| Trump tries to ease concerns of a nation increasingly rattled over coronavirus Posted: 15 Mar 2020 04:45 PM PDT  For the third time in three days, President Trump addressed the nation in an effort to address growing fears about the pandemic that has now infected about 3,200 Americans and killed more than 60.
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| Trump: Avoid 'discretionary travel,' but no restrictions on travel within the United States Posted: 16 Mar 2020 01:42 PM PDT  White House officials have repeatedly said restrictions on travel within the United States are under consideration. When will they come?
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| Russia builds coronavirus hospital in Moscow as cases rise Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:16 AM PDT |
| New coronavirus cluster linked to South Korean church Posted: 15 Mar 2020 08:11 PM PDT  A new coronavirus cluster linked to a South Korean religious group emerged on Monday, with 46 cases at a church near Seoul that defied calls to suspend services. The Grace River Church in Seongnam, south of the capital, finally closed its doors on Sunday after nearly a third of its 135 worshippers tested positive -- including the pastor and his wife. Forty infections had been newly confirmed among the congregation, Seongnam city authorities said, adding to six previously known.
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| Just Let the Patriot Act Die, Rights Groups Tell Senate Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT  It's Monday morning and three sections of the Patriot Act—or, as most on Capitol Hill prefer to call it, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—have expired. And now that the provisions are gone, ahead of a vote expected late Monday afternoon, a coalition of some of the most left-leaning privacy groups is urging senators to let them stay gone. As in 2015, the expiration came after the Senate couldn't pass a reauthorization after factionalizing between those who want more safeguards against the government's ability to grab Americans' data and those who don't. In the absence of "meaningful reforms," coming in the way of amendments that several privacy-focused senators of both parties seek to propose, Color of Change, Demand Progress, Indivisible, and Free Press Action want senators, "in particular Democrats," to oppose the cloture bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will put on the floor. That's according to a letter the groups are circulating on the Hill, shared with The Daily Beast. "If these authorities can lapse to stop the consideration of any amendments, they can stay lapsed to provide for the consideration of any critical amendments," the groups write. As with all civil-libertarian coalitions on surveillance law, it's an uphill fight. McConnell has the backing of most Republicans and Democrats for the PATRIOT/FISA re-up. He seeks to pass something the House Democratic leadership already has: an extension of the three provisions through 2023. While most of the country is focused on responses to the novel coronavirus, Monday is shaping up to be a low-key important day in the surveillance debate. 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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| 'Dead Sea Scrolls fragments' at Museum of the Bible are all fakes, study says Posted: 15 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PDT  * Washington museum hired experts to examine purchases * Artefacts came from controversial 'Post-2002' collectionWhen Steve Green paid millions of dollars from his family fortune for 16 fragments of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, it seemed the perfect addition to their new Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.But now experts have confirmed what has long been suspected: the artefacts proudly displayed in the nation's capital by the owners of the Hobby Lobby chain of stores are not part of one of the most significant archaeological finds of all time.They are worthless forgeries, probably made from old shoe leather.Confirmation of the hoax came in a report published online by a team of five art fraud investigators, after a two-day conference at the museum focusing on the comprehensive testing of the supposed scroll fragments was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.The experts spent six months analyzing each fragment, concluding a study born from 2017 revelations that the lucrative international trade in Dead Sea Scroll pieces was awash in suspected forgeries and indications that at least five pieces bought by Green, the museum's chairman, for an undisclosed amount ahead of its opening that year, were fake."After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in [the] Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic," wrote Colette Loll, the founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, the Washington company contracted to examine them."Moreover, each exhibit's characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the 20th century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments."The investigators outlined how they believe the deception was perpetrated and a succession of biblical scholars and the museum's curators fooled. The forgers, they suggest, used Roman-era leather, possibly from boots or sandals, to imitate parchment, and attempted to recreate the handwriting of ancient Hebrew scribes.Using microscopes and a variety of other scientific techniques including chemical analysis, the team found inconsistencies such as the presence of a shiny coating suspected to be animal glue, which wouldn't have existed at the time, and clues in the spread, position and pooling of ink.There was also evidence that writing was added after attempts were made to artificially age the surface.The exposure of the fakes does not affect the authenticity of the genuine Dead Sea Scrolls. The oldest known pieces of the original Hebrew bible, dating from about 400BC to 300AD, were discovered rolled in clay pots in caves in Palestine's West Bank in the 1940s.But it casts doubt on almost every piece of the so-called Post-2002 fragments, a collection of about 70 items that entered the market in the early years of this century after William Kando, the son of an antiquities dealer who bought the original scrolls from Bedouin shepherds seven decades ago, claimed to have opened a family vault in Switzerland.According to National Geographic, Green invested heavily between 2009 and 2014 to acquire 16 of those pieces, as he built a collection for the family's showpiece museum.Until this weekend the scrolls were displayed under soft lighting in the museum's Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. They will be removed during its closure for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, beginning on Monday."Notwithstanding the less than favorable results, we have done what no other institution with post-2002 fragments has done," said Dr Jeffrey Kloha, the chief curatorial officer."The sophisticated and costly methods employed to discover the truth about our collection could be used to shed light on other suspicious fragments and perhaps even be effective in uncovering who is responsible for these forgeries."
