| Kobe Bryant's helicopter crashed in foggy conditions considered so dangerous that the LAPD grounded all its flights Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:24 AM PST  The NBA legend and eight others were flying in heavy fog before crashing into a hillside in Calabasas, California, at about 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.
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| Poland, Israel condemn resurgent anti-Semitism at Auschwitz commemoration Posted: 26 Jan 2020 04:25 PM PST  The presidents of Israel and Poland called on Monday for greater efforts to combat anti-Semitism as the world marked 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp amid concerns over a resurgence of anti-Jewish prejudice. "Our duty is to fight anti-Semitism, racism and fascist nostalgia, those sick evils that ... threaten to eat away at the foundations of our democracies," Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said at a venue near the former camp, which is now a museum. Polish President Andrzej Duda, who did not attend Israel's national Holocaust Memorial last Thursday because he was not allowed to speak, thanked Rivlin for his presence at Auschwitz.
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| 'Draconian' travel curbs needed to halt spread of virus: scientists Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:18 AM PST  Governments need to implement "draconian" travel curbs to stop a mystery coronavirus in China becoming a global epidemic, a team of experts mapping the outbreak said Monday. Scientists at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) presented a briefing warning that the spread of the deadly SARS-like virus that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan was accelerating. "We have to be prepared that this particular epidemic may be about to become a global epidemic," said Gabriel Leung, head of the team.
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| Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:00 AM PST ![Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death]( "Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death") A Virginia woman was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole Monday in the death of a West Virginia man who was decapitated. Roena Cheryl Mills, 43, of Rural Retreat, Virginia, was sentenced for her December conviction on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Bo White, 29, of Lenore, news outlets reported. A neighbor called police after seeing Mills covered in blood.
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| Sanders Leads, Klobuchar Climbs and Buttigieg Drops in Iowa Posted: 26 Jan 2020 07:17 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Senator Amy Klobuchar has broken into the top three Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa for the first time, a poll released Sunday showed. It was the third poll of the day to show her rival, Bernie Sanders as the frontrunner in an early state.An Emerson University poll showed Sanders leading in Iowa with 30% while Joe Biden followed with 21%. Klobuchar was in third with 13% ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg who had 11% and 10%, respectively. The poll was conducted from Jan. 23-26 and has a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.Since December, Sanders has risen 8 percentage points in the Emerson poll. Conversely, Buttigieg fell 8 percentage points. Klobuchar's rise comes on the heels of an endorsement from The New York Times.Two New Hampshire polls released Sunday morning by CNN/University of New Hampshire and NBC News/Marist both also found Sanders in first.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Magan Sherzai at mcrane19@bloomberg.net, 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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| Adam Schiff: Trump Saying I Should Pay a Price Is ‘Intended to Be’ a Threat Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:03 AM PST  Moments after President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) hadn't "paid the price yet" for his role in impeachment, Schiff said that the president's post was "intended to be" a threat.Towards the end of his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Schiff was asked by host Chuck Todd about the pushback he's received from GOP senators for closing out his arguments on Friday by referencing a CBS News report that the White House had warned Republicans their heads would be on "pikes" if they crossed him and voted for additional witnesses."What do you make of the criticism that some Republican senators who you might want to see vote for witnesses didn't like your 'head on a pike' comment," Todd wondered. "[Lisa] Murkowski, [Susan] Collins and [Joni] Ernst, all three Republican senators who might be open to witnesses thought you got too personal.""I don't think it was personal to refer to the CBS story," the House Intelligence Committee chairman replied. "What may be personal, though, and I think I have to be very candid about this, is I made the argument that it's going to require moral courage to stand up to this president. And this is a wrathful and vindictive president. Look at the president's tweets about me today saying that I should pay a price."The Meet the Press host then inquired whether or not Schiff felt that the president's tweet represented a threat against him."I think it's intended to be," Schiff stated. "But look, it is going to be very difficult for some of these senators to stand up to this president. It really is. There's just no question about it.""And I want to acknowledge that," he continued. "And I don't want to acknowledge it in a way that is offensive to them. But I do want to speak candidly about it. And if this weren't an issue, there wouldn't be an issue about calling witnesses. If we can't even get the senators to agree to call witnesses in a trial, it shows you just how difficult that moral courage is."Senate Republicans, meanwhile, were confronted on the Sunday news shows over whether or not they felt the president's tweet could be construed as a threat. On CNN's State of the Union, for instance, anchor Jake Tapper told Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) that they've learned that Schiff is now getting death threats while referencing Trump's tweet."Is that a price?" Tapper asked."No, that is not what the president is trying to do," Lankford insisted, "and the people will hold him accountable for that, and Nancy Pelosi the same way, and both are saying that the American people will speak on this."Tapper, for his part, would go on to press Lankford on why he and his colleagues were acting deeply offended by Schiff quoting a CBS report but not offended by the president saying Schiff needs to "pay a price.""I don't think it's a death threat," Lankford answered. "I don't think he's encouraging death threats."Shortly after Schiff's interview aired, Trump took to Twitter to blast Todd while continuing to insult the House Intel chair.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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| Why The Ninth Circut Court Reluctantly Dismissed The Kids' Climate Case Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:00 PM PST  This was not a problem for the courts.
