Trump moves to calm virus fears after first death on US soil

US President Donald Trump moved to quell fears about the novel coronavirus after the first death on US soil was confirmed Saturday. The US fatality occurred in Washington State's King county, which includes Seattle, a city of more than 700,000 people, said health officials. The victim was not immediately identified, but Trump told reporters that the victim was a woman in her late 50s.

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Trump allies hope to ride anti-socialist rhetoric to election win

Conservative activists are enthusiastically taking up Republican President Donald Trump's re-election rallying cry that his Democratic adversaries are pursuing a radical socialist ideology that will ruin the United States. Conservative students, right-wing media personalities and pro-Trump fundraisers and fans have gathered just outside Washington this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that appears to have crystallized Republican messaging for the election. Its theme was "America vs. Socialism," taking aim at the candidates competing for the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge Trump in the Nov. 3 election, especially Senator Bernie Sanders, the current front-runner and a self-described democratic socialist.

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Turkey opens gates into Europe as migrants gather on border

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's borders with Europe were open Saturday, making good on a longstanding threat to let refugees into the continent as thousands of migrants gathered at the frontier with Greece. Erdogan’s announcement that Turkey is allowing refugees and migrants to exit the country marked a dramatic departure from current policy and an apparent attempt to pressure Europe. It came amid a military escalation in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province that has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians to flee fighting between advancing Syrian government forces backed by Russia and rebel fighters supported by Turkey.

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The No. 1 way to prevent coronavirus isn't wearing a face mask

Coronavirus masks are expensive, they only last a few hours — and they may not even help.

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I've taken 6 flights in a month throughout Asia as the coronavirus spreads — here's how the outbreak forced me to change how I travel

In the last four weeks, I've taken six fights throughout Asia – half domestic, half international. Here is what I have learned.

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Bernie Sanders has a convenient change of heart on delegate rules. Will Democrats buy it?

There’s one big issue that Bernie Sanders has reversed himself on — and it could complicate his path to the nomination. The issue is the role of so-called superdelegates at the Democratic convention. These are the elected officials and party leaders who are automatically seated but whose votes only come into play after the first ballot.

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Why is Iran's reported mortality rate for coronavirus higher than in other countries?

Iran has now suspended parliament indefinitely due to the outbreak. Secretary of State Pompeo says the U.S. has offered to help Iran respond to the virus.

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The US has reported its first coronavirus death: a man in his 50s in Washington

The man had underlying health problems that put him at high risk of developing a severe case of the virus.

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Pence tells Rush Limbaugh, who said coronavirus has been overhyped: 'We're all in this together'

Limbaugh has said concerns about the coronavirus are being "weaponized" by Democrats and the media and compared the virus to "the common cold."

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New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Who is strongest against Trump? Must-win states and swing voters show Biden holds edge over Sanders

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll suggests that Sanders could be a riskier nominee than his supporters are willing to admit.

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South Koreans told to stay home as coronavirus infections surpass 3,100

South Korea urged citizens on Saturday to stay indoors as it warned of a "critical moment" in its battle on the coronavirus after recording the biggest daily jump in infections, as 813 new cases took the tally to 3,150. South Korea is grappling with the largest outbreak of the virus outside China, as a new death took the toll to 17, amid a record daily increase in infections since the country confirmed its first patient on Jan. 20. It was a "critical moment" in reining in the spread of the virus, he said, adding, "Please stay at home and refrain from going outside and minimize contact with other people."

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Man whose son was found encased in cement sentenced to 72 years in prison

A Colorado man whose seven-year-old son was repeatedly abused before being found encased in concrete in a Denver storage unit has been sentenced to 72 years in prison for the death.Leland Pankey received the sentence on Friday, with one count of child abuse landing him 48 years in prison and 24 years for tampering with the body.

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The FDA just announced the first drug shortage caused by the coronavirus, but wouldn't identify the drug

China is a critical player in the global supply chain for drugs, as many ingredients in the medicines we take are manufactured there.

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'I guess I wasn't arrested': Joe Biden reverses on claim of an arrest in South Africa

Joe Biden has previously told of being arrested in South Africa while traveling with black lawmakers. He reversed himself Friday in a CNN interview.

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Turkey Will Allow Up to One Million Syrian Refugees to Breach Its Borders to Reach Europe

Turkey will allow up to one million Syrian refugees to pass through its territory to reach Europe ahead of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive on the last rebel-held territory in the war-torn country."We have decided, effectively immediately, not to stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land or sea," a Turkish official told Reuters. "All refugees, including Syrians, are now welcome to cross into the European Union."Footage of Syrian refugees boarding boats attempting to reach the islands of Greece was broadcast on CNN Turkey, while a reporter for Middle East Eye shared a picture of a bus placed by Greek authorities in front of its Pazarkule border crossing with Turkey, to prevent refugees from entering.Syria's offensive on Idlib province, targeting the last remnants of the rebellion including several Al-Qaeda groups, has forced one million people to flee their homes. International aid groups have struggled to provide food and shelter to refugees, some of whom have frozen to death after repeated cold winter nights.The Turkish army, stationed along the country's border with Syria, has repeatedly come into conflict with Syrian government forces. Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers on Thursday in a series of air strikes.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone conversation Friday told Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who backs Syrian government forces, that any Syrian military position was a legitimate target for Turkish forces. Erdogan is scheduled to speak with President Trump on Friday regarding the attacks on the Turkish military and the refugee issue.The nine-year Syrian civil war has produced one of the world's largest refugee crises, with millions of migrants fleeing to Europe throughout the conflict.

