| Trump suspends travel from Europe for 30 days as coronavirus cases continue to grow Posted: 11 Mar 2020 06:43 PM PDT  President Trump announced Wednesday that he was set to suspend travel to the United States from Europe for a period of 30 days in an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus.
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| Republican senator: It's time to hold China 'accountable' for the coronavirus Posted: 12 Mar 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Sen. Tom Cotton has suggested the US investigate the highly unlikely theory coronavirus was developed in a Chinese "superlaboratory."
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| Cough? Fever? Coronavirus symptoms are not enough, Americans find, as strict rules limit who gets tested Posted: 11 Mar 2020 11:47 AM PDT  McNamara told Yahoo News he doesn't intend to keep pushing health officials to be tested for COVID-19.
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| Doomsday Mom Lori Vallow Tries to Get Judge Booted From Case Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:28 AM PDT  Doomsday mom Lori Vallow is trying to get an Idaho judge booted from her case while she sits in jail, unable to raise enough money to bail out.It's not clear why Vallow—who has refused to cooperate with the investigation into her missing children—wants Madison County Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins disqualified; her lawyer's filing didn't give a reason.She appeared before Eddins last week, requesting that her $5 million bail be lowered to $10,000. Eddins lowered it to $1 million, but Vallow hasn't been able to secure a bond.Bizarre Email Is Latest Clue in Saga of Doomsday Couple With Missing KidsA number of bondsmen have been in touch with Vallow, but none have been willing to take her on."It's not about the money. I told her I don't want to write the bond. I'd rather just have this go away if she would provide where the kids are located," Danielle Kingston told East Idaho News this week."If she could provide that assurance and proof of life, this goes away. But she has rights—including her right to bail."Vallow's 17-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old son J.J. have not been seen since September, and when police started making inquiries, she and husband Chad Daybell picked up and moved to Hawaii.She was ordered to return to Idaho and produce the kids. When she didn't, she was arrested on charges of child desertion, contempt of court, and promoting a criminal act and extradited from Hawaii.In addition to hunting for the kids—who police have said are in danger—authorities are also investigating the death of Vallow's last husband, Charles, who was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox, who has also since died under mysterious circumstances.They are also looking into the death of Daybell's last wife, Tammy, whose body has been exhumed for an autopsy. Daybell, the author of novels about near-death experiences and the apocalypse, and Vallow, who is also obsessed with doomsday scenarios, got married weeks after Tammy's death from unknown causes.Vallow was supposed to make another court appearance next week, but both her attorney and the prosecutor have asked to postpone it until May because they are gathering more evidence.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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| Satellite images show Iran has built mass graves amid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 12 Mar 2020 02:52 PM PDT  Trenches in city of Qom confirm worst fears about extent of the epidemic and the government's subsequent cover-upSatellite images of mass graves in the city of Qom suggest Iran's coronavirus epidemic is even more serious than the authorities are admitting.The pictures, first published by the New York Times, show the excavation of a new section in a cemetery on the northern fringe of Iran's holy city in late February, and two long trenches dug, of a total length of 100 yards, by the end of the month.They confirm the worst fears about the extent of the epidemic and the government's subsequent cover-up. On 24 February, at the time the trenches were being dug, a legislator from Qom, 75 miles (120 km) south of Tehran, accused the health ministry of lying about the scale of the outbreak, saying there had already been 50 deaths in the city, at a time when the ministry was claiming only 12 people had died from the virus nationwide.The deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, held a press conference to "categorically deny" the allegations, but he was clearly sweating and coughing as he did so. The next day, Harirchi confirmed that he had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.Since then, members of Iranian parliament, the Majlis, a former diplomat and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, have died. Another Khamenei adviser and one of the most powerful voices in Iranian foreign policy, Ali Akbar Velayati, was reported on Thursday to have been infected. The top ranks of Iran's clerical leadership are particularly vulnerable because of their advanced age.According to the latest health ministry figures, more than 10,000 Iranians have fallen ill from the virus and 429 have died.Amir Afkhami, who has written a history of Iran's experience of cholera epidemics, A Modern Contagion, said the mass graves add weight to suspicions the real mortality figures are much higher and are still being covered by the leadership."It doesn't surprise me that they are now trying to create mass graves and trying to hide the actual extent of the impact of the disease," Dr Afkhami, an associate professor at George Washington University, said.He added that the close trading partnership between Iran and China, and the government's fear of disrupting that partnership had contributed to the early and rapid spread of the disease."Because of China's status as the country's principal commercial partner, the Iranian government took inadequate cautionary measures to restrict and monitor travelers from China," Dr Afkhami said. "Then, later on, Tehran's lack of transparency and unwillingness to take robust measures such as social distancing and quarantine, particularly at the epicenter of the outbreak, helped spread the virus."
