| It's the 'coronavirus,' not the 'Chinese virus,' but Trump is right: China made it worse Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:42 PM PDT  President Trump has taken pains over the past week to link the coronavirus outbreak to China, calling it the "Chinese virus" at daily briefings over objections that doing so unfairly stigmatizes an entire nation, and might encourage hostility toward Asian-Americans.
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| Pompeo says U.S. citizen detained in Iran since 2018 released on medical furlough Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:51 AM PDT  U.S. citizen Michael White who has been detained in Iran since 2018 has been released on Thursday on medical furlough, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. navy veteran was currently under the custody of the Swiss government. On Tuesday, Pompeo in a press conference said Tehran was considering freeing some U.S. citizens and urged them to do so as a humanitarian gesture because of coronavirus.
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| Italy once again reported the highest single-day death toll for any country since the coronavirus outbreak started: 627 deaths Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:05 PM PDT  Italy has overtaken China as the country with the most coronavirus deaths. By Friday, COVID-19 had killed 4,032 people in Italy and 3,253 in China.
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| Senators Dumped Millions in Stock after Closed-Door Briefing on Coronavirus, Records Show Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Senators Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Kelly Loeffler (R., Ga.) sold off millions of dollars in public stock following a closed-door briefing on the coronavirus in January, potentially violating the STOCK Act, which prohibits congressional trading on non-public information.Congress has required its members to disclose their stock sales since the 2012 passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which was intended to prevent lawmakers from using inside information to profit. The forms do not state the actual amount, but a range in value for each transaction.Burr's records show that on February 13, he and his wife sold 33 different stocks — apparently a significant share of his total holdings —that were collectively worth $628,000 to $1.7 million, including as much as $150,000 worth of stock in two hotel chains, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and Extended Stay America.Starting the day of the briefing, Loeffler and her husband Jeffrey Sprecher — chairman of the New York Stock Exchange — made 27 stock sales worth millions of dollars that have since fallen, and only two purchases, one of which was between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, a technology company that offers teleworking software that has slightly risen in recent weeks, despite the larger market downturn.Following reports of the records, the senators disavowed allegations of wrongdoing."Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak," a Burr spokesperson said. "As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy. He supported Congress' immediate efforts to provide $7.8 billion for response efforts and this week's bipartisan bill to provide relief for American business and small families."Friday morning, Burr released an additional statement, stating his actions "relied solely on public news reports" and that he had asked the Senate Ethics Committee to "open a complete review of the matter with full transparency."> My statement in response to reports about recent financial disclosures: pic.twitter.com/J4kye5a4ok> > -- Richard Burr (@SenatorBurr) March 20, 2020Loeffler tweeted that the news about her financial records "is a ridiculous and baseless attack."> As confirmed in the periodic transaction report to Senate Ethics, I was informed of these purchases and sales on February 16, 2020 — three weeks after they were made.> > -- Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) March 20, 2020Representative Doug Collins (R., Ga.), who is running for Senate against Loeffler, reacted to the news with disgust.> People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain? I'm sickened just thinking about it.> > -- Doug Collins (@CollinsforGA) March 20, 2020In a statement to National Review, Collins went further. "As public servants we are supposed to put the people we represent above ourselves," he said. "That's what the President is doing, his team, Congress. What I thought all of us were doing."Public statements and recent news reveal that both Burr and Loeffler publicly downplayed threats posed by coronavirus even after selling off significant portions of their personal portfolios.Burr wrote an opinion article for Fox News days after his sale suggesting that the United States was "better prepared than ever before" to deal with coronavirus, only to tell a small gathering two weeks later that "it's probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic," according to a recording obtained by NPR. Burr pushed back on the story Thursday night, calling it "a tabloid-style hit piece" on Twitter.Loeffler tweeted multiple times in the weeks after the meeting that the U.S. was prepared to take on coronavirus."Democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the American people on Coronavirus readiness," she said on February 28. "Here's the truth: @realDonaldTrump & his administration are doing a great job working to keep Americans healthy & safe."On March 10, she added that "the consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle COVID19 & keep Americans safe."> Concerned about coronavirus? Remember this:> > The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle COVID19 & keep Americans safe.> > Update following meeting with @realdonaldtrump, @VP, & @StevenMnuchin1: pic.twitter.com/H9t2D6x19k> > -- Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) March 10, 2020Senators Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), and David Perdue (R., Ga.) also sold large amounts of stock following the January 24 full-Senate briefing, according to financial records.In transactions dated January 31 and February 18, Feinstein and her husband sold $1.5 million to $6 million worth of stock in Allogene Therapeutics, a California-based biotech company — after it traded near its 2020 low. A spokesman for Feinstein said that "all of Senator Feinstein's assets are in a blind trust. She has no involvement in her husband's financial decisions."Feinstein was also outspoken about coronavirus threats following the briefing, sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asking about measures to ensure adequate resources for the quarantining of travelers.Inhofe sold as much as $400,000 in stock on January 27, including stock in Apple and PayPal, but the Oklahoma Republican was also buying stock before the briefing, which has since done poorly.Perdue made over 100 transactions in January and February both before and after the briefing, selling between $148,050 to $995,000 and buying between $141,043 to $890,000 — including stocks in Disney and Delta Airlines, which have suffered during the outbreak."Senator Perdue goes above and beyond to comply with current law and meet all Senate ethics requirements, he is not involved in any day-to-day investment decisions and uses an outside financial advisor to manage all assets and publicly report every transaction in a timely manner," a spokeswoman for Perdue told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.Additionally, records for Senator Ron Johnson also show a $5 million-$25 million equity sale by the Wisconsin Republican on March 2, after a San Francisco-based private equity firm made a large investment in the Wisconsin-based manufacturer of specialty plastic packaging materials run by his brother."Obviously, this had nothing to do with the coronavirus," Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel regarding the sale, which he said had been in the works since 2018.
