| Pressure grows on Trump to invoke Defense Production Act for coronavirus response Posted: 17 Mar 2020 05:47 PM PDT  President Trump said Tuesday he was not prepared to invoke the authorities to allow the government to ensure that the private sector can ramp up production of emergency medical supplies, despite a growing chorus of voices urging him to do so.
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| Nine-year-old Florida girl's remains found four years after she vanished Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:14 AM PDT  A friend of Diana Alvarez's family made "admissions" that put him with her on the morning she went missing. He also told investigators that he had a sexual relationship with the girl.
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| Duncan Hunter, an early Trump supporter who vaped in a Congressional hearing, gets 11 months in prison Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:53 AM PDT  The former California congressman pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations after a fall from grace forcing him out of his seat.
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| Mexico, former swine flu hub, tests nerves with coronavirus strategy Posted: 17 Mar 2020 04:02 PM PDT  Mexican officials are dragging their feet on border closures and coronavirus containment measures, in what critics call a high risk strategy driven by bad memories of a shutdown a decade ago that deepened the country's recession during the swine flu epidemic. The United States and neighbors in Latin America have suspended flights, banned public gatherings and closed schools. In Mexico City, however, tens of thousands of music fans rocked out to Guns and Roses at a festival at the weekend.
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| Senate to pass coronavirus package as Treasury proposes emergency checks starting April 6 Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:58 AM PDT  "I do not believe we should let perfection be the enemy of something that will help even a subset of workers," Mitch McConnell says.
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| Israel slaps virus closure on Palestinian-ruled areas of West Bank Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Israel closed off Palestinian-administered areas of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to limit the spread of the coronavirus, officials from both sides said. "From today, a closure has taken place in the West Bank," said Yotam Shefer, who heads the international department of COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories. Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhim said all Palestinians would be affected, though goods would still be allowed to pass.
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| New York mayor says 'shelter in place' decision coming in next 48 hours Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:34 AM PDT  Mayor Bill de Blasio in recent days has made sweeping declarations to close schools through April 20, limit restaurant service and halt other forms of entertainment.
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| China expels U.S. journalists from country in retaliation for American limit on state-run media Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:08 AM PDT  U.S. journalists are being kicked out of China, and the timing couldn't be worse.China announced Tuesday it would revoke press credentials from journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, barring them from working in the country. The ban even extends to Hong Kong, and comes in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to limit the number of workers China could have in its U.S. branches of its state-run media.American journalists working those three outlets who have press cards expiring before the end of the year will have to hand over their credentials within 10 days, China demanded Tuesday. They "will not be allowed to continue working as journalists" in China or the special administration regions of Hong Kong and Macao, China's statement said. In addition, they, along with journalists from Time magazine and Voice of America, have also been told to reveal information about their organizations.China said its move is made "in the spirit of reciprocity" after the U.S. declared China's five top state-run media agencies to be operatives of the government. The decision, made in February, places the media under similar scrutiny faced by foreign diplomats.The expulsion is especially problematic seeing as China is still the epicenter of the now-global COVID-19 pandemic. The country's stringent orders of isolation seem to have finally stymied spread of the virus, but with fewer legitimate media sources in the country, it could be harder to tell how true that is.More stories from theweek.com The conservatives who would sacrifice the elderly to save the economy A Japanese flu drug appears to be effective at combatting coronavirus, Chinese studies show It's over for Bernie Sanders
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| Trump says coronavirus pandemic could bring on a recession Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:49 PM PDT  Asked whether the country was heading for an economic recession, the president said "it may be," although he also said he expected the economy to recover quickly once the health emergency passes.
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| Editorial: Coronavirus makes jails and prisons potential death traps. That puts us all in danger Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Soap is restricted and hand sanitizer is contraband at correctional facilities. We need to stop admitting people accused of low-level crimes.
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| The 20 Best Gifts for Mom on Mother’s Day Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:18 PM PDT |
| California asks all dine-in restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters to close to curb the coronavirus' spread Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:41 PM PDT  Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Monday said encouraging a ban on gatherings of any size "just makes sense to me at this point."