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| Sanders wins delegate-rich California, NBC News projects Posted: 12 Mar 2020 12:52 PM PDT  California, which voted on Super Tuesday, has 415 delegates at stake.
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| Democratic lawmakers call on Republicans to apologize for 'bigoted' coronavirus language Posted: 11 Mar 2020 08:34 AM PDT  Rep. Judy Chu said, "insisting on identifying the virus by region, as Leader McCarthy and Rep. Gosar have done, only creates fear and hostility."
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| Senate GOP blocks emergency paid sick leave bill from moving forward Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:59 AM PDT  A Republican lawmaker has blocked an attempt by Senate Democrats to pass legislation that would require employers to provide paid sick leave, in light of the coronavirus.
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| Cuomo says after U.S. blunders on coronavirus tests, New York will do its own Posted: 11 Mar 2020 01:18 PM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressed his frustration Wednesday with the Trump administration's failure to provide adequate testing for the coronavirus and said his state would begin contracting with private labs.
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| National security adviser says China "covered up" coronavirus Posted: 10 Mar 2020 09:42 PM PDT  National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said China's failure to sound the alarm about the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, "cost the world community two months to respond."
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| The family accused of violating quarantine while their daughter was tested for coronavirus says they were never told to isolate themselves Posted: 10 Mar 2020 07:14 PM PDT  Missouri officials said they told a family to self-quarantine while their daughter was tested for coronavirus, but that the family went out in public.
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| Dutch tourists quarantined in Vietnam as virus spreads Posted: 12 Mar 2020 03:44 AM PDT  A group of 25 Dutch tourists are among dozens of foreigners quarantined in communist Vietnam as the Southeast Asian nation tightens measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Hanoi says a total of 39 people, the majority nationals and British visitors, have tested positive to the virus which has spread panic across a country of 96 million people. On Thursday, authorities confirmed 25 Dutch were among dozens of travellers quarantined in an education facility in the tourist town of Hoi An after taking a domestic flight with a COVID-19 patient.
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| Cory Booker Could Have Been the Nominee Posted: 12 Mar 2020 08:50 AM PDT  With decisive victories in Michigan and Missouri on Tuesday, Joe Biden widened his lead over Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. With looming primary contests in Biden-friendly, delegate-rich Florida, Ohio, and Illinois, Sanders could be forced to concede sooner than he'd like.A number of factors have aided Biden's ascent. The dearth of debates before the Super Tuesday primaries helped to shield him from voters. Moderate Democrats and the party establishment coalesced around him after South Carolina, fearful of losing the House with a Sanders-led ticket. And as the race narrowed, Sanders struggled to win votes outside his base of young progressive supporters.One move that almost certainly had no bearing on Biden's step to the cusp of the nomination Tuesday? New Jersey senator Cory Booker's endorsement, which he offered Monday over Twitter.In one sense, the contrast between Booker and Biden could not be clearer. Booker, for all of his insipid theatrics as a senator — from the "I am Spartacus" gambit to the "tears of rage" performance — is a young, capable politician in control of his faculties. He is also a black man in a party eager to project diversity. Biden, by contrast, is an old white man who can hardly finish a paragraph without slurring his speech or succumbing to some cringe-inducing gaffe that betrays his cognitive decline.In another sense, though, both Booker and Biden are ostensible "moderates" at a moment in which — if recent electoral results are to be believed — a significant faction of Democratic voters are hankering for a centrist figurehead.Why did Booker fail where Biden succeeded? The Occam's-razor explanation is probably the right one: Biden was