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| Returning troops denied water, bathrooms under quarantine Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:38 AM PDT  It wasn't the welcome home that U.S. soldiers expected when they returned from war zones in the Middle East in the past week. When their planes landed at Fort Bliss, Texas, they were herded into buses, denied water and the use of bathrooms, then quarantined in packed barracks, with little food or access to the outdoors. The soldiers posted notes on social media about the poor conditions.
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| Father takes his own life in ICE family detention centre Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:06 AM PDT  A 27-year-old Honduran father has taken his own life while being held in a family detention centre by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas.According to RAICES, a Texas nonprofit organisation providing legal services to immigrants, the man had been fighting for his family's freedom from custody. He had been detained at the Karnes detention centre, which has been through a series of chaotic changes since the Trump administration ramped up its programme of family detentions.
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| Air pollution clearing due to coronavirus lockdowns Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:42 AM PDT  Satellite images show strict lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus are also having an impact on the environment.
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| Trump and Fauci differ in tone on possible drug treatment for coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:01 PM PDT  At Friday's White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, differed on their expectations about the use of chloroquine to treat the virus.
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| Brazil coronavirus cases top 600, diplomatic spat with China bubbles Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:38 AM PDT  Confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil surged past 600 on Thursday, more than doubling in two days, as a diplomatic spat over the disease's origins between President Jair Bolsonaro's son and the Chinese ambassador threatened relations with Brazil's top trading partner. The president sidestepped this and other controversies in his weekly Facebook broadcast on Thursday evening, saying that the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil should peak in three to four months, and the country will return to normal in six to seven months. After blaming the global spread of the virus on China, the son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, attempted to defuse the situation on Thursday, saying he stood by his criticism of the government in Beijing but did not intend to offend the Chinese people.
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| A US Navy special warfare operator has tested positive for the coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:57 PM PDT  Fellow service members who were in contact with the sailor have been quarantined at the base "out of an abundance of caution."
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| China says Pompeo 'lying' in new coronavirus clash Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:54 AM PDT  The United States and China on Friday took their growing clash over the coronavirus pandemic to social media, with Beijing telling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo he was "lying through (his) teeth." In an interview on Fox News, Pompeo said Beijing "wasted valuable days" after identifying the novel coronavirus by letting "hundreds of thousands" leave the epicenter of Wuhan to places including Italy, which has surpassed China as the country with the highest death toll.
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| Pence staffer tests positive for coronavirus; Pelosi calls McConnell’s stimulus plan a ‘non-starter’ - live updates Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:00 PM PDT  Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, did not identified the staffer, nor did she say specifically where the individual worked.
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| Trump administration asks states to delay releasing unemployment numbers Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:45 PM PDT  In an email Wednesday, the Labor Department told state officials they needed to hold off on releasing the exact number of unemployment claims they are receiving amid the accelerating COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reports. The Times obtained a copy of the email, which says that until the Labor Department releases the total number of national claims next Thursday, state officials should only "provide information using generalities to describe claims levels (very high, large increase)" and "not provide numeric values to the public."The message was written by Gay Gilbert, administrator of the Labor Department's Office of Employment Insurance. She has worked under Republican and Democratic administrations, and there is no indication political appointees asked her to send the request, the Times says. Still, many states were disturbed by the email, and one governor's office said it had asked the state attorney general whether it had to temporarily withhold the numbers.In Washington, where at least 74 people have died from COVID-19, a state official would tell the Times only that they are seeing an "even more dramatic increase this week" after unemployment claims rose 150 percent last week from the week prior. The federal government on Thursday morning reported that 281,000 people applied for unemployment insurance last week, an increase from 211,000 the previous week.More stories from theweek.com Top coronavirus doctor puts head in hands when Trump mentions 'Deep State Department' at briefing America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses Bloomberg's last FEC filing shows he spent nearly $1 billion on his failed presidential run
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| Senate Intelligence chair sold stocks after coronavirus briefings. Now there's an investigation Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:45 PM PDT  Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina has asked ethics officials to review his stock trades amid calls for his resignation.
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| Fauci predicts Americans will likely need to stay home for at least several more weeks Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:26 AM PDT  "I cannot see that all of a sudden, next week or two weeks from now it's going to be over. I don't think there's a chance of that," he said.