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| Ireland to consult with Britain over coronavirus European travel ban Posted: 17 Mar 2020 01:55 PM PDT  Ireland will consult with Britain before it decides whether to participate in a European travel ban endorsed by fellow EU member states on Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus, a government spokesman said. Ireland's participation is complicated by the fact that it shares an open land border with the British-run province of Northern Ireland and a common travel area with the whole of the United Kingdom, which ensures freedom of movement between both islands. Neither Ireland nor Britain, which left the EU at the end of January, are members of Europe's Schengen zone of open borders.
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| Pompeo’s Virus Response Blasted by State Dept Officials Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:18 AM PDT  Officials inside the State Department say they are disturbed at the way Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior administration officials have handled the building's response to the coronavirus pandemic.Over the last two weeks, officials inside the department's headquarters in Washington and in at least two embassies overseas have voiced their frustrations to superiors about the absence of information on how the department planned to prevent community spread; the scant guidance on how to handle travel and meetings with foreign officials from hotspot regions; and the lack of transparency on internal coronavirus case numbers.That's according to five State Department officials, all of whom spoke to The Daily Beast over the last week on the condition of anonymity because they fear retribution from the secretary's office. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment but Pompeo was set to brief reporters Tuesday afternoon."When the cases started to jump in the U.S., there was almost zero communication on whether we should continue on with our work like normal or whether we should curtail interactions with people from countries in Asia and Europe where the virus was already killing hundreds of people," one official said. "We knew there were conversations ongoing in the secretary's office, but there was no transparency about how they were handling all of it."The increasing frustration among officials at State comes as the Trump administration tries to play catch up with the rest of the rest of the world—to not only contain the virus but to treat COVID-19 patients with limited amounts of key medical supplies and equipment. The internal calls for more clarity from Pompeo's office underscore the degree to which the department has struggled to maintain a foothold on the evolving crisis and to restore calm among its own people. Two officials who spoke to The Daily Beast did say that communication from the secretary's office had improved over the last several days.Is Soap or Hand Sanitizer Best for Stopping Coronavirus?"Pompeo and his team need to be transparent and forthcoming with their employees who are smack in the middle of an unprecedented global crisis," a congressional aide told The Daily Beast. "But the component functions under the secretary are doing their level best and have our support."The department attempted to answer questions from its employees last week in a series of conference calls. But officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said it was too little too late, some pointing to the chaos that ensued following the president's Oval Office speech in which he announced European travel restrictions. Two officials based overseas said they were not given a heads up about the plan to limit travel and spent the next day fielding calls from their international counterparts asking for clarification on the White House's announcement. One official said they did not receive guidance on how to handle visa requests and other consular duties until the morning of March 13–almost two days after the president's address. Back in Washington, as state governments began to close schools and asked the public to work from home, officials in the department sought answers on whether they, too, should decrease their time in the building. Some overseas posts had already issued guidance internally within their offices about teleworking, but officials in Washington working out of the headquarters building were not told to go home. Instead, senior officials told their teams that they could work from home if they felt they needed to. The conflicting guidance caused internal confusion and resentment among officials who said they had to learn from their colleagues about how each office was handling the situation. There was no clear message from Pompeo himself, the officials said."There's been a severe lack of information on what we should be handling ourselves amid this crisis," one official said, adding that no one had put out hand sanitizing bottles in the building. "People could be coming in sick and they might not even know it."Over the last week, rumors swirled that there were a number of individuals in the building and overseas who had tested positive for the virus—but the secretary's office had failed to communicate that data point, one official said. The lack of communication caused officials to panic, wondering if they had come into contact with those individuals.Throughout the last two weeks, officials inside the department building in Washington have continued to hold meetings with foreign individuals, some from Asian and European countries, in rooms that do not allow for proper social distancing, one official told The Daily Beast. In a press conference Tuesday, Pompeo said that a "handful" of department employees had tested positive for coronavirus but did not specify how many or where they were located across the globe. When asked how his office was handling the outbreak, Pompeo said he had limited travel and issued 15 new guidelines. It was unclear if the secretary was referring to the same guidelines the White House coronavirus