Barack Obama's vice president, while Booker has been an unremarkable senator with few legislative achievements.But even with his inherent advantages, the former vice president's vulnerabilities would be insurmountable in a normal primary cycle. His mental lapses — mistakenly declaring his candidacy for the Senate, calling the most popular rifle in America the "AR-14," failing to remember the preamble to the Declaration of Independence — are less anomalous mistakes than a window into a receding mind, one that is poorly equipped to lead the free world, the current president's relative fitness (or lack thereof) notwithstanding.If Biden was eminently beatable, could Booker have beaten him? On paper, the New Jersey senator figured to be well primed to challenge Biden for the "moderate" vote. His heterodox views on school choice and relatively pro-business Senate record could have enamored him to centrist Democrats, who were resigned to a choice between an enfeebled septuagenarian, a small-time mayor, and a lamp-throwing senator with narrow appeal. But Booker, no doubt wary of being attacked as a moderate, Wall Street–friendly candidate in a field whose progressive wing included class warriors such as Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, chose to tack left, taking positions that made him appear unelectable to lunch-bucket Democrats more interested in lowering health-care costs than in upending the patriarchy.Last year Booker wrote "An Open Letter to Men on Abortion" for GQ, exhorting men "to acknowledge that they benefit from abortion rights and reproductive health care" and waxing poetic about his efforts "to be the best ally and partner I can be" in the fight for legal abortion. Normal people — whose votes Booker, even in a Democratic primary, would presumably need — do not use the word "ally" that way. They almost certainly never make consecutive use of the words "reproductive health care" in casual conversation. That language appeals to Wesleyan professors and wine-track moms in the suburbs, sure. But Elizabeth Warren already had a stranglehold on such voters, who in any event, are not the ones fueling Biden's rise. Meanwhile, the voters who did eventually flock to Biden were likely also put off by Booker's proposal to decriminalize unauthorized border crossings into the United States, an idea that polls terribly across almost every demographic in America, including self-described moderate Democrats.In short, Booker ran as a progressive and willingly forfeited the moderate voters he needed to win the nomination. The shame for Democrats it that unlike Biden, he is lucid and presentable. Had he focused his campaign on winning over Biden voters — "O'Biden-Bama" Democrats, as the former vice president has called them — he could well have been standing in the position of the doddering old warhorse he just endorsed.
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| Pregnant 19-year-old dies trying to climb US border wall Posted: 12 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  A 19-year-old pregnant woman from Guatemala died this week from injuries suffered when she fell trying to climb the U.S. border wall near El Paso, Texas, U.S. and Guatemalan authorities said Thursday. Guatemala identified the woman as Mirian Stephany Girón Luna. The U.S. said Girón was eight months pregnant, while Guatemalan authorities said she was at seven months.
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| Iran’s Khamenei Says Virus Outbreak May Be ‘Biological Attack’ Posted: 12 Mar 2020 10:53 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: What happens if Trump invokes Stafford Act and declares national emergency? Posted: 12 Mar 2020 02:04 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he may declare the coronavirus pandemic an emergency by invoking a law known as the Stafford Act.The following explains how the Stafford Act works and what powers a declaration would unlock.
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| Should you get a soundbar for your TV? Posted: 12 Mar 2020 01:55 PM PDT  A soundbar is virtually always going to be better than your TV's built-in speakers. Here's how to find the best soundbar for your setup.
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| Chinese foreign ministry spokesman pushes coronavirus conspiracy theory that the US Army 'brought the epidemic to Wuhan' Posted: 12 Mar 2020 10:06 AM PDT  China has pushed the narrative that the virus might have originated somewhere else. Several conspiracy theories about its origin have emerged.