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| Cigarette Butt Leads Cops to Killer in 1985 Slaying of Young Mom: Police Posted: 19 Mar 2020 11:29 AM PDT  For 35 years, the family of Tonya Ethridge McKinley anxiously waited for authorities to track down the man who murdered the gregarious 23-year-old, dumping her body on the side of a Florida highway.On Wednesday evening, that day finally arrived with the arrest of Daniel Leonard Wells, 57, who was tied to the young woman's 1985 slaying thanks to DNA recovered from the butt of his cigarette. His arrest marks the beginning of the end of the oldest cold case in Pensacola history."She was the best sister a girl could ask for," her older sister, Renee Ethridge, told The Daily Beast. "God is good. I can't believe this day has finally arrived."Wells was charged Wednesday evening with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery for the January 1, 1985, murder of McKinley, according to the Pensacola Police Department. He is currently being held without bond at Escambia County Jail. Police Arrest Two Louisiana Men in 39-Year-Old Cold Case Murder of TeenMcKinley was last seen alive celebrating New Year's Eve around 1:30 a.m. at Darryl's Bar & Grille in Pensacola, while her 18-month-old son was waiting for her at home. Four hours later, a family taking their dog to the vet found her body in an empty lot a block from a highway. The 23-year-old, who was found only partially clothed, had been strangled and sexually assaulted, police said. Investigators collected physical evidence at the scene and on McKinley's body—including semen and hair—but they were never able to identify a suspect or make any arrests in the case. They also failed to match DNA found at the scene with samples from a national database."Despite having a good bit of physical evidence and dozens of interviews, over time, the trail went cold," the Pensacola Police Department said in an emotional statement posted on Facebook Thursday. "In the meantime, a baby boy grew up without a mother, parents buried their daughter without knowing justice, and a killer was walking around free."Her case went cold, but Pensacola police remained committed to catching McKinley's killer, and her case was passed around to several detectives over the last 30 years.Police May Have Solved the 1999 Cold-Case Murder of Kassie Federer. And the Suspect Is Already on Death Row."It seems that every couple of years a new lead would pop up and we would drop everything to run it down. We did this time and time again," the department said in their statement. "When detectives retired, Tonya's case was passed along to the next generation again and again. As technology advanced, the case was brought back to the forefront. Detectives laid fresh eyes on all of the evidence, new theories were presented, and hopes of catching Tonya's killer were renewed."Over the last couple of years, police have been comparing DNA profiles left behind at old murder scenes with open-source genealogy databases that have become popular among families hoping to find long-lost relatives. Using a database, Pensacola authorities were able to match DNA evidence found near McKinley's body with several different people believed to be Wells' distant cousins. After the hit, authorities constructed a family tree, starting with the distant relatives to determine possible offenders. Eventually, authorities said, the tree led them to identify Wells as a suspect. The Pensacola Police Department said they followed Wells and were ultimately able to match DNA from a cigarette butt he'd discarded to the evidence they'd collected 35 years ago. 5-Year-Old A.J. Freund Died From Repeated Blows to the Head in Fatal Beating, Coroner Says"Today, the evil that took Tonya from her friends and family was arrested for her brutal murder," the department said. "The reasons why this happened, how evil crossed Tonya's path, may never be answered and in the end may not be important. What is important is that no one forgot Tonya."According to court records obtained by the Pensacola News Journal, Wells has had previous run-ins with Pensacola authorities, including a 1987 arrest for alleged battery and witness tampering. He pleaded no contest to the first charge, and the second was eventually dropped. A year later, Wells was arrested for alleged solicitation of prostitution, but it's unclear how the case ended.Timothy Davidson Jr., McKinley's 35-year-old son, told The Daily Beast that while he is grateful for the arrest, he will only feel "complete when there is a conviction and justice has been served.""It's still kind of unbelievable—like I'm dreaming," Davidson Jr. said, adding that his mother "can finally Rest in Peace."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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| Exhausted Dutch minister leading coronavirus fight quits Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Medical Care Minister Bruno Bruins, 56, fell to the floor in parliament on Wednesday while taking questions. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Bruins had quit because it was unclear how long it would take for him to recover. "The nature of the crisis is such that it demands a minister who can be ready to go full throttle immediately," Rutte said during a televised news conference.
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| Hong Kong Records Its Biggest Rise in Coronavirus Cases as New Wave of Infections Crashes Into Asia Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Hong Kong saw a dramatic rise of 48 new coronavirus cases Friday, majority of whom were travelers returning from abroad
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| Iran furloughs imprisoned U.S. Navy vet amid coronavirus concerns Posted: 19 Mar 2020 04:40 PM PDT  Iran has granted a medical furlough to a U.S. Navy veteran who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday.