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| How the Navy's small craft action teams defend US warships at sea Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:43 PM PDT  Small craft action team members have to know how to use all the ship's mounted guns and when to use them.
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| Trump licks his chops as Biden veers left on sanctuary cities, fracking Posted: 16 Mar 2020 03:06 PM PDT  The former VP is trying to straddle the line between pragmatism and progressivism as he closes in on the nomination.
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| Seven family members fatally shot in North Carolina Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:05 AM PDT  The suspect is among the dead, said Lt. Sara Pack, a spokeswoman for the Chatham County Sheriff's Office.
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| Canada closing borders to non-citizens, Americans exempted Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:51 AM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he will close the country's borders to anyone not a citizen, an American or a permanent resident — and even they have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival — due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trudeau said the exemption for Americans, despite the rapid rise of cases in the U.S., was due to "the level of integration of our two economies." "Canada and the United States have the longest un-militarized border in the world and that border is vital to the daily life to people on both sides that live of that border," said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
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| Ethiopia's missing students: Families' pain and the unsolved mystery Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:08 PM PDT  The government has been slow to resolve the issue linked to the country's ethnic tensions.
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| Former Chinese property exec who criticised Xi over virus handling is missing, friends say Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:45 PM PDT |
| An influencer filmed herself licking a plane toilet seat for 'clout' on TikTok as part of a 'coronavirus challenge' Posted: 16 Mar 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Ava Louise posted the video on Twitter, and it shows her lick the seat then give the camera a pout and two peace signs.
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| Peter Navarro Snaps When CNN Anchor Asks if Trump to Blame for Stock Losses: ‘Let’s Not Do That’ Posted: 16 Mar 2020 08:40 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro did not react well when confronted by CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on Monday morning over sinking stock markets in the wake of a full-blown coronavirus pandemic, insisting that now wasn't the time to talk about whether the president's response to the crisis was causing markets to plummet.Appearing on CNN just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened Monday morning with a 10 percent drop that caused trading to be temporarily halted—something that's been happening more frequently lately—Navarro first attempted to sidestep questions on whether America was now in a recession.After Navarro boasted about everything he and the White House coronavirus task force were doing to try to mitigate the spread of the virus amid mass cancellations and shutdowns, adding that he has the "full force of American business" working with the government, Harlow stopped him short."I hear you, Peter, but the Dow is off 2,200 points, the S&P; is off 8 percent," she exclaimed. "You're a top economist at the White House. Are we headed into a recession? I appreciate the efforts you just outlined, but this is freaking people out, Peter!""Look, here's what's critical now, Poppy," Navarro replied. "It's the policy response, and we have to have four different vectors coming in all at once in a matter of days, not weeks.""But Peter, what can you do? The market's off 2,000 points!" Harlow shot back.The CNN anchor would go on to reiterate that the "market is not responding well at all" to the federal government's recent actions to fight COVID-19, which recently included another Federal Reserve rate cut and insertion of liquidity into the credit markets. Harlow further noted that during their conversation, she couldn't track the market movements because trading had been halted for 15 minutes."Finally for the message from the president over the weekend is that this virus is under tremendous control, but Dr. Fauci leading this effort says the worst is yet to come and the cases have doubled over the weekend, Peter," Harlow eventually stated. "Markets are looking for leadership. Leadership is prescriptive. The markets here are reacting also to the president and his words. Is he doing enough to put confidence in the market by saying something that's not under control is?"Navarro, who has repeatedly credited Trump when the stock markets have surged and has literally said he's "never disappointed in my president," admonished Harlow for her question."Poppy, let's not do that kind of thing right now," he huffed."Peter, it's not doing that kind of thing," she answered. "The market is hanging on his words. You know this."While stocks have been plunging over the past few weeks over fears that the coronavirus will cause a global economic recession or even depression, the president bragged about the one-day Dow rally on Friday, sending off autographed stock graphs to loyalists such as Fox Business host Lou Dobbs.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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| 62 Home Office Ideas That Will Inspire Productivity Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:01 PM PDT |