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| British man dies in US immigration detention in Florida Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:16 PM PST  * Death of man, 39, initially attributed to hanging * UK Foreign Office said to be in touch with man's wifeA British man has died while being held in US immigration detention in Florida, the Guardian has confirmed.The death was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which said the man was 39 years old and that the cause was initially attributed to asphyxiation due to hanging. The incident was reported to have occurred on Saturday last week."Our staff are in contact with the US authorities following the death of a British man in Florida," said a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London.Foreign Office officials are understood to have been in contact with the deceased man's wife, as US officials investigate the circumstances of the death.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Guardian.In a statement to BuzzFeed, the agency identified the deceased man as Ben James Owen and clarified he had died at the Baker county detention center in Macclenny, Florida. Officials said Owen had entered the US on a temporary visa in July and had been arrested on suspicion of felony aggravated stalking, felony false imprisonment, domestic assault, and violating the conditions of his pre-trial release. The agency said the case remained under investigation.The incident marks the fifth death at a detention centre in the 2020 fiscal year, which begins in October 2019. There were eight deaths in Ice detention in the 2019 fiscal year.The immigration detention population in the United States has soared under the Trump administration. Last year Ice detained 510,854 people, compared with 396,448 in 2018. The administration has also increased its use of detention facilities, mostly run by private security companies, with a new concentration of detention centres opening in the deep south.Medical provision and mental health care at detention facilities has come under increased criticism under the Trump administration after a spate of high profile deaths since 2017.At the end of last year House Democrats on the oversight and reform committee launched an inquiry to investigate a "troubling pattern of abuse and poor treatment" of migrants in custody.
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| Government records show that Kobe Bryant's helicopter used to be owned by the state of Illinois Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST  Bryant's helicopter was owned by an operator called Island Express Holding Corp., which purchased it from Illinois in 2015.
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| "You shall never be a bystander." How We Learn About the Holocaust When the Last Survivors Are Gone Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:59 AM PST  What will we learn from movies and pop culture about the Holocaust without the survivors' testimony to remind us of their powerful truth?
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| US military jet crashes in Taliban territory in Afghanistan Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:02 PM PST  A US military jet crashed in mountainous territory in eastern Afghanistan, where there is a heavy Taliban presence, the Pentagon confirmed Monday, rejecting the insurgents' suggestions that it was shot down. Afghanistan US Forces spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett confirmed in a statement that the aircraft was a US Bombardier E-11A, a type of jet used as a military airborne communications node in the region. "While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire," Leggett said.
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| Aging Iran airliner crash-lands on highway, injuring only 2 Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:52 PM PST  An aging Iranian passenger airliner carrying 144 people crash-landed on a runway and skidded onto a major highway next to an airport Monday, the latest crash in the Islamic Republic as U.S. sanctions bar it from parts or new aircraft. Authorities said two people suffered injuries in the hard landing of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flown by Caspian Airlines in Mahshahr, a city in Iran's oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province. Passengers, apparently in shock, calmly exited the aircraft with their carry-on baggage out of a door near the cockpit and another over the plane's wing, video from Iran's Civil Aviation Network News showed.
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| Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:39 AM PST ![Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon]( "Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon") (Bloomberg) -- The mother of an Israeli woman imprisoned on drug-smuggling charges in Russia said she's hopeful President Vladimir Putin will pardon her daughter.Naama Issachar, a 26-year-old U.S.-born Israeli army veteran, was sentenced in October to 7 1/2 years for carrying a small amount of hashish in her luggage on a transit flight via Moscow after a backpacking trip to India. Her plight has become a cause celebre in Israel, where it's widely seen as politically motivated.Putin met with Issachar's mother, Yaffa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, on the sidelines of an international forum on the Holocaust. He assured her that "everything will be all right," and on Sunday, Naama Issachar applied for a presidential pardon, her lawyers said.When asked in a text message exchange whether she expects her daughter to return to Israel soon, Yaffa Issachar replied: "I hope so." The request for a pardon has been received and "all necessary legal procedures are being carried out at the moment so the president can take a decision on this issue in the nearest future," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call Monday.A decision to free Issachar, who's been in detention since April, could bolster Netanyahu, who's been indicted on corruption charges and is fighting for his political survival at the country's third election in less than a year in March.The Kremlin said last week that Israel and Russia are also making progress in settling a dispute over the ownership of Russian Orthodox Church property in Jerusalem, which Israel's Haaretz newspaper said could form part of a quid pro quo to secure Issachar's release.The Russian leader has previously rebuffed multiple pleas from Netanyahu for Issachar's sentence to be commuted.Her case for a time became entangled with that of a Russian national, Alexei Burkov, whom Israel extradited to the U.S. in November on charges including hacking and credit card fraud. Russia had offered to swap the two, according to Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician.(Adds Putin spokesman's comment in 4th paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net;Irina Reznik in Moscow at ireznik@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Tony HalpinFor 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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| Saudi foreign minister says Israeli passport holders cannot visit: CNN Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST  Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Israelis were not welcome to visit the kingdom after Israel decreed that Israeli citizens could visit Saudi Arabia under certain circumstances, CNN reported on Monday.
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| Get Early Access to Backcountry’s Big Winter Sale Right Now Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST |
| Idaho Doomsday Couple Found in Hawaii—Without Missing Kids Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:29 AM PST  A doomsday-obsessed couple from Idaho who are at the center of several missing-child and suspicious death investigations have been found in Hawaii, police announced Monday.Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were served with a search warrant on Sunday—but authorities did not find Vallow's children, Tylee and J.J., with them in Princeville on the island of Kauai.Daybell and Vallow got married weeks after first wife, Tammy, had died months earlier of what authorities at first listed as natural causes. They have since exhumed the 49-year-old's body to conduct an autopsy, which has not been released yet.Grandparents in Doomsday Missing Kids Case Offer $20K RewardLess than three months earlier, Vallow was widowed when her fourth husband, Charles, was shot to death by her brother in what police initially described as a self-defense situation but is now being reinvestigated.The newlyweds attracted scrutiny when extended family told police they were worried because they had not heard from Vallow's children, 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J., who has special needs.Daybell and Vallow then skipped town. Rexburg, Idaho, police publicly pleaded with the couple to disclose the children's whereabouts but they refused to cooperate."We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee's lives are in danger," Rexburg police said in a statement at the beginning of the month.Idaho Cops Blast Doomsday Parents of Missing KidsSo Idaho authorities initiated a child-protection action on behalf of the missing kids and obtained a court order to force Vallow to produce them within five days."We can confirm that Lori Vallow was served with that order in the city of Princeville on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, on Saturday, January 25th by the Kauai Police Department and that Chad Daybell was with her," police said in a statement."We can further confirm that Tylee and J.J. were not with Lori and Chad and there is no evidence that Tylee and J.J. were ever in Hawaii."Lori and Charles had lived in Kauai for several years before moving to Arizona.She reportedly became obsessed with Daybell's books on doomsday scenarios and near-death experiences, marketed for a Mormon audience, and bonded with the author. After Charles was killed by her brother—who later died under unknown circumstances—Lori moved to Idaho, where Daybell also lived.It's believed they got married in November, reportedly in Hawaii.If Vallow doesn't comply with the court order to produce Tylee and J.J., she could be arrested on contempt of court charges, police said.J.J.'s grandparents have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to their return. "We truly believe and we hope and pray these kids are alive," grandfather Larry Woodcock said at a press conference earlier this month.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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| U.S. government urges Americans to reconsider travel to China because of coronavirus Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday it had not recorded any new confirmed cases of the illness overnight since its last update of five, but that as many as 110 potential cases were under investigation.The State Department said Americans should reconsider any plans to travel to China during the outbreak.