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| America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:50 AM PDT  The world is gripped by the coronavirus pandemic. At time of writing there were about 225,000 confirmed cases in total, and 9,300 deaths. Europe is for the moment the epicenter of the outbreak, particularly in Italy where the virus has overwhelmed the health care system, but dozens of other countries are only a week or two behind on a similar track, including the United States.However, there are major divergences between the performance of different countries. Rich and middle-income East Asian countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore have managed to nearly halt the outbreak in its tracks, while more ramshackle countries like the U.S. and U.K. have botched it almost beyond belief.While it is obviously too early to conduct a full accounting of what works and what doesn't, some broad lessons about best practices are still apparent. America will need to learn these lessons quickly if it wants to save itself from potentially horrifying outcomes, both now and in future pandemics.It's fair to say there are three broad levels to any pandemic response, each built on top of the other. The foundation is the national health care system, which provides the necessary broad access to testing and treatment. The second is the state's administrative bureaucracy and welfare state, which coordinates additional response measures. That means stuff like setting up mass testing checkpoints at border crossings and around the country, securing stockpiles of necessary medical supplies, constructing emergency hospitals, and so on. It also means deploying income support to individuals and businesses should mass lockdowns or quarantines become necessary, to keep people from being ruined financially and the economy ticking over. The third is citizen awareness: The population must be ready to upgrade their hygiene habits, accept drastic restrictions on movement, and avoid gathering together, so transmission is limited.Of all these, mass testing deserves special emphasis, because without it any emergency response is all but hamstrung. A nation cannot fight an epidemic without knowing where the disease actually is.The best-performing countries, however, excelled on all three levels. Taiwan has a Medicare-style single-payer system (indeed, it was actually based initially on America's Medicare system, except made universal), which allowed them to deploy testing, treatment, and quarantine without any fuss. They also had pandemic response plans drawn up after the SARS outbreak in 2002, which had been regularly reviewed and practiced. Finally, their citizens had been educated and prepared to take any epidemic seriously, so that people did not try to escape lockdowns and spread the disease further.Even middle-income countries can manage this. Vietnam, whose per-capita GDP was only about $6,600 in 2018 (or about 12 percent as much as the U.S.), squelched its initial epidemic with a lightning-fast deployment of mass testing, contact-tracking, quarantine, and public education measures (though it has since been dealing with new infections from foreign travelers). If the state is on top of the situation, mass lockdowns and the associated economic devastation can be limited or avoided.European countries were considerably behind the curve. Most have good enough or better medical systems, but their bureaucracies were caught flat-footed on the response. Italy has a world-class health care system, and the state actually moved quite quickly to put through testing, lockdown, and quarantine measures, but it simply wasn't fast enough to halt the outbreak. Worse, Italian citizens initially did not take the crisis seriously enough. Many resisted social distancing advisories and continued going out to public gatherings when the epidemic was in its early stages — encouraged by mixed messages from some authorities. Notice of a mass lockdown in northern Italy leaked before it could be implemented, and thousands fled to the south, where they spread the disease. And once an outbreak has gotten out of hand, even the best health care system in the world will be overwhelmed, because none are prepared to treat such gigantic surges of critically ill patients.Still, Italy is now working to the absolute utmost to fight the crisis, and appears to have slowed the growth of new cases. Other European countries, belatedly jolted into action by the Italian example, are taking drastic steps to limit disease transmission, build up their testing and treatment capacity, and keep their populations protected in the meantime. Here the famously generous European welfare states come in handy — countries like Denmark and Norway already have generous sick leave so infected people do not have to come to work, plus unemployment benefits to catch people who lose their job, and so on. These countries were also quick to pass business support measures to limit layoffs and prevent bankruptcies until the crisis passes.The United States, by contrast, has faceplanted on every single aspect of the response. Our health care system is a bitter joke by Taiwanese or Italian standards. We do not even have universal coverage, and what coverage we have is a usurious, fragmented, Kafkaesque nightmare that routinely bankrupts people who get sick. President Trump's direct response has also been horrifically bungled. We still do not have enough tests at least two months after we should have had them. He has not secured supplies of vital equipment like masks and ventilators, and hospitals are already running short. He did not even start activating the Army Corps of Engineers until a couple days ago. Hospital ships that Trump boasted were on their way turned out to be docked for maintenance and will take days to get moving. An economic support measure (which contains some emergency paid leave and unemployment insurance provisions that are worse than what most European countries have in normal times) is bogged down in Congress.Perhaps worst of all, Trump, Republican politicians, and right-wing media consistently downplayed the epidemic for weeks as it gathered strength. As the virus quietly spread through the population, Trump was still claiming "The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA," and conservative media was claiming it was no worse than the flu. Just in the last few days, Republican hack propagandists like Sean Hannity have pivoted on a dime from "I see it, again, as like, let's bludgeon Trump with this new hoax," to "this program has always taken the coronavirus seriously. We've never called the virus a hoax." The result is a persistent partisan split in how likely Americans are to understand the threat posed by the outbreak.At any rate, this all suggests the sketch of a broad policy agenda to fix this outbreak and head off future ones. First, the wretched American health care system needs to be sharply augmented on an emergency basis and eventually replaced with something that actually works, like Medicare-for-all. Second, the federal government is in shambles and needs a total overhaul. To start with, we should copy Taiwan's pandemic systems so that response teams and supplies are always ready to go on a moment's notice. More broadly, state capacity, which has been gutted by decades of conservative austerity, anti-science, and anti-expertise dogmatism, must be rebuilt across the board. Conservatives have insisted for decades that the government is all but useless, and today we are all paying the price. Third, Trump should be turfed out of office and the conservative movement should be comprehensively defeated politically. It turns out there are some serious downsides to having a narcissistic reality TV host in charge of the country.I have little hope that very much of this will come to pass. But in a crisis, sometimes what seemed impossible can happen very quickly. Let's hope somebody is trying to learn the lessons Taiwan and other Asian democracies are teaching us.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Top coronavirus doctor puts head in hands when Trump mentions 'Deep State Department' at briefing Bloomberg's last FEC filing shows he spent nearly $1 billion on his failed presidential run Senate GOP stimulus plan would exclude up to 64 million tax filers from full rebate, economist says
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| How long will the coronavirus outbreak last in the U.S.? Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:50 AM PDT  A quick timeline would mirror the timeline in China, where the coronavirus outbreak began, Dr. Deborah Birx said.