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Trump Team Testing ‘Off-the-Shelf’ Drugs to Cure Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is testing existing “off-the-shelf” drugs to combat the coronavirus, a cabinet official said Saturday.A national lab in Tennessee recently made “an important discovery” involving existing drugs, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.“The scientists at our Oak Ridge National Laboratory were able to look at the protein strains and determine -- perhaps, it’s still early -- that we can find some off-the-shelf drugs that can help us not only cure the disease but stop the spread of the infection,” Brouillette said.Brouillette was responding to a question about what his agency is doing to help combat the virus, which has caused markets to plunge and killed nearly 3,000 people across the globe. In the U.S., where 22 cases have been reported, the virus has killed one person -- a woman from Washington state -- and more cases are likely, President Donald Trump said Saturday.In addition to the laboratory tests, Brouillette said he’s harnessing the power of his agency’s “super computers” as well as artificial intelligence capabilities to assist organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and the World Heath Organization to conduct modeling on the virus.“We want to know how far is this going to spread and at what point might it peak,” he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller, Virginia Van NattaFor 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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Rejected by Jamaica, Caymans over virus fears, cruise ship docks in Mexico

A cruise ship turned away from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after a crew member tested positive for flu has docked in Mexico and passengers will be allowed to disembark as long as "health standards" are met, the country's president said Thursday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters that the Meraviglia, which has been anchored off Cozumel island in the Caribbean since Wednesday, "is being allowed to dock" and those aboard may be allowed off. The operator, MSC Cruises, lashed out at authorities for refusing to allow it to dock at its previous destinations for "acting out of fears" over the new coronavirus.

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Trump Nominates John Ratcliffe to Be Director of National Intelligence—Again

President Trump announced late Friday that he is nominating Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to be his next director of national intelligence. That’s despite the former Texas prosecutor withdrawing his nomination last year.Ratcliffe, a large Trump donor, dropped out of the nomination process in July 2019, blaming unfair media coverage. But The Daily Beast reported that before Racliffe announced his withdrawal, an email revealing his alleged involvement in a contentious whistleblowing case made its way to the White House. On Friday, Trump tweeted that he “would have completed [the] process earlier” but “John wanted to wait until after IG Report was finished,” an apparent reference to the inspector general’s report on how the FBI handled its counterintelligence probe of Trump campaign associates.“John is an outstanding man of great talent!” he wrote.Just last week, Trump appointed U.S. Ambassador to Germany and longtime Trumpworld loyalist Richard Grenell, who has no intelligence experience, as his acting DNI. A former intelligence official told The Daily Beast at the time that the announcement “blindsided” career officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.Ratcliffe, who himself has little national security experience, is in for a rocky confirmation process. His nomination last year drew swift opposition from Senate Democrats and lukewarm support from key Republicans.Senate Intelligence chair Richard Burr told White House officials Ratcliffe, a outspoken supporter of the president, was too partisan, The New York Times reported. On the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called him “a three-term tea party congressman who, when he goes on television, appeals to the president’s sense of stridency and partisanship.”Even if there’s little chance Ratcliffe will be confirmed by the Senate, his nomination allows Grenell to continue to serve past March 11, University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck pointed out on Twitter. Federal law also stipulates that an acting DNI can stay in place for another 210 days after the Senate either rejects a nomination or the nominee withdraws.Grenell was brought in last week to replace acting DNI Joseph Maguire, whom Trump replaced over what he felt was disloyalty by one of Maguire’s aides, according to multiple reports. The aide had briefed the House Intelligence Committee that Russia was once again interfering in the election in Trump’s favor.After former DNI Dan Coats announced his resignation last summer, Trump tweeted that he intended to nominate Ratcliffe to replace him, a move that surprised White House aides, who had not vetted the congressman, The Washington Post reported. Ratcliffe, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, had been a vocal critic of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and had seized on text messages between FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok as evidence of bias within the FBI. He even claimed to have seen texts between the pair that suggested the existence of a “secret society” working against Trump—an easily debunked conspiracy theory that he played a part in spreading far and wide.But Ratcliffe’s nomination fell apart in just a few weeks. An investigation by The Washington Post found he had embellished how many immigrants he rounded up in one day as a U.S. attorney. Another investigation found he’d embellished his national security credentials by claiming he’d prosecuted two major terrorism cases, despite court records showing he had no involvement.His July 2019 withdrawal prompted Trump to complain he was being treated unfairly.“Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people,” Trump said at the time. “John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country.”Trump said last year it didn’t bother him that Ratcliffe lacked much national security expertise. “I think he would’ve picked it up very quickly,” he said.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 Carolina primary results in full – county by county