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| ‘They let him get away with murder’: Dems tormented over how to stop Bernie Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:04 AM PST  The party establishment is caught in a catch-22.
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| Police criticized TMZ for reporting Kobe Bryant's death before they could notify victims' families Posted: 26 Jan 2020 08:48 PM PST  TMZ was the first to report the shocking news that the basketball icon Bryant had died Sunday, but authorities slammed the quick scoop.
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| US says mystery crash in Afghanistan was US Air Force plane Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:30 AM PST  An American military aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said, adding that there were no indications so far it'd been brought down by enemy fire. The spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Col. Sonny Leggett, said that the military plane, a Bombardier E-11A, crashed in the Ghazni province and an investigation of its causes was ongoing. Monday's plane crash is not expected to derail U.S.-Taliban peace talks if it turns out to have been an accident.
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| America's F-35 Has Some Problems, And Iran Has Taken Notice Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:31 AM PST  Could Iran shoot one down?
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| Historians Unmask Fourth Soviet Spy Who Worked on the Atomic Bomb Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:07 PM PST  Just what nuclear secrets did "Godsend" deliver to Russia in the 1940s?
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| Accuser says Weinstein sexually assaulted her in children's bedroom Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:49 AM PST  One of Harvey Weinstein's main accusers told his rape trial Monday that the ex-Hollywood producer forcibly performed oral sex on her in a children's bedroom in his New York home. Mimi Haleyi -- a former production assistant -- cried as she told the Manhattan court that Weinstein, 67, sexually assaulted her in July 2006 while she was on her period.
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| CDC Split With China on Coronavirus Spread as Possible U.S. Cases Hit 110 Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:26 AM PST  As authorities in China scrambled to handle a coronavirus that has killed at least 81 people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday described a surging potential crisis even as they pushed back on the latest thinking from Beijing about just how easily it spreads.Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters that the number of confirmed cases stateside had reached five—and that there had been a total of 110 "persons under investigation" for the virus in 26 states over the past week.Thirty-two of those people tested negative, and there had been no confirmed person-to-person transmissions inside the country, Messonnier said on Monday. The confirmed cases in the U.S. include patients in Orange County, California; a man in his 30s in Washington state; a woman in her 60s in Chicago; a passenger who felt ill after flying into Los Angeles International Airport; and a student at Arizona State University who does not live in university housing, the CDC said on Sunday. All of the U.S. cases appeared to involve patients who had recently traveled from Wuhan, China—the epicenter of the deadly virus. Seventy-three people were still being evaluated for the virus as of Monday.Fifth U.S. Case of Coronavirus Confirmed in Patient Who Traveled From Wuhan, China"We understand that many people in the United States are worried about this virus and how it will affect Americans," Messonnier said, adding that "risk depends on exposure," which for Americans remained "low" on Monday.In each U.S. case, health officials have said they will trace the patient's contacts and identify anyone who may have had prolonged exposure, then monitor those individuals for symptoms. In the U.S., anyone who has had close contact with confirmed patients has not been quarantined unless and until they display symptoms.That policy came into question over the weekend, when China's health minister Ma Xiaowei said "the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger" and that authorities in that country now believe the virus can spread during the incubation period—even before infected patients become symptomatic. A study published last week in the journal Lancet appeared to bolster that contention.But Messonnier said the CDC had not seen "any clear evidence of patients being infectious before symptom onset" as of Monday, even if authorities in the U.S. "are being very aggressive and very cautious in tracking close contacts" of infected individuals."This outbreak is unfolding rapidly, and we are rapidly looking at how that impacts our posture at the border," said Messonnier. "I expect that in the coming days, our travel recommendations will change."Experts said that even as statements from Chinese health officials had to be viewed through a political lens, outright dismissal of asymptomatic transmission was premature.Eric Toner, a senior scientist with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the University's School of Public Health, called the question "nuanced." "It's hard to know why the [Chinese] minister was so sure," said Toner. "The evidence we have seen is quite suggestive of pre-symptomatic transmission, at least in some people, but not conclusive. He may have information that we do not."For now, officials were still screening passengers at five American airports: Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Of course, fewer travelers are coming out of Wuhan in the wake of a travel lockdown late last week; Messonnier said the CDC had screened approximately 2,400 people in those airports so far but that "the number of people coming from Wuhan is declining."Though Chinese authorities halted travel from Wuhan to stop the spread of the virus, the U.S. is among several countries—including France and Russia—that were given special permission to evacuate diplomats and private citizens. In addition to the 81 dead in China—76 of whom reportedly lived in Wuhan—nearly 3,000 people across the world, including a 9-month-old baby girl in Beijing, had confirmed cases of the virus as of Monday morning. Aside from the five cases in the U.S., more have been reported in Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, Macau, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, France, Canada, Vietnam, and Nepal. There had been no deaths from the virus reported outside of China as of Monday morning. But the new fatalities in that country over the weekend, including an 88-year-old man in Shanghai, stoked fears that the government had failed to contain the infection's spread. Beijing announced Monday morning that it would push back the official end of the Lunar New Year holiday to Thursday from Sunday in order to "reduce mass gatherings" and "block the spread of the epidemic," according to a statement from China's cabinet.Meanwhile, Wuhan's mayor, Zhou Xianwang, on Monday offered to step down, along with the city's party secretary, Ma Guoqiang, in order to "appease public indignation." He said the pair were prepared to take responsibility for the crisis after days of public outcries from citizens, on social media and elsewhere."Our names will live in infamy, but as long as it is conducive to the control of the disease and to the people's lives and safety, Comrade Ma Guoqiang and I will bear any responsibility," Zhou reportedly said Monday.Dr. Adrian Hyzler, chief medical officer for Healix International, which provides medical information to travelers, told The Daily Beast the CDC will know much more about how easily the virus spreads once the incubation period—estimated at a maximum of 14 days—has passed in the five U.S. cases. "If, as the Chinese are saying, patients are contagious before symptoms develop, then it is much harder to control," he said.Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the CDC cleared 32 people who tested negative for the virus out of 110 potential cases.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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| Afghan forces launch air, ground attacks on Taliban, killing 51 Posted: 26 Jan 2020 03:53 AM PST  Afghan forces used ground attacks and air strikes in multiple operations against the Taliban during the last 24 hours, killing 51 fighters in an escalation that signaled renewed deadlock in peace talks. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that government forces had conducted 13 ground offensives and 12 air strikes in nine provinces, adding that 51 "terrorists" had been killed, 13 wounded and six arrested. Local officials in the northern province of Balkh said at least three women and four children were killed in the air strikes, prompting protests in front of the provincial governor's office.
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| SNL's Colin Jost gives meaning to impeachment trial fidget spinners Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:47 AM PST  An update on impeachment from the comics in Best of Late Night.
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| Google search for 'When did Kobe Bryant die' no longer lists Jan. 26 as 'date of assassination' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 12:19 PM PST  The Google search for "When did Kobe Bryant die" now says "date of death" after initially saying "date of assassination" late Sunday and early Monday.
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| Iran general warns of retaliation if U.S. threats continue Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:39 AM PST  The chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned on Monday that it will retaliate against American and Israeli commanders if the United States continues to threaten top Iranian generals.
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| Biden, Sanders Pull Further Ahead in ABC-WaPost National Poll Posted: 26 Jan 2020 07:17 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who represent rival visions for the Democratic Party, are solidifying their status as frontrunners in the crowded presidential field, according to a Washington Post-ABC News national poll.Coming just a week before voters finally get to have their say in the Iowa caucuses, the polls show Biden with a solid 32% overall among registered voters who lean Democratic, while Sanders registered support from 23%. Both are doing slightly better than in the same poll in October.Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was once considered a front-runner and earned endorsements from the New York Times a week ago and from the Des Moines Register in Iowa on Saturday, has seen a significant drop in her support. She was at 12% in this poll, down from 23% in October.Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spent $250 million on advertising since getting a late start in the race and will not compete in the first contests, pulled in support from 8%. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Businessman Andrew Yang, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was also endorsed by The New York Times, were all mired in single digits.National polls are less predictive of the eventual winner at this point in the race because the winners of early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire often ride a wave of momentum and attention to surge nationally.The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 20-23. Results have an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.Separately, an NBC News/Marist poll for New Hampshire released on Sunday showed Sanders, at 22%, and Buttigieg at 17% leading in the state, with support for Biden and Warren also in the teens. That survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points and was also taken Jan. 20-23.This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Magan Sherzai in Washington at mcrane19@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor 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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| South Carolina shooting: Two dead and four wounded after gunman opens fire in bar Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:24 AM PST  Two people are dead and at least four are wounded following a shooting at a South Carolina bar on Sunday morning.The Darlington County Coroner's Office identified Dicaprio Collins, 21 and Bryan Robinson, 29 as the victims of the shooting at Mac's Lounge in Hartsville, South Carolina.
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| Paula White, Trump's spiritual adviser, calls for 'satanic pregnancies to miscarry' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 04:11 AM PST  Paula White, a controversial televangelist who joined the White House in an official capacity last year, is arguing that the content of a sermon she delivered on Jan. 5, which mentioned adversaries of President Trump and soon after advocated for divine forces to cause the miscarriage of babies in "satanic wombs," was taken out of context.
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| Global alarm grows as China's capital reports first virus death Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:23 PM PST  China's capital on Monday recorded its first death from a deadly coronavirus as it struggles to contain a rapidly spreading disease that has sparked global alarm, with countries scrambling to evacuate their citizens from the epicentre of the epidemic. The fatality in Beijing raises the death toll from the new virus to 82, with more than 2,700 people infected across the nation. The United States urged its citizens to "reconsider" all travel to China and told them not to go to central Hubei province, where the pneumonia-like virus emerged.
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| Dinner download: Tape surfaces of Trump calling for envoy's firing Posted: 25 Jan 2020 06:41 PM PST  Halfway through a dinner at the Trump Hotel, U.S. President Donald Trump can be heard giving the order to remove the U.S ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, according to a video that surfaced on Saturday. The video, obtained by Reuters from Lev Parnas' attorney Joseph Bondy, begins with Trump posing for photos then entering a room with a table set for 15 including a close-up of the president's place setting. Trump has said he had the right to fire Yovanovitch, a main figure in the series of events that led to his impeachment.