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| Fox News Grills Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Her Stock Dump: How Was This Not Insider Trading? Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) insisted during a Friday morning Fox News appearance that it was "absolutely false" that she engaged in insider trading after she dumped millions in stocks following a Senate coronavirus briefing, prompting Fox News anchor Ed Henry to skeptically push back.Following a Daily Beast report revealing that she sold up to $3.1 million worth of stocks between the Jan. 24 briefing and mid-February—right before the market began to plummet amid coronavirus fears—Loeffler was asked about a tweet she sent the day of the briefing preaching calm to the public."Did you leave that briefing with calm?" Henry wondered, causing the Georgia senator to say she believed the government was prepared while praising President Donald Trump's early actions, such as a China travel ban."Senator, you thought the government was prepared," the Fox anchor followed up. "After that tweet, you sold over $1 million in stocks before the market went down. Were you trading on inside information about what was coming?"Loeffler denied that she did anything wrong, claiming that it was "absolutely false" that she engaged in violating the STOCK Act, which prevents lawmakers from trading on inside information."If you actually look at the personal transaction reports that were filed, it notices at the bottom I'm only informed after by transactions after they occurred, several weeks," she added. "Those transactions, on my behalf at least, were a mix of buys and sells. Very routine for my portfolio."Henry, however, didn't appear to buy what the senator was attempting to sell, noting that while her sales were before the stock market began its decline, her advisers also purchased shares in a teleconference company just before the time when more workers would soon need work-from-home technology."Who are these third-party advisers?" Henry pressed. "They seem to have a pretty good idea about where the market was headed."The Republican senator once again claimed ignorance, placing all the responsibility on her financial advisers while asserting she is "not involved in the decisions around buying and selling."After Loeffler boasted about her lengthy career in the financial services industry as a way to assure Fox viewers she would have complied with ethics rules, Henry pointed out that her husband is CEO of the New York Stock Exchange."Is there a conflict here since there were purchases that suggested you did well with some stocks while we have Americans across the country who have seen their 401Ks plummet?" Henry pushed back.The Georgia lawmaker, meanwhile, tripled-down and said the transactions were "outsourced to third-parties" before pivoting to all the "around-the-clock" work she's doing for the people of Georgia.Loeffler was the second GOP senator found to have engaged in questionable stock sales and purchases after being briefed on the potential severity of the upcoming coronavirus pandemic. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) dumped up to $1.7 million in shares, including in hotels and resorts, just before the crash. While both senators dumped their stocks, they publicly downplayed the threats posed by the coronavirus outbreak.The financial industry veteran, meanwhile, was not the preferred choice of Fox News opinion hosts to be Georgia senator. When Gov. Brian Kemp chose Loeffler as the replacement for the retiring Sen. Johnny Isaakson late last year, Sean Hannity directed his listeners to call Kemp and complain as he wanted Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to get the seat. Collins, who has already announced a primary challenge to Loeffler, took to Twitter on Friday morning to blast both Loeffler and Burr."People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain?" Collins tweeted. "I'm sickened just thinking about it."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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| California issues statewide stay-at-home order Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:29 PM PDT  The order, which takes effect Thursday night, asks residents to leave their homes only when necessary.
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| Iran judicial authority says liaising with France over prisoner swap Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:07 PM PDT  Iran's judicial authority said Friday Tehran was liaising with Paris over the release of a French prisoner held in the Islamic republic after France released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US. The Iranian, Jallal Rohollahnejad, "has been freed today", the Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan Online reported, without disclosing the identity of the French detainee. Iranian state TV later Friday said he was already on a flight back to Tehran.