Get the results in the crucial early voting state * South Carolina Democrats vote as Biden looks for win to boost flagging campaign * Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contributionSouth Carolina is the first state in the deep south to cast its vote in the primary race, where African American voters form a majority of the electorate. Democrats and Republicans will be voting, but because Donald Trump faces no serious opposition, all eyes will be on the Democratic contest.default What is a primary?The primaries and caucuses are a series of contests, in all 50 US states plus Washington DC and US territories, by which the party selects its presidential nominee. Most US states hold primary elections, in which voters go to a polling place, mail in their ballots or otherwise vote remotely. A handful of states hold caucuses – complicated, hours-long meetings, which continue until one candidate emerges as victor. And the process is different for Democrats and Republicans. Why is the South Carolina primary important?The goal for the candidates is to amass a majority of pledged delegates whose job it is to nominate the candidate at the party’s convention. In all states, delegates are awarded proportionally among top winners.To become the Democratic presidential nominee, the candidate must secure 1,991 pledged delegates before the Democratic Party’s convention in Wisconsin in July. If there is no outright majority then so-called super delegates, unpledged senior party members, could decide who secures the presidential nomination.There are 54 delegates in play in South Carolina. Only 101 so far allotted after the first three primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. South Carolina serves as a launchpad for the vital Super Tuesday election in just three days time, when 16 states and territories will vote and over 1,300 delegates, around a third of the total in the entire election, will be up for grabs. Sanders so far leads the pack with 45 delegates. He is followed by former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg on 26, while Biden lags behind with 15. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren holds 8 with Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar on 7.

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Sub-Saharan Africa just recorded its first coronavirus case. The WHO and Bill Gates have warned that Africa can't deal with an outbreak.

The World Health Organization fears Africa's "fragile healthcare systems" may not be able to cope with a serious outbreak of COVID-19.

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Number of coronavirus cases from unknown source growing in U.S.

Three new presumptive cases were reported Friday on the West Coast, with patients in Oregon, Washington and California, but it's not clear how they were infected.

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Coronavirus US: Quarantine across America is 'inevitable' top doctor warns as stocks take record plunge

As more cases of the flu-like respiratory illness are reported across the US, Mike Pence - recently appointed by Donald Trump to lead the administration's response - has insisted the government is in control of the virus despite thousands of people under medical monitoring and officials' scepticism of the vice president's abilities to handle the outbreak.Market analysts predict record lows for the Dow Jones, seeing one of its worst weeks since the financial crisis, amid fears of a global pandemic, as the president downplays the threat and his allies claim that criticism of the response has been "weaponised" to attack Trump.

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Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Biden wins South Carolina Democratic primary, Fox News projects, in crucial boost to campaign after early losses

02/29/20 4:01 PM

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Traveling during the coronavirus outbreak? Here’s what you need to know

With COVID-19 spreading around the globe, the U.S. State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued these travel advisories.

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Trump complains Democrats are blaming him for coronavirus

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More than 30,000 pounds of yogurt spilled on New York highway after accident

A tractor trailer carrying more than 30,000 pounds of yogurt in western New York jackknifed on a highway Thursday afternoon.

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Doomsday Mom Told Her Husband’s Kids Their Dad Was Dead Via Text Message