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| 10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50 Posted: 27 Jan 2020 06:41 AM PST ![10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50]( "10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50") Older people get a bigger standard deduction, and they can earn more before they have to file a tax return at all. If you don't itemize your tax deductions, you can claim a larger standard deduction if you or your spouse is age 65 or older. The standard deduction for seniors is $1,650 higher than the deduction for people younger than 65 who file as individuals.
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| Pilot Killed in Kobe Bryant Crash Remembered as ‘Dear Friend’ With Clean Safety Record Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:41 PM PST  In the hours since a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter crashed in Calabasas, California, on Sunday, gut-wrenching accounts have trickled out about the seven other passengers on board. Among them was 50-year-old Huntington Beach resident Ara Zobayan, the pilot of the aircraft who had a clean safety record and was attempting to travel through adverse conditions.Before Sunday's crash, the pilot and flight instructor had no prior accidents or flight incidents, according to Ian Gregor, a California spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration. Zobayan received his first private pilot license with a helicopter rating on January 21, 2001, and his commercial pilot license on December 3, 2007. But long before then, he had learned to fly at Group 3 Aviation, an intimate flight school in Van Nuys, California. According to the school's president, Claudia Lowry, Zobayan had come to the small academy in 1998—and quickly became embedded in their community. "This is where Ara learned to fly," she told The Daily Beast. "This is where Ara worked. We've known him since 1998. He's a dear friend and family."What We Know About the Helicopter That Crashed With Kobe Bryant on BoardLowry pointed to a post on Facebook, where she had posted a tribute to her friend. In the images, Zobayan, a trim man with a shaved head and light grey scruff, poses in sunglasses beside three helicopters. After learning to fly, Zobayan worked at Group 3 as a flight instructor. One of his students there, Darren Kemp, told the Los Angeles Times that Zobayan had worked as Bryant's private pilot for some time. "[Bryant] doesn't let anyone else fly him around but Ara," Kemp told the paper. As his instructor, Kemp and Zobayan had been close––the student recalled how his teacher had helped him through a difficult divorce. Zobayan later took a job as a pilot at Island Express Holding Corporation, the family-owned helicopter charter company that contracts with Catalina Island to do local tours and was listed as the owner of the vehicle that crashed Sunday. The vehicle, a Sikorsky S-76B, was nearly 30 years old at the time of the crash, having spent several years in the possession of the state of Illinois before getting sold to Island Express in 2015. Representatives for Island Express did not return requests for comment for this story.Zobayan was a licensed instrument pilot, meaning that he was trained on the safety and navigational tools needed to fly under poor weather conditions. According to Gregor at the FAA, he added an instrument rating to his private pilot license on October 20, 2007. On the day of the crash, flight conditions were poor, with ceilings as low as 300 feet, meaning that thick clouds were forming not far above the ground, and visibility above them was impossible. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Monday morning that the fog had grounded all of their aircraft, and an employee at a helicopter charter service that does business in the area told The Daily Beast that they had also suspended service. "It was a no fly day for us and pretty much all operators," the employee said. In recordings from Zobayan's conversations with aircraft controllers published by LiveATC.net, you can hear the pilot activating what's called "Special Visual Flight Rules," meaning that the air controllers might help him detect things he couldn't himself see. "If you listen to the audio recordings," the charter employee said, "he asked to be tracked by air traffic control—which means, I need you to track me because I'm in bad conditions."Jared Yochim, a pilot who said he worked as a Chevron contractor in Angola and knew Zobayan for 12 years, told The Daily Beast on Monday it was important for "armchair quarterbacks" to allow time for federal officials to investigate before jumping to conclusions about his friend."When you think of pilots and you think Tom Cruise and Maverick, that wasn't what was happening there," he said. "I promise you, any flying that Ara was doing... he was in a safe condition. He's not a guy to push limits. He's a rule follower and he knows the rules and the regulations." Zobayan's aircraft hit the ground at approximately 9:47 a.m. Pacific, leaving a crash site that authorities say will take more than eight days to fully excavate. The pilot was of Armenian descent, according to The Armenian Report, a Facebook page for English-language news in that community, and news of his death brought an outpouring from across Los Angeles. "I love all Armenians!," a Facebook user named Maria Daikovich wrote under the post. "I met Ara many years ago. This is such a big loss. Ara was the kindness and one of the most beautiful people I know. ��������RIP dear Ara. God bless all who lost their lives." Jason McGahan contributed reporting to this story.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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| Navistar loses lawsuit against US Army and Oshkosh over vehicle buys Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has dismissed Navistar's complaint against the U.S. Army and Oshkosh Defense over the service's decision to avoid competition for a vehicle procurement effort.