| New York Gov. Cuomo just sounded the biggest alarm on the coronavirus: 'Deploy the Army Corps of Engineers ... And if you don't do it, you know what is going to happen' Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:14 PM PDT  The New York governor gave the most severe assessment of the coronavirus outbreak by an American politician yet, calling on the military to step in.
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| Trump is reportedly trying to lure a German company working on coronavirus vaccine exclusively to the U.S. Posted: 15 Mar 2020 09:29 AM PDT  No one can fault President Trump for wanting Americans to have access to a coronavirus vaccine in the future, but Germany isn't pleased with the way he's reportedly trying to do it.Per Reuters, Germany's health ministry confirmed a report from German Newspaper Welt am Sonntag that said Trump has offered funds to lure biopharmaceutical company CureVac, which is working on developing a vaccine for the new virus, from Germany to the United States. Welt am Sonntag quoted an anonymous German official who said Trump would do anything to get a vaccine, "but only for the United States."A German health ministry official, meanwhile, said Berlin wants to make sure vaccines and other substances that could be used to fight off the coronavirus are developed in Germany and Europe, as well. Above all, the hope is to avoid exclusivity."The exclusive sale of a possible vaccine to the USA must be prevented by all means," tweeted Karl Lauterbach, a professor of health economics epidemiology and German lawmaker, in response to the report. "Capitalism has limits."There was no immediate comment from the U.S. embassy in Berlin, and CureVac declined to comment, but the company's CEO Daniel Menichella met with Trump, Vice Presidnet Mike Pence, and other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force earlier this month. CureVac is narrowing its field of vaccine candidates, and hopes to begin testing in June or July. Read more at Reuters.More stories from theweek.com Coronavirus is exposing America's shameful selfish streak Hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are closing their doors due to coronavirus Global airlines likely to be bankrupt by end of May, aviation consultant warns
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| Sanders says first thing needed in coronavirus pandemic is to 'shut this president up' Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:28 PM PDT  During the Democratic debate, Sen. Sanders said the first thing needed to help the U.S. with the coronavirus pandemic is to "shut this president up right now."
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| 368 dead in 24 hours in Italy as Europe shuts down to slow the growing crisis Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:34 AM PDT  "After the coronavirus, nothing will be as before," Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tells the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
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| Southwest cutting 'at least' 20% of flights as planes half empty from coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 03:07 PM PDT  Southwest Airlines said it has had several days of more cancellations than bookings and that planes are flying half empty in recent days.
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| Past Perfect Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| U.S. seen spurning China's coronavirus-linked call for Iran sanctions relief Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:31 PM PDT |
| Virus toll in Iran climbs as lockdowns deepen across Mideast Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:55 PM PDT  Iran reported another 129 fatalities from the new coronavirus on Monday, the largest one-day rise in deaths since it began battling the Middle East's worst outbreak, which has claimed more than 850 lives and infected a number of senior officials in the country. Businesses in Iran's capital remained open, however, even as other countries in the region grounded planes, sealed their borders and moved toward full lockdowns. The divergent approaches adopted by local authorities reflect continued uncertainty over how to slow the spread of a virus that has infected around 180,000 people worldwide and caused more than 700 deaths.