The saga of doomsday couple Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell—from the missing kids to the dead spouses—has been one strange twist after another. But even those who have been following along may be shocked by a series of newly emerged text messages.The messages, obtained by East Idaho News, start with Vallow informing her then-husband Charles’ grown children that their father had “passed away” the day before.Of course, Charles Vallow had not simply passed away. He was shot dead on July 11 by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, who told police it was a case of self-defense. But Lori refused to tell her stepsons that, or provide them with any useful information, the text messages reveal.“Hi boys. I have very sad news,” she wrote. “Your dad passed away yesterday. I’m working on making arrangements and I’ll keep you informed with what’s going on. Im still not sure how to handle things. Just want you to know I love you and so did your dad!!”The sons pressed for more information over the course of the afternoon, but received nothing in response.“Lori it’s been 3 hours. You’re not that busy. I don’t care what you’re doing,” one wrote.She replied, “I'm sorry you are so upset. I’m so upset too... I’m waiting to hear back from the Medical examiner to make sense out of all this for myself. Please be patient with me. It’s a crushing situation all around.”It’s not clear why she would have needed to hear from the medical examiner to make sense of Charles’ death; police have said she was there when Cox shot her husband, in front of 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J.—Lori‘s two children who are now missing.Doomsday Writer Claimed Dead Wife Helped Him Find New OneThe increasingly exasperated sons pressed for funeral arrangements and explanations. None came. “Okay Lori. It’s been 3 days. You let us know our father passed away over a text message,” one wrote to her. “We need any information you have. What happened, when did it happen, how did it happen. Where is he now. Are there any funeral plans and can [we] be a part of it...“This isn’t a nonchalant topic you can just throw a text at and be done with it.”Lori’s response was that “these are your dads wishes.”“He and I discussed this a lot over the years we have been together. My plan is to have him cremated as he wished and then take all 5 of you kids to Hawaii to spread his ashes. He did not want a funeral. He wants a celebration of his life,” she wrote.One of the sons told East Idaho News that he and his brother figured out which mortuary had their father’s body and just showed up, but the funeral director was just as tight-lipped as their stepmother.“He was very shaky and nervous. We asked him for information, and he said something like, ‘I can’t tell you that. It was requested that I tell you nothing,’” the son said.Idaho Doomsday Couple Found in Hawaii—Without Missing KidsThe sons arranged a memorial service for their dad. Lori didn’t show up.At the time Charles was shot dead, he and Lori were estranged. She had begun reading the writings of Chad Daybell, a prolific Idaho-based author of apocalyptic novels for Mormon audiences, and she got involved with Preparing a People, a community of doomsday preppers where Daybell was a prominent voice.According to a divorce petition Charles Vallow filed in February 2019 and later withdrew, she had become “obsessive about near-death experiences and spiritual visions” and claimed to be “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.” He also claimed she threatened to kill him if he interfered with her plans.By July, Charles was living in Texas and Lori was in Arizona with Tylee and J.J., who was adopted and autistic. Charles traveled to see the children and, according to Lori, got into a physical confrontation with her, forcing Cox to rush to her rescue and shoot him.After Charles was killed, Lori moved with Tylee and J.J. to Idaho, where Daybell lived with his wife of nearly 30 years, Tammy. By October, Tammy was dead, too.Doomsday Writer Claimed Dead Wife Helped Him Find New OneDaybell said she felt sick, went to bed and never woke up. He declined an autopsy, and authorities listed the cause of death as natural. Two weeks later, he married Lori in Hawaii—where she had once lived with Charles and where she supposedly had planned to scatter his ashes.It does not appear that Tylee and J.J. were at the wedding. In fact, no one has seen Tylee since a family trip to Yellowstone National Park in early September, and J.J. has not been seen or heard from since Sept. 23.He stopped going to school, Lori got rid of his service animal, and some of the children’s belongings were put in a storage bin. According to Idaho police, Lori and Chad lied to neighbors about whether she even had children, or where they were.Alerted by extended family, police in Rexburg, Idaho turned up in December to check on the children. A police narrative included in court documents says Lori claimed J.J. was with a friend in Arizona and then called the friend in an unsuccessful effort to get her to lie.When cops returned the next day to probe further, Lori and Chad were gone. After they surfaced in Hawaii, an Idaho judge issued a court order demanding Lori return within a few days and produce the children.She didn’t show, and the judge signed an arrest warrant—allowing Hawaii police to take her into custody. Held on $5 million bail, she agreed Wednesday to waive extradition and return to Idaho to face charges of child desertion, contempt of court, and promoting criminal behavior.Through their Idaho attorney, both Vallow and Daybell have denied wrongdoing. In court in Hawaii on Wednesday, Vallow’s lawyer said the only reason she didn’t comply with the court order was because the judge planned to put the children in foster case—though he also provided no details about their whereabouts.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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The 6 largest coronavirus outbreaks outside of China

More new coronavirus cases were reported outside of China than inside the country on Wednesday — the first time since global health officials began tracking the virus.

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Trump 'could suck coronavirus out of 60,000 people' and he'd still be criticized – Huckabee

* Top Republican on Fox News defends Trump and Mike Pence * Vice-president leading coronavirus containment effort in US * Whistleblower: US coronavirus staff were untrained and unprotectedDonald Trump could “personally suck” the coronavirus “out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean”, a top Republican has claimed.Former Republican Arkansas governor and ex-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made the outlandish statement on Twitter on Thursday night and on Fox News’ Fox & Friends show on Friday morning.> Mike Huckabee says Trump "could personally sick the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean." pic.twitter.com/X7xbC5ebDz> > — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 28, 2020According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 82,000 cases of the coronavirus have in fact been confirmed worldwide, with about 2,800 deaths. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 60 confirmed cases in the US.In the US, Huckabee’s widely ridiculed comment followed the publication of a column for Fox News in which he took aim at criticism of Trump’s choice of Vice-President Mike Pence to lead US containment efforts.Critics have said Pence’s religious faith, plus the decisions he took as governor of Indiana on scientific and public health matters, make him a poor choice to lead efforts undermined by budget cuts and poor organization.Huckabee said Pence was “a proven leader who knows how to get people with different perspectives working together effectively” on public health matters including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) outbreak of 2014.“Instead of calling for bipartisan cooperation in this life-or-death effort,” he wrote, “liberals reacted with collective outrage, even going so far as to ridicule the vice-president’s Christian faith as a way of suggesting that he’s not qualified for the role.“Numerous media outlets have also published and broadcast one-sided reports trashing Pence’s handling of an HIV outbreak as governor of Indiana, but such criticisms are both inaccurate and irrelevant.”The outbreak in question happened in 2015. Pence declared a public health emergency but many said faith-driven cuts to sexual health programs made the situation worse.Huckabee, the father of the former Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders, is not the first rightwing commentator to claim Democrats and the media are using concerns over the coronavirus outbreak to attack and undermine the president.Earlier this week, the conservative shock jock and presidential medal of freedom honoree Rush Limbaugh claimed “the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump” and said “the coronavirus is the common cold”.Some experts have criticised media coverage of the outbreak as inaccurate and potentially alarmist.According to the Guardian’s guide to the coronavirus, sufferers report “coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use … Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Many of those who have died were already in poor health.”The outbreak began in China. The WHO has not yet declared it a pandemic but international markets, trade, travel and sporting events have been severely affected. In the US on Friday the Dow Jones Index plunged again, at the end of the markets’ worst week since the financial crisis of 2008.In Geneva, a WHO spokesman said: “The outbreak is getting bigger. The scenario of the coronavirus reaching multiple countries, if not all countries around the world, is something we have been looking at and warning against since quite a while.”