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| Mexico's deadly toll of environment and land defenders catalogued in report Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  At least 83 murdered in 2012-2019, with a third of attacks targeting opponents of energy mega-projectsAt least 83 Mexican land and environment defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2019, while hundreds more were threatened, beaten and criminalized, according to a new report.Latin America is the most dangerous continent in the world to defend environmental, land and human rights, with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala ranking worst.In Mexico, this targeted violence has taken hold in the context of widespread impunity and escalating generalized violence since the ill-fated war on drugs was launched in 2006.Calderón sends in the armyMexico's "war on drugs" began in late 2006 when the president at the time, Felipe Calderón, ordered thousands of troops onto the streets in response to an explosion of horrific violence in his native state of Michoacán.Calderón hoped to smash the drug cartels with his heavily militarized onslaught but the approach was counter-productive and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico's military went on the offensive, the body count sky-rocketed to new heights and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or killed.Kingpin strategySimultaneously Calderón also began pursuing the so-called "kingpin strategy" by which authorities sought to decapitate the cartels by targeting their leaders.That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva who was gunned down by Mexican marines in 2009 – but also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe such tactics served only to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions squabbled for their piece of the pie.Under Calderón's successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most murderous mafia groups.But Calderón's policies largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Sinaloa's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.When "El Chapo" was arrested in early 2016, Mexico's president bragged: "Mission accomplished". But the violence went on. By the time Peña Nieto left office in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year of murders, with nearly 36,000 people slain."Hugs not bullets"The leftwing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic change in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, vowed to attack the social roots of crime, offering vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged young people at risk of being ensnared by the cartels. "It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] welfare," Amlo said, promising to slash the murder rate from an average of 89 killings per day with his "hugs not bullets" doctrine.Amlo also pledged to chair daily 6am security meetings and create a 60,000 strong "National Guard". But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mostly to hunt Central American migrants.Mexico now suffers an average of about 96 murders per day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.The situation for defenders was exacerbated by energy reforms in 2013, since when scores of renewable energy mega-projects have been imposed on rural and indigenous communities without adequate consultation or compensation.Almost one in three attacks since 2012 targeted defenders opposing energy projects, especially wind and hydroelectric power, according to the Mexican Centre for Environmental Rights (known by its Spanish acronym, Cemed)."The data shows persistent structural violence against defenders of environmental rights in our country, which prevents them having the freedom and security to exercise their right to defend human rights," said a spokesperson for Cemed, which tracks attacks against communities opposing projects threatening forests, water sources and land rights.The violence is spread across the country, but defenders in the southern state of Oaxaca have faced most attacks over the past eight years.Oaxaca, one of the country's poorest states with the highest proportion of indigenous peoples, is rich in natural resources such as minerals, rivers, forests and natural gas. The violence has been particularly marked in the biodiverse isthmus of Tehuantepec – a narrow land mass between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean where 28 mega wind farms now generate electricity.The overall number of attacks in 2019 was the lowest since 2012. Nevertheless, 15 defenders were murdered and at least 25 others were threatened, harassed or subjected to smear campaigns.This included the double murder of the indigenous Tarahumara defender Otilia Martínez Cruz and his son Chaparro Cruz, who were shot dead on 1 May 2019 – a year after another family member, Julián Carrillo, was killed.More than a dozen Tarahumara defenders have been killed in recent years for trying to stop the illegal deforestation of their ancestral land in the Sierra Madre, a biodiverse mountain range in northern Mexico. They include Isidro Baldenegro López, winner of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize, who was shot dead in 2017. The forests have long been targeted by illegal loggers abetted by corrupt officials and landowners.In 2019, state officials such as police officers, national guard and local prosecutors, were responsible for 40% of incidents registered by Cemed.
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| Dozens of Michael Bloomberg campaign staffers learned they were exposed to coronavirus hours before getting laid off and days before they'll lose their health insurance Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:05 PM PDT  Bloomberg campaign employees who worked in the New York headquarters will lose their jobs and health insurance on March 31.
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| Police in North Carolina stopped a truck with 18,000 pounds of stolen toilet paper Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:33 PM PDT  Photos provided by the sheriff's department show dozens of boxes filled with thousands of stolen rolls.
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| Coronavirus: CDC advises health workers to use homemade masks or bandanas amid shortages as ‘last resort’ Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:59 PM PDT  As healthcare workers and hospitals face shortages across the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidelines for using face masks.Shortages in surgical and respirator masks started after citizens panic bought boxes in stores and online so they could wear when out. But this decision has since left hospitals short of the necessary facial guard.
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| Top coronavirus doctor puts head in hands when Trump mentions 'Deep State Department' at briefing Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:45 AM PDT  President Trump is busy conspiracy theorizing during a international crisis.In a press conference Friday outlining several new actions the U.S. government is taking during the new coronavirus spread, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the leader of the State Department, took the lectern. "Or as they like to call it, the Deep State Department," Trump said before Pompeo stepped up.Pompeo, who tends to agree with Trump's far-right tendencies, seemed to take no issue with the term that connotes the U.S. government is actually run by shady political forces behind the scenes. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump's top coronavirus adviser, rejected his own advice and put his head in his hand after the president threw out the comment.> The president's apparent anger on display as he used the derogatory term "Deep State Department" and Dr Fauci reacted by putting his hand over his face. Watch. pic.twitter.com/Ks7j4WciVt> > — Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) March 20, 2020No matter how wild Trump's eccentricities get, Fauci should probably avoid touching his face — though the crowded press briefing room wasn't exactly up to CDC standards either.More stories from theweek.com America has one of the world's worst coronavirus responses Bloomberg's last FEC filing shows he spent nearly $1 billion on his failed presidential run Senate GOP stimulus plan would exclude up to 64 million tax filers from full rebate, economist says
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| Young people ignoring social distancing is ‘irresponsible’, says one MD Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:18 PM PDT  Government and health officials have warned Americans to avoid group gatherings of more than 10 people in recent days in an effort called social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus. But a lot of young people have defied these orders. "If I get corona, I get corona," said one spring breaker. "I won't let it stop me from partying." Dr. Purvi Parikh, an infectious disease specialist, called these decisions "irresponsible" and urges young people to take social distancing more seriously.
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| As deliveries soar, UPS drivers say company's coronavirus precautions may not keep them or customers safe Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:59 AM PDT  "I got 160 stops, 300 packages," one UPS driver said. "I deliver to doctors' offices, urgent cares. The potential for bad things to happen is crazy."