task force announced Monday in a briefing with reporters."The work our medical team has done… the work we did to get Americans out of Wuhan is in the finest tradition of American diplomacy," Pompeo said. "We have an obligation to take care of… all of our team and we will continue to do that." The calls for increased transparency and action reached Capitol Hill in the last few days, where lawmakers are calling on the department for briefings on how Pompeo is handling the coronavirus response. Senior officials from the State Department briefed House staffers Tuesday morning. Officials told staffers that the department had made strides in the last several days to draft clear policies and to boost communication from Washington to foreign posts, one Democratic aide told The Daily Beast. Another aide said State told staffers that it is focusing its efforts on ensuring that employees based overseas who are sick can receive a coronavirus test. The department is relying on host governments when they can, but is also in the process of trying to partner with a commercial vendor to use at posts.Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Monday sent a letter to Pompeo asking for the secretary to "to immediately rectify the State Department's slow and deficient response to the coronavirus pandemic." "I fear the Department's lack of a robust response has put the health of its own employees, including those stationed abroad, at further risk, and further jeopardized the health and well-being of the American people," Menendez wrote.Menendez called for the department to clarify its contingency plans and asked for copies of its response plan for any suspected or confirmed cases.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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| Masks, gloves don't stop coronavirus spread: experts Posted: 17 Mar 2020 09:30 AM PDT  Wearing masks and gloves as a precaution against coronavirus is ineffective, unnecessary for the vast majority of people, and may even spread infections faster, experts said Tuesday. While near-total lockdowns have been imposed in Italy, Spain and now France, the World Health Organization's advice has remained unchanged since the start of the global outbreak: wash your hands, don't touch your face, and keep your distance. The WHO says it is advisable to wear a protective mask in public if you suspect you are infected or someone you are caring for is, in which case the advice is to stay home whenever possible.
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| New Jersey coronavirus patient gives hospital fake name, address — and then leaves Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Newark Mayor Ras Baraka held a press conference on Tuesday asking the woman to come forward. She was later found, he said in a tweet.
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| ‘Gag and Vote For It Anyway’: McConnell Urges Republican Hold Outs to Back House Coronavirus Bill Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:52 PM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would push ahead with passing the $100-billion stimulus package negotiated between the White House and House Democrats last week, adding that Senate Republicans with reservations about the bill should "gag" them."We're going to go on and vote as soon as the Senate can get permission to vote on the bill that came over from the House, send it down to the President . . . and reassure the people around the country," McConnell said. He added that "a number of my members think there are considerable shortcomings in the House bill. My counsel to them is to gag and vote for it anyway."The Senate will also move ahead with drafting a phase-three package that would add additional measures to help the economy, following a closed-door lunch with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who negotiated extensively with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on the phase-two bill which McConnell will now bring to the floor.Mnuchin announced on Tuesday that President Trump is considering sending checks to Americans as an alternative to a payroll tax cut in order to provide Americans with immediate assistance in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.The package could be worth approximately $250 billion, and could be part of a larger package "that would inject $1 trillion into the economy," Mnuchin revealed to reporters. Both the White House and Senate Democrats have proposed additional measures to supplement the House bill, which could range from $750 to $850 billion.Senators Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Mitt Romney (R., Utah) have all pushed for direct payments to Americans to offset economic losses.On Monday, Cotton critiqued emergency spending legislation passed by the House as being too complicated, relying on paid sick leave and refundable tax credits when it would be faster to give cash payments directly to Americans. McConnell is now signaling that those criticisms will be considered in new bill set to be drafted by the Senate.> The House bill sets up a complicated relief system that relies on paid sick leave & refundable tax credits. > > That won't move quickly enough & puts undue pressure on businesses to lay off workers. > > We don't want to see layoffs—we need cash in the hands of affected families. pic.twitter.com/64hNtYhfJO> > -- Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 16, 2020
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| Samoan chief guilty of slavery in New Zealand Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Joseph Auga Matamata lured victims with promises of a better life but beat them and kept their money.
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| Nunes walks back 'go to your local pub' comments, blames media for creating coronavirus panic Posted: 17 Mar 2020 04:07 AM PDT  On Sunday, Nunes said, "if you're healthy – you and your family – it's a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant. Likely you can get in easily."