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What travel insurance covers for coronavirus — and what it doesn't

The most important thing to remember is that standard travel insurance does not cover you if you decide not to travel because of the outbreak.

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Russian Firm Dodging U.S. Questions on ‘Putin’s Chef’ Ties

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US reports first drug shortage tied to virus outbreak

Health officials reported the first U.S. drug shortage tied to the viral outbreak that is disrupting production in China, but they declined to identify the manufacturer or the product. The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that the drug's maker recently contacted officials about the shortage, which it blamed on a manufacturing issue with the medicine's key ingredient. The FDA previously said it had reached out to 180 drug manufacturers and asked them to check their supply chain and report any potential disruptions.

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Super Tuesday: Professor who predicted last 9 elections says Democrats could face first brokered convention in nearly 70 years

Days out from Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states will cast ballots in the Democratic primary, a professor who predicted the past nine elections says that the United States may well be staring down its first brokered convention in nearly 70 years.It’s a prospect that has stirred considerable consternation among Democratic Party officials and voters, many of whom have said their primary concern is beating Donald Trump in November — even as an enthusiastic debate over the future of democratic politics has raged on the campaign trail.

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Police identify victims, shooter in Milwaukee brewery shooting rampage

Police in Milwaukee on Thursday identified the five brewery employees shot and killed by a co-worker who later took his own life in the latest spasm of gun violence plaguing U.S. workplaces and schools. The motive for the carnage was unclear a day after the shooting at the landmark Molson Coors Beverage Co complex shook Wisconsin's largest city. "Reasons for this are still under investigation," Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said.

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Map: Confirmed coronavirus cases, worldwide

More than 81,000 people have been sickened by a coronavirus, mostly in China. This map is updated daily.

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The Sinister Sanders Child-Care Plan