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| Kremlin says Putin does not need a coronavirus test as he has no symptoms Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been tested for the new coronavirus and does not need to undergo such a test because he is healthy and has no symptoms, the Kremlin said on Friday. Russia has reported 199 coronavirus cases so far, fewer than in many other European countries. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that everyone involved in events with Putin, 67, is tested in advance for the virus and that people in Crimea who received state awards from him this week were screened.
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| Here's what a 90-day 'stay home' order means for New Yorkers Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:23 PM PDT  Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered all non-essential businesses to shut down and for people to remain indoorsGovernor Andrew Cuomo of New York has ordered the shutdown of all non-essential businesses in the state, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged above 7,000. Except for essential services, all New Yorkers are now ordered to stay indoors for up to 90 days from 8pm Sunday evening.Cuomo called the new measures the "ultimate step" to curb the outbreak. "These provisions will be enforced. These are not helpful hints. This is not if you really want to be a great citizen. These are legal provisions," he said at a briefing on Friday morning in Albany, the state's capital. "We need everyone to be safe; otherwise, no one can be safe."> BREAKING: New York will implement a 90-day moratorium on evictions for residential and commercial tenants. > > We will do all we can to help those financially suffering because of the COVID19 pandemic.> > — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 20, 2020What does a 90-day quarantine mean for New York state's 19.5 million residents?Can New Yorkers go outside? Yes. Although New Yorkers are strongly encouraged to stay indoors and public gatherings are limited, they can still go to the grocery store, hospital or doctor's office, walk their dogs or even head to the laundromat. That's simply because state officials have determined these activities are essential.Although residents are still allowed to enjoy the outdoors, the governor reminded them to use common sense in maintaining social distance."Outdoor recreation is a solitary recreational exercise. It's running. It's hiking," he said. "It's not playing basketball with five other people."Only professionals in industries also deemed essential during the outbreak will be permitted to go back and forth from their jobs. Residents working in healthcare, sanitation, food services, law enforcement as well as gas stations and laundry mats won't see specific limitations on their movement.All non-essential businesses have been ordered closed, however, after state officials increasingly demanded staff reductions. Previously capped at groups of 50, non-essential gatherings of New Yorkers of any size, for any reason, are now banned.What happens if residents don't comply? Cuomo announced that the mandate applies to all individuals and business in the state. But it's important to note the measure stops short of being a so-called shelter-in-place order, which is intended for mass shootings.In contrast, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, issued an order mandating residents shelter-in-place earlier this week, although Cuomo on Friday said California was no longer officially using that term.However, unlike New York's regulations, California's mandate is enforceable as a misdemeanor crime, and demands sheriffs and police chiefs "ensure compliance with and enforce this order".In New York "the violation of any provision of its order constitutes an imminent threat and creates an immediate menace to public health", the mandate states.Any businesses violating the order would be fined and forced to close. However, Cuomo insisted the state does not plan to fine individuals who violate the regulations.What about transit? New York is home to the county's largest, and oldest, transportation system of subway trains and buses – the MTA in New York City. According to the order, mass transit will stay operational, but residents are strongly discouraged from using public transit unless it's absolutely necessary.Roads, gas stations and some auto repair services will stay open.In New York City, the mayor, Bill de Blasio, had pushed for a shelter-in-place order to limit even non-essential travel, such as by foot, bicycle or scooter. However, the state governor had repeatedly dismissed the idea, insisting New Yorkers would not be confined to their homes under a quarantine. The governor is the only official with the executive power to order a city or the entire state to, in effect, lock down. Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that the federal government was not ready to order a nationwide stay-at-home order.The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus soared by more than 1,000 in the city in just a matter of hours on Thursday. Under Cuomo's order announced on Friday, essential travel is categorized as traveling for necessary supplies, accessing healthcare or going to provide aid to family or friends. Air travel and taxis are still permitted, as is ride-sharing on a personal basis, excluding group rides.The new provisions will take effect on Sunday night.
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| Delta, United, and other airlines are sending their largest planes to the desert for storage as they drastically reduce operations due to coronavirus Posted: 19 Mar 2020 01:29 PM PDT  Marana, Arizona is where aircraft go to retire but some airlines are sending their jets there to ride out the COVID-19 crisis affecting the industry.
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| India hangs four over 'Nirbhaya' 2012 gang rape in Delhi Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:24 PM PDT  Four men convicted of the gang-rape and murder of a student on a moving bus in Delhi were hung on Friday morning, seven years after the attack that shocked India. The brutal attack on Jyoti Singh and her male friend, by six men in December 2012, led to nationwide protests and more severe anti-rape laws in the country. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, tweeted 'justice has prevailed' after the executions, and said he hoped to 'build a nation where the focus is on women's empowerment.' In 2018, Thomson Reuters named India as the most dangerous nation in the world to be a woman. A mob gathered outside the high-security Tihar prison after the executions of Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh, chanting 'death to rapists.' Another of the student's attackers committed suicide while in jail, and another - a minor - controversially spent just three years in a reform facility, the maximum sentence available for his age. Public opinion has largely been in favour of capital punishment in the widely-publicised case, with activists hoping it will act as a deterrent. "The horrific gang rape has shocked the entire nation, the crime was so brutal that an entire country was outraged," said Swati Maliwal, the Chairperson at the Delhi Commission for Women. "We welcome the hanging of the rapists and believe that the country needs to now work on stricter laws to ensure no-one ever dares to commit such crimes again." The execution was the first use of capital punishment in India since 2015.