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| Israel moves towards mass testing as coronavirus detections rise Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:56 AM PDT  Confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel have jumped by 40% to 427 in the past 24 hours, authorities said on Wednesday, predicting a steeper rise as mass testing is implemented, and a blanket ban on entry of foreign nationals was imposed. The Internal Security Ministry said compulsory closures, enforced by police, could soon be imposed across Israel, and the Palestinian Authority announced tighter restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "We will reach a situation in which there are many hundreds of new patients each day, and possibly more," Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, the Health Ministry's director-general, told Israeli Army Radio.
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| French people ignored officials' warnings to isolate themselves because of the coronavirus. Now they need a form to leave the house. Posted: 17 Mar 2020 04:26 AM PDT  People in France must have a document justifying why they're outside, even just for a walk or to go to a shop, after they refused to stay indoors.
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| Commandant directs Marines on how to prepare for coronavirus Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:59 PM PDT  The letter instructs commanders on the ground to make force preservation and risk mitigation decisions based on new information.
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| Joe Biden Reaches Out to Bernie Sanders; Team Joe Throws ‘Sharp Elbows’ Posted: 16 Mar 2020 07:20 PM PDT  The Biden campaign knows protesters.Having appeared as uninvited guests at speech after speech, rally after rally, officials have dealt with anti-Biden evangelists on a semi-regular basis for much of his year-long campaign. They've perfected the art of physically protecting their boss, who typically stands still, waiting for the yelling and chanting to stop. One time, he quipped, "this is not a Trump rally," before letting them press on. Sunday night's televised debate was held without an audience. Which is why it raised eyebrows when, in a briefing with reporters, Anita Dunn, a senior adviser and strategist for Biden's campaign, likened her boss' only political opponent to a disruptive dissenter just minutes after he sought to make an explicit unity pitch to the country during a state of national emergency. "I think it's fair to say that Vice President Biden showed up to a debate tonight and for two hours graciously dealt with the kind of protester who often shows up at campaign events," she said, with a pause, during a briefing call with reporters following Sunday night's debate. "On live television."She was, of course, referring to Bernie Sanders. The comment—which was stated on the record and was the first of several post-debate remarks by four senior campaign officials—seemed a stark contrast to the approach Biden had made before and during the debate, seeking to extend a hand to his opponent's supporters should he defeat Sanders soundly on Tuesday. Before the briefing call, Biden took two steps towards appealing to more liberal voters, using versions of ideas put forth by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as inspiration. First came an endorsement of Warren's bankruptcy plan, pleading to repeal parts of a 2005 law they had famously sparred over 15 years ago while Biden was in the Senate. (Biden claimed on Sunday night he did not help write the bill, despite a mountain of evidence that indicates he worked closely on it). Then he pivoted towards Sanders. Using portions of a 2017 Senate bill the Vermont Independent introduced to make public colleges and universities tuition free for families earning less than $125,000, Biden specifically credited Sanders for his new stance. But the bill is different from what the senator has campaigned on during his second presidential bid—which would make all of those institutions universally tuition-free and not dependent on income. On stage, Sanders said Biden was behind the curve for adopting a position that was part of the Democratic Party's platform under Hillary Clinton four years ago. While it's unclear if Dunn was speaking in an offhand fashion, Biden's communications team seemed to endorse her remarks, with his national press secretary posting three flame emojis on Twitter, indicating it was a positively fiery proclamation from AnitaDunn, as she was labeled in the tweet. "I think he's doing phenomenal on that front," Barry Goodman, a top Biden bundler and Democratic National Committee member, said when asked about squaring Biden's unity with Dunn's comments. "Someone may be a liberal, someone may be a progressive, someone may be a moderate. We can't win doing that," he said. "I think they'll all come out for Joe."During the debate, which was held in Washington, D.C., instead of Phoenix, Arizona, to help minimize the spread of COVID-19, Biden and Sanders engaged in a back-and-forth over votes of decades past, but generally remained civil in tone. But the virtual spin room suggested there's some fine-tuning to be done on the part of party unity. Goodman's thinking—which echoes others in Biden's orbit—is that self-proclaimed Sanders supporters will come over to the former vice president once he is the presumptive nominee, or even before that, seeing what's at stake against President Donald Trump. A rogue comment from a campaign official or surrogate, which appears to buck the candidate's own calls to come together just hours prior, wouldn't likely change anything. "These guys are all smart," Goodman added, when pressed again about Dunn's comment specifically. "They're all brilliant people."Steve Schale, the head of the pro-Biden super PAC, Unite The Country, acknowledged that some are guilty of "throwing sharp elbows" because there's still an active primary going on. "I don't care how hard the candidates try themselves to show a good face, the nature of operatives is to run as hard into the wall as you can until there's no longer a campaign," he said. "That doesn't mean there's no work that needs to be done."Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who strongly rebuked Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, said that "surrogates and others can express their thoughts the way they wish to, those are their words," acknowledging that it's not always the most helpful. Khan, who endorsed Biden in November and was speaking in a personal capacity, said that Biden's pledge to support and campaign for Sanders if he were to become the nominee "speaks volumes of the person's nature and intentions to unite all of us."Reached for comment by The Daily Beast, a Biden adviser said they "came into this debate seeking to build a bridge," adding that they "extended a hand but the campaign felt that Senator Sanders responded by unloading old oppo and grievances that had already failed to be productive in previous competitions."The adviser went on: "We needed to defend ourselves, and we did. But make no mistake: Our hand is and continues to be outstretched. Vice President Biden and Bernie Sanders are friends who share in the most important of values and causes, and who are both deeply committed to their legacies including unifying this party and defeating of Donald Trump."But while some Democrats brushed off Dunn's comments as "tough post-debate spin," as one moderate strategist put it, others in Sanders' world heard alarm bells going off. "In light of this, I think we should stay in til the convention," Heather Gautney, a senior policy adviser for Sanders, tweeted in reference to her remarks. The Sunrise Movement, a group of young activists who pushed for the idea of a Green New Deal, strongly condemned the comments."The Democratic Party faces a stark generational divide between younger and older Democrats. Condescending to these already alienated and frustrated younger voters, as @JoeBiden advisor Anita Dunn did, could cost us the general election -- or fracture the party forever," the group wrote on Monday afternoon. To be sure, Sanders has not exactly sent the welcome wagon to Biden's fanclub. Just after Biden won the South Carolina primary by a landslide, due largely to a strong showing from African-American voters who effectively helped launch a string of successes on Super Tuesday and beyond, Sanders said that the "political establishment" was working hard to coalesse around Biden, a remark that offended several Biden loyalists, including hOUSE Majority Whip James Clyburn, who told The Daily Beast: "I find it very interesting that someone is referring to African-American voters in South Carolina as the establishment."When asked what specific actions the Biden campaign can take to appeal to Sanders' supporters, one senior Sanders campaign adviser directly involved in strategy listed off a series of action items. "They need to not make the mistakes of 2016, and say to the Sanders movement that you guys have nowhere else to go so shut up and take it," the official said. "That's not going to work." On top of that, Biden would need to show "a real deep respect" for Sanders "and the way he changed this game." Finally, the source contended: Biden's team better not start "thinking that a false unity is enough.""You can't just say let's unite and beat Trump," the senior official said. "They have to acknowledge that they understand what this movement is." 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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| Iran defends response as virus deaths surpass 1,000 Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Iran said its novel coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday as President Hassan Rouhani defended the response of his administration, which has yet to impose a lockdown. The COVID-19 outbreak in sanctions-hit Iran is one of the deadliest for any country outside China, where the disease originated. Rouhani's government reported another 147 deaths -- a record high for a single day in the month since it announced the emergence of the disease.
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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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| Jalisco New Generation drug cartel spreads nationwide across Mexico Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:31 AM PDT  A fast-rising criminal cartel in Mexico is expanding nationwide after beginning from the outskirts of Mexico City.
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| White House warning to millennials: Stay out of the bars Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:00 PM PDT  The scientific community's message to young Americans about the coronavirus got more pointed on Tuesday: Stay out of bars. Fauci said he too felt invulnerable when he was a young man, but he emphasized that young people need to help constrain the spread of the coronavirus by staying out of bars and restaurants.
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| Coronavirus justifies moving ex-Trump lawyer Cohen home from prison - letter Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:20 PM PDT  Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, risks catching coronavirus while serving his three-year prison sentence, justifying his release into home confinement, Cohen's attorney said on Tuesday. In a letter to U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan, Cohen's lawyer Roger Adler accused the Federal Bureau of Prisons of being "demonstrably incapable" of safeguarding inmates who live in close quarters and face an "enhanced risk" of catching coronavirus. Adler urged Pauley "to consider my client's exposure to the coronavirus," and act "thoughtfully and decisively" given the "absence of Presidential leadership" in protecting federal prisoners from COVID-19.