Bernie Sanders announced a “universal child care” proposal at the end of his wide-ranging 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper. The plan would guarantee “every child in America free full-day, full-week, high-quality child care from infancy through age three,” and the campaign estimates that it would cost taxpayers 1.5 trillion dollars over ten years. But aside from being prohibitively expensive and distressingly vague, the plan looks an awful lot like social engineering.Start with the price tag. After failing to explain how he would pay for his expansive agenda — “I can't rattle off to you every nickel and every dime,” Sanders told Anderson Cooper in a disastrous moment of candor — the Sanders campaign released a partial list of pay-fors the day after the interview, laying out the cost of the senator’s major proposals alongside the tax hikes a Sanders administration would pursue to finance its domestic agenda. The campaign pegged the child-care proposal at a $150 billion annual price tag, more expensive than current federal outlays on unemployment insurance and the SNAP program combined.Add the child-care initiative to the bevy of programs Sanders has already promised to enact as president, and the fiscal feasibility of a child-care proposal grows more uncertain.The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released their analysis of Sanders’s universal child-care plan yesterday, and raised concerns that the Sanders campaign was overestimating federal receipts from its proposed “tax on extreme wealth”:> Based on the work of economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the Sanders campaign estimates this wealth tax would raise $4.35 trillion. This would be enough to finance Senator Sanders's $1.5 trillion universal child care and pre-K plan, his $2.5 trillion housing plan, and $350 billion of his Medicare for All plan (note that our analysis previously assumed he would dedicate $800 billion, not $350 billion, to Medicare for All).> > In our assessment, however, Senators Sanders’s wealth tax is likely to raise significantly less than advertised due to high levels of tax avoidance and the erosion of taxable wealth over time. We believe the wealth tax is likely to raise roughly $3.3 trillion. Assuming the proceeds are distributed evenly, that would leave the universal child care and pre-K plan nearly $400 billion short.As a point of reference, that $400 billion shortfall is larger than the sum total currently allotted to all federal welfare programs combined.While Sanders’s innumeracy was perhaps to be expected, the senator’s defense of the child-care plan on the merits was surprising. For a candidate with well-documented disdain for corporate America, it was strange to see how much of Sanders’s child-care proposal was concerned with the “career outcomes” of “mothers” who — heaven forfend — make “career sacrifices in order to care for their children.” The Sanders campaign presents female labor participation growth as one of the central selling points for its child-care scheme: “Mothers,” the campaign proclaims, “are 40 percent more likely than fathers to report a negative impact on their career outcomes due to child care considerations,” making the institution of a government-funded child-care scheme a “moral responsibility.” The campaign presents the welfare of the children whose stay-at-home parents enter the workforce as an ancillary concern.The Sanders campaign hardly seemed to consider — or, worse, seemed to have considered and proceeded to ignore — the possibility that those mothers making “career sacrifices” might want to raise their own children. As a 2015 Gallup poll found, 56 percent of mothers with children under the age of 18 said they would rather remain at home than enter the workforce, if given the choice. Instead, the socialist appears eager to incentivize more mothers to join the workforce, whereupon they will be presumably “exploited” by the “greedy” corporations the senator has spent a lifetime deriding.Most alarming is the power the senator’s plan vests in the federal government to insert itself into the child-rearing process. Sanders proposes a one-size-fits-all, government-funded child-care model, with no provision for those parents who wish to remain at home. If the Sanders campaign were simply concerned about the costs associated with raising children — both in the home and at a day-care center — it could have proposed a subsidy that also conferred benefits to stay-at-home parents or to relatives providing child care. But the social-engineering component of the plan is unmistakable, as Sanders would essentially create a scheme to augment the “career outcomes” of mothers who might otherwise raise their children at home, thereby boosting enrollment in government-funded child-care centers. Of course, all of those child-care centers will be subject to “quality standards” concocted in Washington.The implications of Sanders’s child-care agenda are clear enough. Right in the heart of the proposal, the Sanders campaign acknowledges that “ages 0 through 4 are the most important years of human life intellectually and emotionally.” Parents ought to be the ones to impart their values to their children in such a formative window, not a Sanders-administration functionary.

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Idaho targets transgender people, birth certificate changes

Idaho lawmakers moved forward Thursday with legislation banning transgender people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates despite a federal court ruling declaring such a ban unconstitutional. Ohio and Tennessee are the only other states in the country where transgender people cannot change their birth certificates, according to a law firm that has challenged the practice in court. In Idaho, this is another effort by the conservative state to target the population as Republicans in the House a day earlier advanced legislation to keep transgender women from competition.

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Central Park Five's Kevin Richardson slams Bloomberg campaign

Kevin Richardson, a member of the Central Park Five, has hit out at Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential run and his blocking of a multimillion-dollar settlement over the group’s wrongful persecution.Mr Richardson, one of the five teenagers wrongfully convicted for the shocking assault of Trishia Meili in 1989, was reported to have criticised Mr Bloomberg at an event outside his campaign office in Manhattan.

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Court won't let Trump pardon void guilty verdict against Arpaio

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Used to giving orders, Kansas abortion foes can't cut a deal

Abortion opponents who've become used to giving orders to Kansas lawmakers on the exact wording of new restrictions are stymied now that they face compromising to get a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. After falling short in a House vote three weeks ago, abortion opponents have pressured a dozen members who voted no, moderate Republicans and Democrats who are Catholic or who represent relatively conservative or heavily Catholic districts. Kansans for Life, the state's most influential anti-abortion group and a GOP power-broker, has for years told lawmakers what proposals to pursue and has watched them approve the group's language and echo its talking points.

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Mexico Has Two Coronavirus Cases, Health Officials Say

(Bloomberg) -- A 35-year-old man was confirmed as the first coronavirus case in Mexico, the country’s deputy health minister said on Friday. A second case was verified by a state health official.The first patient has a mild case and has been put in quarantine along with family members in the country’s Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference for further testing, deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said at the National Palace.The man is a resident of Mexico City who took a trip to Italy in February. The case is Mexico’s first, and the second known instance in Latin America after Brazil confirmed a case on Wednesday.“We have the capacity to deal with the situation,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his morning press conference.The man traveled to Bergamo, Italy, for a conference, where he had direct contact with an infected Italian national who normally lives in Malaysia.The second case, in the northern border state of Sinaloa, is a 41-year-old man who also traveled to Italy, said Efren Encinas Torres, the state’s health minister in an interview on Radio Formula. That patient is in isolation, as is a colleague he traveled with, who has not presented any symptoms.Local health officials sent details to the national agency for confirmation.“We see the state laboratory’s confirmation as valid, but nevertheless we will verify it in our own laboratory,” Lopez-Gatell said.Separately, Lopez-Gatell said that a cruise ship that had been stopped in Cozumel on suspicion of possible infection had no cases aboard and that passengers would be allowed to disembark.Worldwide, more than 83,000 cases have been confirmed and deaths from the virus have topped 2,800 people. On Friday, Iran, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the U.K. all reported new infections. Nigeria confirmed the first infection south of the Sahara desert.The Mexican peso fell 0.7% to end the day at 19.6437 per dollar, its weakest close since October 2019. Mexico’s benchmark Mexbol stock index plunged 2.6% after the coronavirus news.(Adds details about second case in lead and sixth paragraph. A previous version added case details, worldwide numbers and stock move.)To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Nacha Cattan, Dale QuinnFor 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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Why is Iran's reported mortality rate for coronavirus higher than in other countries?