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| China's pollution levels are plunging because of the coronavirus. The planet's future hinges on what we do next. Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:15 AM PDT  China's carbon footprint shrunk while it fought coronavirus, but it may not last. The critical moments will come as global economies start to rebuild.
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| Michael Bloomberg Campaign Transfers $18 Million to DNC to Beat Trump Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:44 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said Friday he is transferring $18 million to the Democratic National Committee from his presidential campaign and turning over several of his field offices to state parties in an effort to help Democrats defeat President Donald Trump.Previously, Bloomberg had said even if he wasn't the nominee, he was willing to spend a lot of money -- but "hopefully not" as much as $1 billion -- to keep staff and offices in six battleground states to help any Democratic nominee defeat Trump and elect other Democrats. His campaign had explored doing that forming an outside group that would not be able to coordinate with a candidate or the national party.But the former New York mayor's campaign said today because of the need to coordinate efforts and the dynamics of the race changing with Joe Biden in control, he's giving $18 million to the DNC's coordinated campaign and transferring leases from several campaign offices to state Democratic parties. A list of "hundreds" of staff members will be given to the DNC with the expectation and hope they would be hired, a campaign aide said.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, also sought the Democratic presidential nomination. He endorsed Joe Biden on March 4.)Staff in the six battleground states are being notified they will be paid through the first week in April and have full benefits through the end of April, the campaign said."While we considered creating our own independent entity to support the nominee and hold the president accountable, this race is too important to have many competing groups with good intentions but that are not coordinated and united in strategy and execution," Bloomberg's campaign said in a memo to DNC Chairman Tom Perez. "We therefore believe the best thing we can all do over the next eight months is to help the group that matters most in this fight: the Democratic National Committee."Bloomberg had pledged a robust effort during the campaign and after he left the race and endorsed Biden."I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life, and I hope you won't walk away either," Bloomberg said in an emotional speech to campaign staff and supporters on March 4, the day after a disappointing showing in Super Tuesday races prompted him to end his Democratic presidential campaign.Bloomberg's donation will support the DNC's "Battleground Build-Up 2020" program and continue organizing in key states, funding hundreds of organizers, according to a Democratic official."This will help us invest in more organizers across the country to elect the next president and help Democrats win up and down the ballot," Perez said in a statement.Democrats need to compete with "the war chest" that Trump, the Republican National Committee and their allies have amassed, and Bloomberg's "extraordinary investment" will help ensure that needed grassroots efforts in key states will be funded, Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager, said in a statement.The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and supporting entities said they had $225 million in the bank at the end of February, according to a statement from the campaign.Besides the the donation to the DNC and transferring of offices to state parties, Bloomberg also plans to continue spending money separately to defeat Trump, but there's no firm amount and details are still being discussed, the campaign aide said.The former New York mayor has continued spending on the race since ending his campaign, including a $2 million donation to Collective Future to register 500,000 black voters in key states plus $500,000 for Voto Latino to register new voters. He also announced a $2 million donation to Swing Left to help Democrats in competitive races.He also pledged to spend $15 Million to $20 million to register voters in five battleground states and $10 million to help protect House Democrats targeted by Republicans for their support of impeachment proceedings against Trump. He gave $5 million in December to Fair Fight 2020, the group Democrat Stacey Abrams founded in Georgia to encourage voter-registration and oppose voter-suppression measures.Bloomberg had spent a record $687 million of his own money on the race when he dropped out. His campaign said $275 million of Bloomberg's media blitz was focused against Trump, and it's making all ads available to the public to download and share on their networks."By supporting the Democratic Party, we look forward to November and taking on our unified goal of beating Donald Trump," the campaign said in its memo to the DNC.(Updates with comment from Biden campaign from 11th paragraph.)For 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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| Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic missile Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:43 PM PDT  The United States announced Friday it has successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a nuclear-capable weapon that could accelerate the arms race between superpowers. The Pentagon said a test glide vehicle flew at hypersonic speeds -- more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 -- to a designated impact point. The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in October 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.
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| Senate GOP unveils massive coronavirus bill that includes checks for Americans Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:09 PM PDT  The Republican proposal also includes emergency aid for small businesses and industries such as airline companies.
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| Coronavirus: California orders its 40 million residents to 'stay-at-home' as national guard mobilised Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:35 AM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered the state's 40 million residents to stay at home, restricting non-essential movements to control the spread of the coronavirus that threatens to overwhelm the state's medical system."This is a moment we need to make tough decisions," Newsom said. "We need to recognize reality."
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| $10 toilet paper? Coronavirus gouging complaints surge in US Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:52 AM PDT  One store advertised hand sanitizer at $60 a bottle. Chain stores offered $26 thermometers and face masks at the "everyday low price" of $39.95 a pair, while a convenience store touted toilet paper at $10 a roll next to a sign reading: "This is not a joke." Across a country where lines are long, some shelves are empty and patience is thin, authorities are receiving a surge of reports about merchants trying to cash in on the coronavirus crisis with outrageous prices, phony cures and other scams.
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