House set to vote on the package Friday after the Speaker reportedly dropped the matter."We've resolved most of our differences, and [for] those we haven't we'll continue the conversation, because there will obviously be other bills," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
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| US hospitals are scrambling to prepare for a potential surge in coronavirus cases, as one in Washington already reports depleting supplies Posted: 13 Mar 2020 11:44 PM PDT  Some patients could end up waiting on stretchers in the hallways of emergency rooms as they wait for an open bed, the Associated Press reported.
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| Virus cases ramping up in Africa, which is racing to prepare Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:39 AM PDT  Cases of the new coronavirus are ramping up in Africa, with six new countries announcing confirmed infections in the past 24 hours. Across Africa, 18 of the continent's 54 countries have now registered COVID-19 cases. On Friday, Kenya, Guinea and Ethiopia reported their first cases, while Gabon and Ghana did so late Thursday.
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| Guatemala bans arrivals from U.S., Canada to fight coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:43 PM PDT  Guatemala will from Monday widen travel restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus, banning arrivals from the United States and Canada, President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday. "We are therefore announcing that everyone who arrives from Canada and the United States between now and midnight on Monday will be subject to quarantining," Giammattei said in a televised address. The president said he had also asked the Mexican government to halt deportations of migrants by land to Guatemala.
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| ECB Rebuts Attacks as Visco Signals It Can Buy Italian Debt Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:52 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank signaled it's ready to buy more debt of nations such as Italy to calm mounting financial panic, and pushed back against political criticism of President Christine Lagarde's handling of the coronavirus crisis.A day after Lagarde sent Italian bonds into a tailspin and stirred memories of turmoil by saying the ECB's job isn't to rein in yields, her colleagues went on the counterattack. Italian Governing Council member Ignazio Visco told Bloomberg Television that officials can skew purchases toward the worst-hit countries -- such as his."We can frontload, we can concentrate on particular jurisdictions according to the circumstances," Visco said in the interview. "There is no question that if there are movements in the spreads caused by fears about the effects of coronavirus, this will make more difficult our provision of liquidity and the impetus we are giving to the economy."Italian bonds erased losses after Bloomberg's interview with Visco on the prospect of the ECB front loading purchases of Italian debt. The rate on 10-year bonds fell 18 basis points to 1.58% as of 11:41 a.m. in London, after earlier rising as much as 19 basis points."Yesterday Lagarde wasn't so clear about a possible ECB purchase of bonds, so the ECB is trying hard now to convince market that it stands ready," said Joost Beaumont, senior fixed-income strategist at ABN Amro. "Visco's remarks go in this direction and his clarification seems to be working."Surging bond spreads -- the difference between yields on debt of stressed nations and safer options such as Germany -- were a hallmark of the euro zone's 2012 debt crisis that almost broke up the currency bloc.The ECB's view is that the market misinterpreted Lagarde's comments, and that if spreads are driven by liquidity needs or a flight to safety, that's absolutely the central bank's job. Despite 2.6 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion) of asset purchases so far and hundreds of billions more to come, it doesn't see any imminent risk of breaching European Union law banning it from financing governments."We will not tolerate any risks to the smooth transmission of our monetary policy in all jurisdictions," ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane wrote in a blogpost. "We clearly stand ready to do more and adjust all of our instruments, if needed to ensure that the elevated spreads that we see in response to the acceleration of the spreading of the coronavirus do not undermine transmission."What Bloomberg's Economists Say"Lagarde didn't offer the broad-spectrum stimulus that financial markets may have wanted, but she's taken appropriate action to deal with the shock at hand. Her comments on spreads were ill-judged and have required a lot of subsequent clarification, but markets should take her advice -- don't "overinterpret" her."-Jamie Rush. Read his ECB INSIGHTLane added that officials will cut interest rates if needed. Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau declared earlier that the ECB will use all the flexibility it has to combat fragmentation in the euro area if necessary."We will use our full firepower, with maximum agility and all possible flexibility," Villeroy told France's Radio Classique. We can "buy more of certain country debt and less of others."Policy makers unexpectedly opted not to cut rates on Thursday, instead pledging to spend an extra 120 billion euros on quantitative easing by the end of the year. The ECB will also start a new program to make it easier for banks to support smaller companies hit by cashflow disruptions.In rare swipes at the central bank, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte both rebuked the decision. Macron said he didn't think it'll be enough, and Conte said the task of the ECB is "not hindering but facilitating."The ECB was so keen to roll back Lagarde's remarks, that it even included a rare addendum in its official transcript of its press conference, referring to comments she made afterward in an interview with CNBC.Spanish Governing Council member Pablo Hernandez de Cos said in an interview in Madrid that Lagarde was misinterpreted and is the best person to spearhead the crisis. "What do we need to focus on? On the clarification she gave afterward," he said.Still, the ECB has repeatedly said that it can't combat the virus impact alone, and governments need to do more. The mood may be shifting -- Germany pledged to spend whatever is needed to dull the economic impact of the coronavirus, while the European Commission said it's ready to give a green light to widespread fiscal stimulus if the situation deteriorates.German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday that his country would spend billions of euros to cushion the economy, and called the situation "very serious."Back in 2012, President Mario Draghi curbed the turmoil with his famous pledge to do "whatever it takes," and his subsequent emergency bond-buying program. That comment was so successful that the measure was never needed -- which only highlights the damage Lagarde wrought with her misstep."Markets have a way to force policy makers to the drawing board when they get it wrong so eventually we might see more support," said Antoine Bouvet, senior interest-rate strategist at ING Groep NV. "After yesterday's debacle, I think more purchases would be necessary to calm markets down."(Updates with European Commission announcement in 14th paragraph)\--With assistance from Greg Ritchie and Carolynn Look.To contact the reporters on this story: Francine Lacqua in London at flacqua@bloomberg.net;Paul Gordon in Frankfurt at pgordon6@bloomberg.net;Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net;William Shaw in London at wshaw20@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow, Craig StirlingFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Andrew Gillum Tied to Suspected Meth Overdose Incident in Miami Beach Hotel: Police Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:51 AM PDT  Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was allegedly involved in a suspected crystal meth overdose incident at a Miami Beach hotel room early Friday morning, according to a police report obtained by several local news outlets. Two officers responded to reports of cardiac distress Friday morning at the Mondrian South Beach hotel, where they found a man being treated for a possible overdose. Gillum was also in the room, along with another man, according to a police report obtained by The Daily Beast. "I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends," Gillum said in a Friday statement obtained by The Daily Beast. "While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines. I apologize to the people of Florida for the distraction this has caused our movement." "I'm thankful to the incredible Miami Beach EMS team for their efforts. I will spend the next few weeks with my family and appreciate privacy during this time," he added. Ron DeSantis Defeats Andrew Gillum in Florida Governor's RaceAccording to the Miami Beach Police Department report, two officers responded to reports of cardiac distress at the hotel just before 1 a.m. When officers arrived, they found Miami Beach Fire-Rescue already on the scene and treating Travis Dyson, 30, for a "possible drug overdose." Dyson, who was in stable condition, was later transported to "Mount Sinai for further medical treatment," the report states. Aldo Mejias, who initially called police, later said that he arrived at the hotel room shortly after 11 p.m., where he discovered Dyson and "Andrew Gillum inside the room under the influence of an unknown substance."Mejias said Dyson opened the door but immediately "collapsed in a prone position" near the bed and started to vomit, the report says. Gillum, 40, was seen inside the bathroom vomiting. When Dyson started having "trouble breathing," Mejias, 56, said he started to perform CPR and called authorities. Florida Democrats Brace for Recounts as Bill Nelson, Andrew Gillum Campaigns Dig In"Inside of the hotel room, officers observed in plain sight three small clear plastic baggies containing suspected crystal meth on both the bed and floor," the report says.When officers tried to interview Gillum about the incident, the report states the former candidate "was unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state." He left the hotel room and returned home without incident.A Miami Beach Police Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast Friday's "incident is not being investigated as a criminal matter." Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor and current CNN commentator, burst onto the national stage in 2018 as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Florida. Gillum lost the race to Republic Gov. Ron DeSantis by less than 34,000 votes. 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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| Coronavirus cruise cancellations: Royal Caribbean, Princess, Disney suspend operations Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:43 PM PDT  Royal Caribbean is suspending its U.S. operations at midnight Saturday, the company said, joining other cruise companies in response to coronavirus.