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| Bloomberg Offers Few Details to Back Up Trillions in Spending Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST ![Bloomberg Offers Few Details to Back Up Trillions in Spending]( "Bloomberg Offers Few Details to Back Up Trillions in Spending") (Bloomberg) -- Ask Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg how he'll pay for his plans to create jobs, provide health insurance and repair roads and bridges, and you get the same answer: Wait until you see my tax plan.Bloomberg has released almost 20 proposals since joining the race on Nov. 24: $1.2 trillion for infrastructure. $70 billion of federal spending in low-income neighborhoods to aid black homeownership. Another trillion and a half for health care. He hasn't detailed where the money for the ambitious proposals will come from.If Bloomberg comes out of Super Tuesday among the Democratic race's top tier, there will be increasing pressure on him to explain how he's going to pay for his policies, said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman who hasn't endorsed a 2020 candidate."There will be a great hue and cry for him to add substance to his proposals and do it very quickly," Fowler said.Bloomberg's campaign says that it plans to release further details about the tax proposal as soon as next week and that it will show how he plans to pay for his proposals.That would mean details come out before 14 U.S. states vote March 3 on Super Tuesday, the contests on which Bloomberg is staking his campaign. But until then, voters have only heard him say he supports "taxing wealthy people like me" to pay for a growing list of policy proposals.Fourth PlaceThe $250 million in advertising he's spent so far delivering this message has garnered him 8% in a national poll released Sunday by the Washington Post and ABC News, enough for fourth place. That put him ahead of Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar and behind the front-running Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.A Fox News poll on Sunday showed Bloomberg in fourth place with 10% support, behind Biden, Sanders and Warren.The approach is at odds with Bloomberg's pitch -- that his three terms as New York mayor and in building the company that bears his name show he's a practical problem solver, someone who takes a data-driven approach to running government efficiently.It's also at odds with his Democratic rivals who often explain revenue streams when they propose big programs. No one does that more thoroughly than Warren, whose plan to pay for her $20.5 trillion health care plan ran 19 pages.Not that their estimates have always had pinpoint accuracy. Warren's and Sanders's Medicare For All cost estimates differ by $10 trillion. And academics have found Warren's, Biden's and Sanders's revenue estimates from their tax plans overly rosy.The lack of details hasn't stopped the Bloomberg campaign from rolling out the proposals in his campaign's earliest days, sometimes at a clip of two or three a week. The media has started to notice, as one recent Associated Press article led off by noting the lack of details about paying for a promise to create millions of new jobs.Bloomberg's plans on health care, the economy, climate change and other issues where he specifies costs total more than $3 trillion over 10 years. Many more don't list a cost.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.His campaign has said it's hard to determine cost estimates because plans are related, and the cost or savings in one proposal can affect another. But the campaign has consistently said that Bloomberg's tax plan will pay for the policies he is releasing.No Wealth TaxBloomberg himself has said little about his tax plan other than he supports increasing taxes on the rich but not with a wealth tax. He opposes the wealth taxes proposed by Warren and Sanders, which would place a tax on the fortunes of millionaires and billionaires.In a Jan. 11 interview, Bloomberg said the corporate tax rate cut in the Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul was necessary for competitive reasons but was too deep, and he opposed the measure's cuts in income-tax rates."I've said I didn't need the cut, and that was the money that we needed for infrastructure," Bloomberg said. "You can expect me to try to rectify that in our proposals."As New York's mayor, Bloomberg increased property taxes by 18.5% in 2003 – the largest in the city's history -- to generate $837 million to plug budget deficits. His poll numbers suffered but he was re-elected in 2005.Varying DetailOther Democratic presidential candidates have released cost estimates and funding sources for their plans in varying levels of detail. Biden has said he would pay for $3.2 trillion in proposals with new and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, including a minimum federal levy targeting companies that have reported paying no federal income taxes in recent years.Sanders has said his Medicare-for-All plan alone would cost more than $30 trillion over a decade but hasn't fully detailed how he'd pay for it except to say taxes would go up while out-of-pocket health costs would go down.Leonard Burman, a fellow at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research group in Washington, said he would expect Bloomberg "to put out a package where the revenues could cover the costs, but it's just really hard to tell what it would look like without knowing the exact price tag and the details." Burman co-founded the Tax Policy Center, which analyzes candidate tax plans.To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Craig GordonFor 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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| Underwater bombs damage Syria's offshore oil facilities Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:43 AM PST  Bombs planted underwater off Syria's coast exploded Monday, damaging oil facilities used to pump oil into one of Syria's two petroleum refineries, state media and the oil minister said. Oil minister Ali Ghanem told state TV that the bombs were planted by divers in the facility used to pump oil to the coast. "The aim of the attack is to cease (oil) imports into Syria," Ghanem said, adding the ministry's experts are evaluating and fixing the damage.
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| A Dangerous Game: Russia and America Keep Flying Their Planes Near Each Other's Borders Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:58 AM PST  Nuclear chicken anyone?
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| US officials are testing for the new coronavirus in 26 states after 5 cases were confirmed. Here's what we know about the US patients. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:34 PM PST  The US's confirmed cases of the coronavirus consist of two patients in California, one in Arizona, one in Washington, and one in Illinois.
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| Icelandic volcano swell signals potential eruption Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:06 AM PST  Small earthquakes and a so-called "inflation" of the mountain, signalling a potential volcanic eruption, have been reported near Iceland's famous "Blue Lagoon," local authorities said Monday. The Icelandic Met Office declared a state of uncertainty over the weekend, following days of several smaller earthquakes and a swelling of the mountain. For nearly a week, a series of earthquakes have been shaking the area around Grindavik, not far from the steaming waters of the "Blue Lagoon," a popular geothermal spa in southwestern Iceland on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