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| Turkey’s TAI sells six Anka-S drones to Tunisia Posted: 16 Mar 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Turkish procurement officials say TAI had been awaiting a deal with the Tunisian government for more than a year to sell its Anka-S drone.
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| Customs officers seized 6 bags full of fake coronavirus testing kits at LAX Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:18 PM PDT  The bags were filled with small vials labeled "Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)" and "Virus1 Test Kit."
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| About half of France's coronavirus patients in intensive care are under 65, health official says Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PDT  A French health official says warnings to stay home in the coronavirus pandemic are in some cases falling on deaf ears while noting that the virus hasn't just been posing a risk to seniors.French health ministry official Jérôme Salomon said Monday that the situation is "deteriorating very quickly" while providing this statistic: of the between 300 and 400 coronavirus patients in intensive care in France, about half of them are younger than 65, The New York Times reports.Salomon is looking to "dispel the notion that the virus seriously threatens only the elderly," the Times reports, and Mother Jones observes that even though the novel coronavirus is "understood to be particularly lethal among the elderly," these numbers "underscore the reality that younger generations can still face serious consequences."Salomon also said Monday that in France, "a lot of people have not understood that they need to stay at home," and as a result, "we are not succeeding in curbing the outbreak of the epidemic," per Reuters. Most nonessential businesses in France were ordered to be closed over the weekend.France has confirmed more than 5,400 cases of the novel coronavirus, and by Sunday, the number of deaths had risen to 127. Salomon said Monday the number of cases has been doubling "every three days."More stories from theweek.com Coronavirus is exposing America's shameful selfish streak Hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are closing their doors due to coronavirus Global airlines likely to be bankrupt by end of May, aviation consultant warns
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| China urges U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran amid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:27 PM PDT  China on Monday urged the United States to lift sanctions on Iran immediately during the Middle Eastern country's response to the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Strengths and weaknesses of 5 possible Biden running mates Posted: 16 Mar 2020 03:47 PM PDT  The former VP said he will pick a female to join his ticket. That balances gender, but what about the rest?
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| Americans stuck in Cambodia amid pandemic say they are 'being detained,' not quarantined Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:12 PM PDT  When Ryan Knapp and his wife booked a cruise along the Mekong Delta, they thought it would be a dream trip. But it has turned into a nightmare.
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| Iran closes key religious sites as virus death toll hits 853 Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Iran on Monday closed four key Shiite pilgrimage sites to stop a coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 850 people out of nearly 15,000 cases recorded in the Islamic republic. The holy shrines of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Fatima Masumeh in Qom and Shah Abdol-Azim in Tehran were shut until further notice "upon the orders of the anti-coronavirus headquarters and the health minister," state television said. Qom's Jamkaran mosque also said it would close its doors, the official IRNA news agency reported.
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| CORRECTED-Abigail Disney slams tweet showing huge crowds at Magic Kingdom Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:13 PM PDT |
| 5 dead, including officer and gunman, in Missouri shooting Posted: 16 Mar 2020 04:44 AM PDT  A man fired randomly from his vehicle several times while driving through a southwest Missouri city before eventually crashing into a convenience store, where he walked inside, opened fire and left five people dead, including a police officer and himself, police said Monday. The gunman's motives remain unclear, Springfield police Chief Paul Williams said at a news conference, where his voice broke as he described his officers' actions. Williams said police received reports of "multiple shooting calls throughout the city" late Sunday starting in the south and moving north through the city's east side.
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| Mitt Romney tweets coronavirus advice that would force senators to stay at home Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:01 AM PDT  As the US Senate prepares to take up a huge coronavirus emergency package, Utah's Mitt Romney has tweeted stringent guidelines for older Americans worried about contracting the virus — advice that would apply to a good many of his colleagues.Credited to "a nurse friend", Mr Romney's advice includes several widely advised recommendations: "practice strict quarantine", "prepare your own meals at home", and working from home where possible.
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| Hospitals in San Francisco and other cities may ban pregnant people from having visitors during labor because of the coronavirus, including spouses and partners Posted: 16 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT  San Francisco's public health department issued a mandate that all visitors were banned from hospitals. Other cities have followed suit.