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| Trump reportedly set to declare coronavirus a national emergency Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:59 AM PDT  President Trump is reportedly set to declare a national emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.Trump on Friday announced he would be holding a news conference on the coronavirus outbreak this afternoon, and Bloomberg subsequently reported he plans to invoke the Stafford Act to declare a national emergency over the crisis, which will allow for more federal aid to go toward the response to the outbreak.Trump on Thursday had suggested he might take this step, telling reporters that "we have very strong emergency powers under the Stafford Act," per The Hill. "...If I need to do something, I'll do it. I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about." Earlier this week, Politico reported Trump was "reluctant to declare an expansive emergency" because this would "hamper his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu and could further agitate Wall Street." For that reason, Bloomberg noted this move "marks a symbolic turning point for the president."More stories from theweek.com Trump just gave the worst speech of his presidency Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting the spread of coronavirus White House will extend Europe travel ban to Ireland, UK, considering domestic restrictions
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| UK departs from Europe in virus response, draws criticism Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:05 AM PDT  The United Kingdom stood increasingly apart Friday as countries across Europe and around the world shut schools and universities, scrapped sports tournaments and shuttered bars and restaurants in response to the new coronavirus. The British government has not restricted the everyday activities of U.K. residents by banning large public gatherings or suspending transit networks. More than 60,000 horse-racing fans packed a course in England on Friday for the final day of the Cheltenham Festival, one of the few sporting events in Europe still taking place.
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| Three U.S. troops wounded in renewed rocket attacks on Iraq's Taji base Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:49 AM PDT  BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three American troops and several Iraqi forces were wounded on Saturday in the second major rocket attack in the past week on an Iraqi base north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said, raising the stakes in an escalating cycle of attacks and reprisals. Iraq's Joint Operations Command said 33 Katyusha rockets were launched near a section of the Taji base which houses U.S.-led coalition troops. It said the military found seven rocket launchers and 24 unused rockets in the nearby Abu Izam area.
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| Poland to shut its borders to foreign travellers: PM Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:56 PM PDT  Poland on Friday said it was shutting its borders to foreign travellers to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected at least 68 people. It would also impose two weeks of quarantine on people returning from abroad, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters. "Most of the cases that have been propagating the coronavirus epidemic in Poland are imported cases," he said.
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| Accused baby killer says police illegally lifted her DNA from her trash Posted: 14 Mar 2020 02:34 AM PDT  Theresa Bentaas is fighting a murder charge by saying police should not have taken DNA from her garbage without a warrant.
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| California schools closed and events cancelled as state escalates coronavirus response Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:15 PM PDT  With five deaths and 247 confirmed cases, California now has the third largest number of cases in the nation * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverageResponse to the coronavirus outbreak drastically escalated in California this week, with officials working to curb the spread by canceling school, postponing festivals and prohibiting large gatherings.As of Friday, the virus had killed five people in California, with 247 cases confirmed – now the third largest number of cases in the nation, after Washington and New York.Los Angeles unified school district, the second largest school district in the country, announced Friday that it would be closing its more than 1,300 schools for two weeks, a move that will affect more than 734,000 students and their families."Los Angeles unified serves a high-needs population, and our schools provide a social safety net for our children," Austin Beutner, the superintendent of the LA unified school district, said in a statement. "The closing of any school has real consequences beyond the loss of instructional time. This is not an easy decision and not one we take lightly."San Diego unified school district, Oakland unified school district and Santa Clara unified school district followed suit by closing their schools for three weeks, just as San Francisco unified school district announced it would on Thursday. Other districts across California, including in Santa Cruz and Berkeley, are closing their schools because of coronavirus."Closing schools deeply affects so many of our families who depend on schools to provide a safe place for their children, food, and many other services," Kyla Johnson-Trammell, the superintendent of Oakland schools, said in a statement. "School sites have been and will continue to be crafting continuity of education plans, with each school preparing to provide assignments to students."And across the University of