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| What Aggressive Coronavirus Lockdown Might Look Like in the U.S. Posted: 12 Mar 2020 01:43 AM PDT  As residents of Washington and New York battled the two largest clusters of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, new restrictions on public assembly meant to ease the deadly crisis raised the question: Just how aggressive might authorities get?U.S. cases of the new coronavirus had, as of Wednesday, topped 1,000, while Republicans in Congress have been briefed on the likelihood that most Americans will eventually be exposed to the infection, and the World Health Organization finally declared the outbreak a global pandemic. President Trump on Wednesday also used a 9 p.m. Oval Office address to announce a confused, partial travel ban between the United States and Europe, along with a variety of measures geared at steadying the economy.But on Thursday, specifically in the Seattle area and in a suburb of New York City, life was about to get considerably more eerie.Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday that he would use emergency powers to prohibit large-scale public gatherings of 250 people or more in three counties through March in Washington state, where at least 29 people have died from the disease. Such events include social, spiritual, recreational, and work activities. Seattle's public schools will also close.King County Executive Dow Constantine added that for his jurisdiction, authorities have ordered that even gatherings of fewer than 250 people "should not happen unless very clear public health steps are taken" beforehand.'First World Problems': Google Employees Endure Coronavirus DamnationNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the coronavirus had infected at least 121 people in suburban New Rochelle alone by Wednesday evening, putting the nation's second-largest cluster of the virus about 20 miles north of New York, America's largest city. Cuomo called in National Guard troops to enact a one-mile containment zone in New Rochelle, which was set to go into effect on Thursday and remain in place for two weeks, through March 25. Troops would assist in distributing food and cleaning public spaces, Cuomo explained. Experts told The Daily Beast that it was too early to consider an Italy-style lockdown in the United States. New York and Washington haven't imposed restrictions on movement so much as assembly, and the federal government has publicly and controversially struggled to even test enough Americans for the virus. But given the current trajectory, officials may end up pushing people close to their limit."The U.S. is not China, and our people would not tolerate the kind of social control and intrusive surveillance that we saw in China," said Lawrence Gostin, who directs the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University and the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. He called such a plan on American soil "both legally flawed and unethical."Gostin added that he believed a mass quarantine wouldn't even be constitutional in the United States. But he said he could envision the U.S. limiting movement in or out of, say, large apartments or dormitories."We certainly did do that with the cruise ship, which was a debacle, so we would have to be far more prepared to protect the people that were quarantined," said Gostin, referring to the Diamond Princess, where hundreds were infected in Japan last month, ultimately leading to at least six deaths. "I would hate to see that repeated in a university dormitory or public housing. It would be very, very troubling."Dr. William Haseltine, president of the global health think tank ACCESS Health International who recently chaired the U.S.-China Health Summit in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak originated, said he believed the United States was "close to" authorities implementing such lockdowns."Once you do something like in New Rochelle and stop people attending gatherings, I think it's a real possibility," he told The Daily Beast. "If the infection really gets out of control, and, if they're accompanied by rigorous testing, I think China proved that it works. Everyone who moves at all in China has to report where they've been and where they're going and then gets tested when they arrive."The outbreak in New Rochelle ostensibly began when a Manhattan lawyer who lives in Westchester County contracted the coronavirus on a trip and brought it home, where his wife, son, daughter, rabbi, and several neighbors became infected, too. The lawyer, Lawrence Garbuz, has since been hospitalized at the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan, according to health officials.Ken Ovitz, a longtime friend and cousin of Garbuz, told The Daily Beast that Lawrence is "the best, finest person you would ever know" and that he was told by the patient's wife that his condition was "improving slightly." Ovitz declined to provide more details about his cousin's condition, except to say that he was "wise, kind, a gentleman, [has a] great heart," and is "very smart."The one-mile "containment zone" was set to be structured around the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, the temple attended by Garbuz before he was diagnosed. But Cuomo has stressed that the zone was not a travel lockdown and that anyone not quarantined was free to leave their