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| United Airlines execs wrote a grim letter to employees warning the coronavirus crisis will devastate summer travel and affect worker pay Posted: 16 Mar 2020 07:06 AM PDT  United Airlines' CEO and president wrote in a letter to employees that they expect demand will decrease into the summer with planes going unfilled.
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| Will U.S. coronavirus outbreak look like South Korea or Italy? Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:59 PM PDT  To ensure the country's hospitals can treat the people who get sick, mitigation measures are needed, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said.
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| Lone GOP congressman delays House coronavirus relief bill from moving to Senate Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:24 AM PDT  The House was expected to make technical corrections to the bipartisan measure, passed by the House early Saturday, on Monday, but Gohmert is insisting on reading them.
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| Joe Biden commits to woman running mate; Bernie Sanders says 'in all likelihood' he will, too Posted: 15 Mar 2020 07:58 PM PDT  "My administration will look like the country and I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be vice president," the former vice president, said.
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| Illinois governor: ‘Federal government needs to get its s@#t together’ Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:05 AM PDT  He complains of impossibly long lines at O'Hare Airport.
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| Saudi Arabia detains 298 public officials in new corruption probes Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the detention of hundreds of government officials, including military and security officers, on charges involving bribery and exploiting public office, and said investigators would bring charges against them. Scores of the kingdom's economic and political elite were detained in 2017 at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel in a corruption crackdown that unsettled some foreign investors. An anti-corruption body known as Nazaha tweeted on Sunday that it had arrested and would indict 298 people on crimes such as bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power involving a total of 379 million riyals ($101 million).
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| The Best Hiking Socks for Summer Treks Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:33 AM PDT |
| Japanese man sentenced to death for murder of 19 at care home Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:02 AM PDT  A Japanese man was sentenced to death on Monday for the stabbing murder of 19 disabled people at a care home, in one of the country's worst mass killings. Satoshi Uematsu never disputed his involvement in the grisly rampage but his lawyers entered a plea of not guilty, arguing the 30-year-old was suffering a "mental disorder" linked to his use of marijuana. Uematsu planned the murders and had "an extreme intention to kill", he added.
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| Coronavirus reality check: 7 myths about social distancing, busted Posted: 16 Mar 2020 07:56 AM PDT  Due to the lack of testing availability to date, we don't know who has coronavirus. So for now, we assume we all might, and maintain social distancing
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| Coronavirus Lockdown Tightens Across Europe Posted: 15 Mar 2020 12:42 AM PDT |
| US Army, Marines want to make the Hellfire missile replacement more deadly at sea Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:47 PM PDT  After working out kinks related to the Hellfire missile replacement's lethality in a maritime environment, the Army and Marine Corps are heading into more tests of the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile against targets at sea.
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| Fauci: U.S. is 'entering into a new phase in the testing space' Posted: 15 Mar 2020 03:23 PM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said on Sunday that the United States is "entering into a new phase in the (coronavirus) testing space."
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| Sixty percent believe worst is yet to come for the U.S. in coronavirus pandemic Posted: 15 Mar 2020 06:00 AM PDT  Public attitudes about the coronavirus response are split along partisan lines in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
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| 'It just impacts us all': Military families try to cope with coronavirus travel restrictions Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Hundreds of thousands of service members and their families will be stuck close to home for nearly two months starting Monday .
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| Philippines detects bird flu outbreak in quail farm Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:01 AM PDT  The Philippines has detected an outbreak of avian flu in a northern province after tests showed presence of the highly infectious H5N6 subtype of the influenza A virus in a quail farm, the country's farm minister said on Monday. Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the bird flu virus, the same strain that hit some local poultry farms in 2017, was detected in Jaen municipality in Nueva Ecija province, where about 1,500 quails had died on one farm alone. A total of 12,000 quails have been destroyed and buried to prevent further infections, Dar said, citing field reports.
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| Trump's surgeon general got dragged for suggesting South Korea is an 'authoritarian nation' while discussing coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:17 AM PDT  South Korea is a democratic country and a key ally of the US, and has been for decades. It's been widely praised for its response to coronavirus.
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