Iran has now suspended parliament indefinitely due to the outbreak. Secretary of State Pompeo says the U.S. has offered to help Iran respond to the virus.

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A man convicted for killing his high school girlfriend was freed by decades-old DNA evidence. Now he's on a mission to find the real killer.

Leah Freeman's shoes were the only clue police had in her murder — and the only evidence that her high school boyfriend Nick McGuffin wasn't her killer.

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The Strange Tale of How British Commandos Attacked Hitler's Fish Oil Production

More important than you know.

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Mike Huckabee goes on bizarre rant about Trump 'sucking' coronavirus out of Americans' lungs

In Donald Trump’s America, very few national figures are as loyal to the president as Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and father of the former White House press secretary.And, as criticism has mounted regarding Mr Trump’s reaction to the deadly coronavirus, Mr Huckabee got a chance to display that obedience once again — and took the bait, hook line and sinker, by delivering a bizarre defence of the man.

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Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

President Trump holds a rally in North Charleston, S.C., 24 hours before the polls close in the state's Democratic primary. Watc

02/28/20 4:09 PM

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Mom of missing Idaho kids wants $5 million bail reduced

A mother arrested in Hawaii in connection with the disappearance of her two Idaho children wants a judge to reconsider her $5 million bail.

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Shooter at Milwaukee Molson Coors had a long-running dispute with a co-worker

Five people were killed Wednesday by a gunman during a rampage on the Milwaukee campus of Molson Coors. He has been identified as Anthony N. Ferrill.

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Pence will reportedly approve all government messaging about coronavirus

Vice President Mike Pence won't just be behind the scenes — he'll be the star of the show.After President Trump announced on Wednesday night that Pence will lead the government's response to the coronavirus outbreak, The New York Times reported Thursday Pence would also run the government's messaging on the issue.Pence will reportedly approve all coronavirus messaging by government health officials, including both public statements and public appearances. "Officials insist the goal is not to control the content of what subject-matter experts and other officials are saying," writes the Times, "but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated, after days of confusion with various administration officials showing up on television."There are 81,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide, with 60 in the United States. Nearly 3,000 people have died from the virus. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was the initial lead in the coronavirus response, and will remain the chair of the government's task force, but the administration reportedly wants to show the very top of the executive branch is taking the matter seriously. Pence will become the face of the response so that all lawmakers and health officials have one person to turn to, the Times reports. As The Washington Post reports, selecting Pence as the coronavirus "czar" was bound to garner criticism, seeing as Pence was governor of Indiana during the state's worst-ever HIV outbreak. Critics said Pence's handling of the crisis and policies cutting public health spending worsened the outbreak.Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com A new 'conspiracy theory' hints at intense Instagram feud between royal couples What it's like to be in Venice during coronavirus lockdown Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity

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Russian state TV: Turkish army is firing on Russian planes in Syria's Idlib

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Why is Iran's reported mortality rate for coronavirus higher than in other countries?

Four doctors in Iran said that the total number of those infected is likely substantially higher than the number released by Iranian health authorities.

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Duterte says Philippines can 'survive' without America

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said his country’s security forces can fight insurgents and Muslim extremists without American military help, in a defense of his recent decision to terminate a U.S. security pact.

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Halt of Muslim pilgrimage over virus brings worldwide dismay

For years, Ibrahim al-Dabba has been saving up money to make the umrah pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia, which for many Palestinians is the only way to leave the impoverished and isolated Gaza Strip. The outbreak could potentially affect the much larger annual hajj pilgrimage, set to begin in late July. For the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, the Saudi decision closes one of the last avenues for leaving the narrow coastal strip, which has been ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas and blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007.

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Iran’s Incompetent Response to Coronavirus Threatens the Middle East and the World