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| 15 Flaws in Adam Schiff’s Case Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  Adam Schiff did most of the heavy lifting for the House managers, and if he performed ably, he also relied on arguments and tropes that don't withstand scrutiny.The Democratic case for impeachment and removal is now heavily encrusted with clichés, widely accepted by the media, meant to give their indictment additional weight.In his lengthy opening statement last week, Schiff relied on all of them, and then some.This is not to say that the basic charge against Trump — withholding defense aid to Ukraine to try to force investigations that he wanted — is wrong, or that Trump's conduct was proper.It's just that to try to get it to the level of impeachment and removal requires rhetorical gymnastics. Schiff strained to make Trump's Ukraine scheme a piece of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, to exaggerate its national-security and electoral consequence, and to portray removal as the only remedy.Here are 15 times that Schiff related a stilted, distorted, or flatly erroneous version of events: 1. "Just as he made use of Secretary Clinton's hacked and released emails in the previous presidential campaign."Schiff wanted to connect Trump to Russia's hacking, even though there is no connection. So he said Trump "made use" of the emails. But what does that mean? That he cited them. Well, so did everyone else. As Byron York pointed out the other day, the press widely reported on the WikiLeaks disclosures. If it was blameworthy to make a big deal of information revealed in the hacks, Bernie Sanders was a major offender, calling for the resignation of then–DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz after the DNC hack. 2. "In 2016, then–candidate Trump implored Russia to hack his opponent's email account."Again, this is an attempt to make Trump responsible for Russia's hacking. It refers to a press conference where Trump made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Russians' being rewarded by the press if they found Hillary's missing emails. The Russians did attempt to spearfish a domain used by Clinton's personal office on the same day, but it's hard to believe Russian hackers were taking their cues from Trump, and of course, they had already hacked the DNC — hence, the occasion for Trump's riff. 3. In pushing the Ukrainians on the discredited CrowdStrike theory, Trump was "attempting to erase from history his previous election misconduct."Trump has been, no doubt, desperate to find someone else to finger for the Russian hacking since Russia is such a focus of his critics, but the hacking wasn't his work, so to refer to it as "his previous election misconduct" is absurd. 4. Robert Mueller testified "that Russia systemically interfered in our election to help elect Donald Trump, that the campaign understood that, and they willfully made use of that help." Schiff wants to portray Mueller as having found Trump guilty in his probe, when he actually found no evidence of collusion. 5. After Mueller catalogued Russian interference, the very next day, "President Trump is on the phone with a different foreign power, this time Ukraine, trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the next election."In the Schiff version, a Trump caught red-handed working with the Russians to interfere in U.S. politics then immediately turns around to work with the Ukrainians. But the opposite was true. It was Trump's sense of outraged innocence over the Mueller probe that partly motivated him to focus on Ukraine's purported role in getting the Russia investigation started. 6. Trump believes "that under Article II, he could do anything he wants."This has become a favorite chestnut of Democrats during impeachment, but it wrenches Trump's statement out of context. He was talking about having the inherent Article II power to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Whatever you might have thought about the wisdom of such a move, Trump was correct about his power. 7. "The military aid that we provide Ukraine helps to protect and advance American national-security interests in the region and beyond." This is certainly true, but every time Democrats revert to the importance of Ukrainian defense aid as a matter of policy, it raises the question of why, by and large, Democrats went along with Barack Obama's refusal to provide any lethal assistance to Ukraine whatsoever and how Trump, overall, has been better on Ukraine assistance. 8. Trump is guilty of "abusing the powers of that office in such a way to jeopardize our national security."It's ridiculous to suggest that what turned out to be a brief hold on Ukraine aid had dire national-security consequences for the U.S. 9. "He personally asked a foreign government to investigate his opponent."This has become the conventional way that Democrats refer to Trump's request of Zelensky, although in concrete form it became a push to get them to commit to probe Burisma, the shady Ukrainian energy company that had Hunter Biden on its board. An investigation of Burisma is not the same thing as an investigation of Joe Biden. Assuming the Bidens aren't at the center of some corrupt scheme involving Burisma (and there's zero indication that they are), the investigation would have been a nothingburger in its impact on U.S. politics. Trump would have touted the investigation, but it is doubtful that this would have had any more impact than his already full-throated denunciations of Biden corruption. 10. Trump was asking the Ukrainians to help "smear a political opponent."This accords more with Schiff's fictional version of Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian president than the reality. The Ukrainians weren't being asked to manufacture evidence against Joe Biden, and an investigation of Burisma presumably wouldn't have smeared him, per the above point. 11. Acting ambassador Bill Taylor testified that the Trump team wanted the Ukrainians "in a public box" by publicly committing to the investigations, and this shows that "President Trump didn't care about the investigations being done."Schiff's theory is that Trump wanted only a public announcement of an investigation, so he could use it against Joe Biden in his campaign. Usually, though, if you want an official to publicly commit to something, it's to make it harder for him to back out of his promise. 12. Trump doesn't have a right to solicit "prohibited foreign aid in his reelection."This makes it sound like Trump was raking in Ukrainian campaign contributions and getting the Ukrainians to run ads in swing states. In reality, he was pushing for the Ukrainians to investigate a Ukrainian company, the practical political effect of which would have been nil in the U.S. 13. "The president's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we can't be assured that the vote will be fairly won."It's really amazing that Democrats have gone, in about three years, from insisting it's impermissible to question the potential outcome of an election, when Trump ill-advisedly did so at a debate in 2016, to making it central to their worldview. They believe they were robbed in 2016 and also believe they will perhaps be robbed again. But Hillary lost under her own power in 2016, and regardless, it's beyond the power of one person to rig a national election that will draw massive attention and turnout. 14. "I don't think that impeachment power is a relic. If it is a relic, I wonder how much longer our republic can succeed."Schiff argues that failure to remove eviscerates the impeachment power. Since no president has ever been convicted and removed, it's not clear why this would be. It just means that there is a high bar to removal. 15. "If impeachment and removal cannot hold him accountable, then he truly is above the law."Again, Schiff wants to portray impeachment as the only way a president can be held accountable, when Congress has all sorts of other levers — from investigations, to funding, to inter-branch relations, to censure — to hold a president accountable.
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| Australia's rainy respite from bushfires seen ending Posted: 26 Jan 2020 03:59 PM PST  A recent respite for Australian firefighters that brought rains and cooler weather is set to end, meteorologists warned on Monday, with hot conditions forecast for later this week raising a risk that blazes may start spreading again. More than a week of solid rain in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, the three states most affected by the fires, has more than halved the number of blazes, but above average temperatures were set to return by the weekend. "Unfortunately, the reprieve may be short-lived with a blast of heat likely late this week in some areas," the New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology said on Twitter.