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| Guatemala turns tables, blocking U.S. deportations because of coronavirus Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:47 AM PDT  Guatemala, turning the tables on President Trump, halts deportation flights from the U.S. and closes its borders because of the coronavirus.
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| Hawley Calls for ‘Full, International Investigation’ into China’s Coronavirus Coverup Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) on Wednesday warned the Chinese Communist Party that it would have "to pay" for its attempts to coverup the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and called for a "full, international investigation" to get to the bottom of the situation."There needs to be a full, international investigation of China Communist Party's actions that helped turn coronavirus COVID19 into a global pandemic," Hawley tweeted Wednesday morning.> There needs to be a full, international investigation of China Communist Party's actions that helped turn coronavirus COVID19 into a global pandemic - and China needs to be prepared to pay other countries for the havoc the CCP has unleashed https://t.co/u1Uo0H0PTj> > -- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 18, 2020The freshman senator was referencing a story that Beijing has attempted to drown out with a propaganda campaign. China on Tuesday stripped press passes from reporters at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post who were stationed in China and Hong Kong, its latest action to escape accountability and international censure over its handling the outbreak.In December, genomics laboratories in Wuhan sequenced coronavirus and discovered it closely resembled the deadly SARS virus which broke out in 2002-2003, but were subsequently gagged by authorities, who ordered them to turn over or destroy the samples.Hawley, a China hawk who slammed the regime for its crackdown on Hong Kong protestors in the fall, has been vocal in recent months as the coronavirus pandemic grew. He sent a letter in January to the heads of four government agencies to ask whether the Trump administration was considering any potential Chinese travel ban to prevent an American outbreak of the coronavirus — a move the White House made soon after.Last month, the senator introduced legislation to reorient medical supply chains and to reduce reliance on China for the manufacture of certain prescription drugs and other medical supplies.
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| Pakistani pilgrims decry squalid coronavirus quarantine camp Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:28 AM PDT  Hundreds of Pakistanis who returned home from a pilgrimage to Iran are stuck in filthy coronavirus quarantine camps with limited medical care, and fear squalid conditions are helping spread the disease. Speaking to AFP, current and former residents of Taftan camp on the border with Iran said the facility lacks running water or flushable toilets, with detainees only able to wash every few days. Government figures show half of the 241 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in Pakistan are in people who went on pilgrimages to Iran -- one of the countries hardest-hit by the disease.
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| House sends coronavirus relief bill to Senate after delay by GOP congressman Posted: 17 Mar 2020 03:57 AM PDT  Gohmert, R-Texas, was able to hold it up because if one member stands in opposition, the House can't send the bill to the Senate without bringing the entire House back to Washington for a vote.
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| Coronavirus travel restrictions lead to a new record for world's longest flight in distance Posted: 18 Mar 2020 06:25 AM PDT  The coronavirus has resulted in the world's longest flight in distance: Air Tahiti Nui's one-off nonstop flight from Papeete to Paris on Sunday.
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| Cost of upgrading Arleigh Burke destroyers may not be worth it, says US Navy Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:24 PM PDT  The U.S. Navy says upgrading the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers may not be worth the money, but the move has support in Congress.