The Iranian government has covered up an outbreak of coronavirus that now threatens the Middle East and has led to border closures and hospitalizations in five countries. Over the weekend of February 21, president Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian officials downplayed the growing crises as Iran’s death toll from the virus climbed. It is now apparent that the regime, which has threatened the region with ballistic missiles, drones, naval mines, and militias over the last few years, has become a health threat as well, as it incubates a potential pandemic. The coronavirus has likely traveled from China to Iran’s city of Qom along the same route that pilgrims and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uses to travel, illustrating the regime’s disregard for its own citizens and neighbors.It all began with Iran’s wanting to show the world it had higher turnout at recent elections. Iranian member of parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi called on officials to take the coronavirus seriously during elections, and alleged that the government was hiding the outbreak of the contagious virus last week. Instead, Iran’s regime kept the extent of the spread of the virus under wraps, keeping it off the homepages of major local media. Turkish officials also warned last week that there were 750 coronavirus cases in Iran, and that it had spread from the religious city of Qom to other regions. Yet Iran’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi downplayed fears on Monday, claiming rumors of 50 deaths were false. Now Haririchi and Sadeghi are both sick, and Iran’s death toll is the second-worst for the virus, after China itself.Iran’s failure to confront the health crises is not just due to the regime’s authoritarianism. China has fought the virus with authoritarian quarantining of Wuhan. Instead, it is the regime’s preexisting arrogance, conspiracy-minded behavior, and siege mentality that led to its discounting an emerging crisis and enabled Shi’ite pilgrims traveling to Qom from all over the world to continue praying together and traveling without checks, becoming incubators of the virus. People returning from Iran have spread the virus across the Gulf to Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. They have returned to Najaf, a holy city in Iraq, where dozens are now under observation.Iran couldn’t have chosen a worse time in the Middle East to do this. Countries such as Iraq are beset by protests and uncertainty, with Iraq specifically lacking a new government and threatened by ISIS resurgence. The Gulf already has one crisis between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and is economically on edge due to serving as a transport hub linked to global trade amid all this. China’s coronavirus has spooked markets, and Iran is adding to the disaster.The Iranian regime has mocked coronavirus as similar to the flu in recent comments. And it has weaponized the tragedy to use it against U.S. sanctions by claiming that, like the sanctions, it is overrated. Iran’s government is using the Iranian people as a human shield, and their alleged lack of suffering from the virus as a propaganda tool. Yet ultimately, the virus may be more of a threat to Rouhani’s government than he realizes. With officials sick, schools closed, and the military, police, and IRGC mobilized, the regime may find that propaganda won’t cure this crisis. Iran’s regime has survived using brutality, killing protesters last year, shooting down an airline this year, and blaming others for its problems while it seeks to attack Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. But Iran was unprepared for an epidemic, and its normal arsenal won’t save it.Unfortunately for the Gulf, Iraq, and other countries, Iran’s incubation is a threat to the world now. Its airlines, such as Mahan Air, have likely spread the virus to Lebanon and brought it from China. Mahan Air and other Iranian IRGC-linked firms have transported arms and operatives throughout the region. It wouldn’t be a surprise if a similar route enabled the virus to spread unchecked. The regime’s toxic blend of religion, militancy, and authoritarianism have come together in the worst possible way at the worst time in a fragile region.

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Warren thanks Cherokee Nation citizens for holding her 'accountable' for falsely identifying as Native American

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) again apologized Wednesday for previously incorrectly claiming tribal heritage and releasing DNA results that claimed to reveal she had Native American ancestry. The most recent apology was in response to a letter from several members of the Cherokee Nation, as well as members of other tribes standing in solidarity, calling on her to go beyond acknowledging her mistakes and do her part to dispel beliefs spread by white people claiming Native heritage.The letter asked Warren to unequivocally state she and her ancestors are white, explain that "only tribal affiliation and kinship determine Native identity," and that "Native people are the sole authority on who is — and who is not — Native."In a response letter, Warren affirmed she understood all three of those points, and thanked the Cherokee Nation for holding her "accountable," while also highlighting actions she has taken as a lawmaker as well as provisions she has included in her presidential campaign plans with tribal interests in mind.Warren did push back in one instance, however. The signatories of the letter said Warren's actions were part of a "long and violent history" of "white members of fake 'tribes'" being rewarded federal contracts "set aside for minority business owners." Warren said she "appreciated my incorrect identification as Native was loaded given the history," but distanced herself from the aforementioned cases because she "never benefited financially or professionally" from her claims. Read the Cherokee Nation's letter here and Warren's response here.More stories from theweek.com CPAC speaker instructs crowd to boo Mitt Romney 'every time his name is mentioned' Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Trump freaks out about all the wrong things

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California monitors more than 8,000 people for coronavirus

More than 8,000 people are being monitored for the coronavirus in California, and 33 people have tested positive, the state's governor says.In a news conference on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) provided these new numbers, saying that at least 8,400 people are being monitored for the virus, CNBC reports. Newsom also said "as of today at this hour, we have 33 confirmed positive tests for the virus." Of these 33, Newsom said that five people have since moved out of state. Those being monitored in California had traveled to Asia, Bloomberg reports.This update comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that a person who tested positive for the coronavirus in California might be the first U.S. case of community spread, as they hadn't recently traveled out of the country or come into contact with anyone who had the virus.Regarding that case, Newsom on Thursday said it "understandably generated a lot of attention," but "we knew this was inevitable." Still, the director of California's Department of Public Health said Thursday per CNBC, "This is a fluid situation right now and I want to emphasize the risk to the American public remains low."More stories from theweek.com What it's like to be in Venice during coronavirus lockdown Trump freaks out about all the wrong things Bloomberg campaign reportedly trying to recruit Andrew Yang

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