California system, administrators suspended in-person classes, pivoting to remote instruction and canceling campus events. University housing remained open, but on some campuses, students were encouraged to go home.Meanwhile, state public health experts released recommendations Wednesday night calling for large gatherings of 250 people or more to be rescheduled or canceled. They also recommended that venues that do not allow social distancing of 6ft per person to cancel or postpone events, as well as any gathering that brings people together in a single space at one time, be it an auditorium or a conference room."Changing our actions for a short period of time will save the life of one or more people you know," Gavin Newsom, California's governor, said in a statement. "That's the choice before us."The recommendation came after San Francisco and Santa Clara county fully banned all gatherings of 1,000 or more. On Friday, London Breed, the San Francisco mayor, went a step further and fully banned all gatherings of 100 or more.San Francisco will also close its public libraries and recreation centers to the public starting Monday, and open emergency childcare and youth centers in the wake of the public school closures.Earlier in the week, the famed music festival Coachella, known for drawing hundreds of thousands to the California desert, was postponed to October. Soon after, Disney agreed to close its California parks until the end of March. "Disney made the right call in the interest of public health and agreed to shut down their California parks," Newsom said. "Expect more announcements like this shortly."The week began with officials scrambling to figure out what to do with the Grand Princess cruise ship, which had been stuck off the coast of California after 21 on board tested positive for coronavirus. The ship originally destined for San Francisco ended up docked in the larger and more industrial port of Oakland, where it remained Friday after a slow five days of disembarking 2,450 passengers to quarantine locations elsewhere. According to the cruise line, 14 international passengers were still on the ship, awaiting transportation to their home countries.A lack of testing capacity has caused an outcry nationwide, and California made strides on that front this week. Experts at the University of California San Diego Health, UC San Francisco Health and UC Los Angeles Health can now offer their own in-house testing for coronavirus, taking place in hospital laboratories for patients who meet clinical recommendations. UC Davis Health and UC Irvine Health will be able to begin in-house testing within the next week or so as well, said the UC Health spokesman Michael Crawford.Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente rolled out a pilot program for drive-up testing in northern California, allowing for patients who meet criteria for testing and have a doctor's order and an appointment to get tested with minimal exposure. California had the capacity to conduct 8,227 tests as of Thursday, Newsom said in a press conference. But many of the testing kits provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were missing the key components to conducts the analyses."The test kits do not include in every case the RNA extraction kits, the reagents, the chemicals, the solutions that are components of the broader tests," he said. "This is imperative that the federal government and labs across the United States, not just state of California, get the benefit of all the ingredients, the components of the test. I am surprised this is not more of the national conversation."
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| Trump disbanded pandemic unit that experts had praised Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:24 AM PDT  Public health and national security experts disagreed when President Trump said the coronavirus "came out of nowhere" and "blindsided the world."
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| Trump Says U.S. to Waive Interest on Student Debt in Virus Plan Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:12 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government will waive interest on federal student loans as part of a broad response to the coronavirus emergency, President Donald Trump said Friday.Several days of turmoil on financial markets have pushed the White House to expand its response to the virus, which threatens to bring the U.S. and world economies to a halt. Trump also announced plans Friday to expand access to medical treatment and buy oil for strategic reserves.American students owe $1.6 trillion in student debt. The Treasury owns about three-quarters of those loans, and is the guarantor for most of the rest.In 2018, the government collected roughly $20 billion in interest charges as part of some $80 billion it received in overall repayments, according to a Moody's report last year.\--With assistance from Alex Tanzi.To contact the reporter on this story: Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.netFor 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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| During 'Fox & Friends' interview, Jerry Falwell Jr. suggests the coronavirus is a plot to hurt Trump and says Liberty University will continue to hold in-person classes Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Jerry Falwell Jr. spread misinformation about the coronavirus during a segment on 'Fox & Friends' this morning.
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| Coronavirus myths, debunked: A cattle vaccine, bioweapons and a $3,000 test Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:51 AM PDT  Fake stories on WhatsApp, outlandish bioweapons rumors and Corona beer. There's a lot of misinformation about the coronavirus. Here's what's true.
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