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| Kellyanne Conway Spars With Reporters Over ‘Kung-Flu’ Coronavirus Slur Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:01 AM PDT  "This morning a White House official referred to Coronavirus as the 'Kung-Flu' to my face," CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang tweeted on Tuesday. "Makes me wonder what they're calling it behind my back." Kellyanne Conway was asked about the incident on Wednesday morning and responded with typical indignation. "Of course it's wrong," the White House counselor said, but refused to engage in what she described as a "hypothetical" situation. As PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor questioned her about the rhetoric, Conway turned to Jiang, who also stood in the slightly social-distanced press scrum outside the White House and demanded to know which official she was accusing. "Weijia, who was it? Tell us!" When Jiang replied by saying, "I think you understand how these conversations go," Conway shot back, "No, I don't know these conversations go and that is highly offensive so you should tell us all who it is." "I'm not going to engage in hypotheticals," Conway reiterated. "I'm married to an Asian. My kids are, partly." Since her comment seemed to cause confusion amongst the reporters, she added, "Yes, I'm married to an Asian-American. My kids are 25 percent Filipino." When Jiang said she didn't know that, Conway remarked, "You're all so obsessed I thought you knew." George Conway, her husband and prominent Trump critic, is half Filipino on his mother's side.Meghan McCain Defends Trump's 'Chinese Virus' Racism: 'It's Effective!'Yet despite Kellyanne Conway's insistence that it is "wrong" to call the coronavirus "Kung-Flu," she has defended President Donald Trump's use of the phrase "Chinese virus" in tweets and press conferences, arguing that he's just referring to its origin. In his own press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Trump was asked by Alcindor if he thinks if either term puts Asian-Americans at risk. "No, not at all," the president said. "I think they probably would agree with it, 100 percent. It comes from China."This Comedy Couple Is Quarantined Together and It's HilariousRead 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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| Thousands of Muslim pilgrims brave coronavirus to gather in Indonesia Posted: 18 Mar 2020 04:25 AM PDT  JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from across Asia gathered in Indonesia on Wednesday, despite fears that their meeting could fuel the spread of a coronavirus, just two weeks after a similar event in Malaysia caused more than 500 infections. Organisers and regional officials said the event in the world's fourth most populous nation had begun, although the regional police chief said he was making a last ditch-effort to persuade organisers to call it off. "We are more afraid of God," one of the organisers, Mustari Bahranuddin, told Reuters, when asked about the risk of participants spreading the virus at the event in Gowa in Indonesia's province of South Sulawesi.
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| 'This is the first time NASA has been in this situation': NASA is forcing nearly all 17,000 of its staff to work from home after coronavirus cases appear at 2 space centers Posted: 17 Mar 2020 08:46 PM PDT  "All employees and contractors will move to mandatory telework until further notice," NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said Tuesday.
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| Why some Democrats worry the coronavirus could help Trump win reelection Posted: 17 Mar 2020 09:11 PM PDT  The pandemic sapped the primary of life. Now, it's extending it.
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| 'Americans need cash now': Mnuchin outlines emergency funding amid virus Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:08 AM PDT  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that the Trump administration recognizes that "Americans need cash now" as he discussed emergency funding amid the coronavirus crisis.
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| Videos showing Miami Beach arrests of black spring breakers slammed as racist by NAACP Posted: 17 Mar 2020 03:36 PM PDT  "In these videos, black students are met with extremely aggressive policing from officers," said Ruban Roberts, president of the Miami-Dade chapter of the NAACP.
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| Democratic primaries: Progressive challenger defeats conservative Democrat in stunning upset Posted: 18 Mar 2020 05:40 AM PDT  Illinois Democratic congressman Dan Lipinski, who has served since 2005, has been defeated by a progressive primary challenger in a stunning victory for the party's left wing.Mr Lipinski, representative for Illinois's third congressional district – a safe Democratic seat – was defeated by Marie Newman, an entrepreneur and nonprofit founder who supports progressive proposals such as Medicare for All and a $15-per-hour minimum wage. With nearly 99 per cent of the vote counted, she led Mr Lipinski by some 2,365 votes.
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| Migrants waiting at US-Mexico border at risk of coronavirus, health experts warn Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:39 AM PDT  Coronavirus fears are growing among nonprofits and attorneys who monitor migrants waiting in Mexico for court dates in the U.S.
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| Pakistan urges calm as coronavirus cases surge, Sri Lanka stops flights Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:55 PM PDT  ISLAMABAD/COLOMBO (Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister called for calm after its tally of coronavirus cases rose to 256 while Sri Lanka sealed itself off and declared a partial curfew on Wednesday as South Asian countries tried to stem the epidemic. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Indian subcontinent topped 500 on Wednesday. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an address to the nation, urged citizens to remain calm and not rush to get tested.
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| The US Army is rethinking how to do its largest European exercise in 25 years amid a coronavirus lockdown Posted: 17 Mar 2020 02:09 PM PDT  The Army wants to continue with Defender-Europe 20 in some form, but what it will look like amid the spread of the coronavirus isn't yet clear.
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