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| Up Against the Coronavirus, China’s Surveillance State Has Failed Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:02 AM PST  HONG KONG—The Chinese government has a famously (or infamously) sophisticated surveillance system that incorporates facial recognition, tight observations of social media networks, and phone tracking. One piece of equipment that Chinese police departments have adopted is described by its manufacturer like this: "People pass and leave a shadow. The phone passes and leaves a number. The system connects the two."Fifth U.S. Case of Coronavirus Confirmed in Patient Who Traveled From Wuhan, ChinaBut at a time of critical need, as a medical crisis is escalating across the country and spreading to other parts of the world, threatening to become a global epidemic if quarantines cannot be enforced, the Chinese government's vaunted ability to monitor the population has been nullified.In the days leading up to a citywide quarantine of Wuhan and lockdowns in nearby areas, where residents of the Hubei provincial capital have been barred from leaving its limits, 5 million people left the city nonetheless. In a cold winter where people are bundled up, and where many are donning face masks, face-scanning software has been rendered moot. And though every SIM card purchase requires a face scan to verify a user's identity, tracking down millions of travelers who have left the viral outbreak's epicenter is proving to be a Sisyphean task.To make matters worse, we now know that the coronavirus can be transmitted by carriers who exhibit no symptoms, compounding worries that body temperature checks are ineffective as screening measures. As of 8:30 p.m. on Monday in China, 81 people have been killed by the coronavirus. More than half of the confirmed infections and most of the deaths were in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital.So far, there are five confirmed cases of the coronavirus within American borders. They are in Washington state, California, Texas, and Chicago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the coronavirus' risk to America remains low, though U.S. health officials are retracing these patients' footsteps to identify people who they have been in close contact with.American and other stock markets took major hits on Monday amid fears that China's oil consumption, tourism and trade may all see massive declines.There is some good news. With supplies from across the country and abroad pouring in, hospitals in Wuhan are catching up to the backlog to treat people who are seeking help. Waiting rooms at most hospitals aren't as congested, and reinforcements from other parts of China, including more than 2,000 military and civilian doctors, are providing relief for local physicians and nurses. The head of China's National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, said the government has added 2,400 hospital beds in Wuhan, with 5,000 more coming in the next two days.Right now, however, hospitals are at full capacity, and new patients are still being turned away by some facilities.Local officials have been slow to react and inept. At a press conference held on Sunday, Wuhan's mayor, Zhou Xianwang, showed up wearing his face mask upside-down, and Hubei's governor, Wang Xiaodong, provided incorrect figures about the province's production capacity for face masks—10.8 billion, then 1.8 billion, then finally 1.08 million after being corrected by someone who passed a note to him.WeChat, the dominant social media platform in China, has implemented a "whistleblower" function, allowing users to file reports about officials' negligence or mismanagement when handling the coronavirus crisis.There have been other snafus and points of disorganization. Police haven't received clear direction on how to execute the private vehicle ban on roads in Wuhan's city center. Text messages that were supposed to indicate who can drive where and when weren't sent out to the general population. Six thousand taxi drivers who have been commissioned to deliver medication don't know how the system is supposed to work.A Chinese Saga of Swine, Surveillance, and SanctionsThe general rule of thumb for everyone in the city has been to remain indoors and venture out only for supply runs or emergencies.People in Wuhan—and across Hubei—are angry. Some have questioned why local officials have been so slow to respond to the outbreak, and why significant efforts were put into censoring information about the coronavirus in news reports and on social media. They're also bored because they have been stuck at home for days, with no end of the quarantine in sight. Some people have resorted to shouting out windows to vent and communicate with their neighbors in real life, and not just through screens.Major airports worldwide are checking arriving travelers' body temperatures, but that may be ineffective in stopping the virus from landing in new locations via global transportation hubs.The coronavirus has an incubation period of up to two weeks. During this period, hosts may not run fevers or exhibit any flu-like symptoms.On Monday, China's National Education Examinations Authority canceled all February exams for the IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT—all tests that Chinese students need to take before they can be enrolled in schools abroad.A Shanghai-based Reuters journalist who visited Wuhan was tracked down by government officials and placed under a 14-day self-quarantine at home. There are cases in other provinces, like southeastern China's Guangdong, where police are actively seeking out travelers who originated from the infection zone, possibly by tracking the locations of their smartphones. A chartered plane arranged by the U.S. State Department will evacuate 230 Americans, including diplomats and people working in Wuhan, taking them Stateside. That's roughly one-quarter of Americans who live in the city that is the origin of the coronavirus outbreak. The Japanese and Australian governments are making similar arrangements to move their nationals back home.The American consulate in Wuhan has suspended its regular services.As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around China and appear in new corners around the world, infecting thousands, and efforts to manage the crisis are falling short of what's needed, experts are already looking beyond this phase, outlining plans for a global push to fight an epidemic.Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins SPH Center for Health Security, pointed out in a series of tweets that governments and health institutions worldwide need to plan for the possibility that the coronavirus cannot be effectively contained in China. He said this should include multiple, parallel efforts to create and manufacture vaccines, as well as plans for a global stockpile and allocation by the World Health Organization. Inglesby also underlined the importance of urgent blood serum diagnostics to figure out how severe the virus' spread is around the globe, as well as new plans for determining potential infections in travelers beyond airport screenings.All of these measures require collaboration among nations and the relevant corporations, as well as a coordinator to manage the information flow. So far, no such cooperation is taking place.The World Health Organization's director general is traveling to Beijing to meet with government officials and health experts in China. The WHO has been hesitant to declare a global health emergency that would demand a "coordinated international response" to the virus' spread across borders.Chinese Communist Party premier Li Keqiang is in Wuhan coordinating the efforts to contain the coronavirus. Two hospitals designed to house a combined 2,300 beds are being constructed to treat people who have fallen sick. The first is expected to be completed by Monday, February 3, and will be staffed to handle 1,000 patients.For now, people who are stuck in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei feel paralyzed. Mixed messages about what will happen to them in the coming days are fraying nerves. Beijing has extended the Lunar New Year holiday until February 2, hoping to delay mass travel as people head back to work, but the history of the last few days suggests the deferment is far from enough to contain a virus that has spread, already, around the world.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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| Family of 5 found dead in North Carolina home: All died of single gunshot wounds Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:44 AM PST  A family of five and their dog were found dead Friday in their Vanceboro, North Carolina home.
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