homes, and local businesses could remain open. But all schools, houses of worship, and other large gathering spots in the area were to be shut down for two weeks."New Rochelle is the hottest spot in the country, the most dense cluster," Cuomo said on Wednesday. "Our action in New Rochelle is just no large gatherings. People can come, people can go. There's no limitation on movement, but no large gatherings because the large gatherings are where it spreads.""It sounds more dramatic than it is," he added.Still, those trying to live their lives in New Rochelle told Gothamist this week, before the order even took effect, that "it feels like there's a toxic haze over us," while others questioned how helpful the National Guard could even be during an epidemic."What are they going to do? Shoot the virus?" Raj Shaikhar, the owner of Jessica Newsstand, asked in an interview with the outlet.The precedent set by Italy, which has seen hundreds of deaths caused by the virus, also loomed.Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte this weekend signed an unprecedented coronavirus containment decree, to disastrous effect, as Italians jumped in cars and on trains to flee an impending travel lockdown, and authorities sent and received mixed signals about whether they should even stop anyone. While movie theaters, museums, gyms, schools, and beauty parlors have been closed in the south, officials across the country instituted a "one meter rule," requiring three feet of personal space everywhere from sidewalks to coffee bars. All 60 million people in the country are now affected by either the expanded lockdown or other travel and social-distancing restrictions. Anyone defying a ban on "unnecessary movement"—into and out of the virus-battered northern region, which includes the cities of Venice, Milan, Parma, and Modena—could be subject to criminal charges.The country's worst cluster emerged in northern Italy on Feb. 21. As of Wednesday, there were 12,462 cases and 827 deaths nationwide.Meanwhile, in China, the outbreak was largely confined to the Hubei province, where it first originated. The lockdown in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, is still in effect, though the rate of new cases has come way down, and President Xi Jinping even visited the city this week.But Gostin said he did not buy the Chinese precedent as the only—or best—way forward."There's very little evidence that these large lockdowns worked," he said. "Japan and South Korea have not used them—and used traditional public health measures—and had dramatic drops in cases."Social separation, on the other hand, may not stop an epidemic, "but it flattens the curve and slows it down, which buys us time," said Gostin, who noted that he expects Americans will likely see increased self-isolation at home in the coming of weeks, possibly into the millions."Quarantine and isolation is a social contract where citizens agree to stay separated from the community for the common good, and, in exchange, the government promises them that they will keep them safe with good healthcare and humane conditions," he said. "I think citizens will comply, but I'm not sure if the government can hold up its end of the bargain.""If you're unemployed, uninsured, elderly, disabled, in a rural area, you're not going to have the ability to take care of yourself and you may be very vulnerable," said Gostin.Will Coronavirus Make America Finally Care About the Homeless?Those concerns have already been discussed by city leaders in affected areas, at least in Seattle, where City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda on Wednesday called on her state's elected officials to act "with one purpose: to protect the health of the community and front line workers.""That includes maintaining protections for civil liberties, housing and care for our most vulnerable and acting swiftly to implement public health prevention and containment strategies," she told The Seattle Times. But Gostin cautioned: "Lockdowns without testing are minimally effective. To be effective, you have to know who is infected and who is not. You have to know who to treat and how to contact-trace."To that end, Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday joined several other local and state leaders who have pointed fingers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its troubled rollout of working diagnostic kits, which experts and elected officials have said deflated the number of confirmed infections in the United States. Only about 5,000 tests had been conducted in the U.S. by Wednesday, compared to the tens of thousands in other developed countries."What's happening in New Rochelle is a joke" compared to the rigorous tracking and testing in China, Haseltine argued. "It isn't a joke for those people, but in terms of what's effective—it's not effective. They need tests, and they need to make sure that there's really effective containment.""Our testing is so far behind the reality that there probably is no connection between the two," Cuomo said on MSNBC Wednesday. "I have no doubt that people have coronavirus and are walking around."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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| Body found is missing toddler Evelyn Boswell, Tennessee authorities confirm Posted: 12 Mar 2020 12:26 PM PDT  Evelyn's body, dressed in the "exact clothing" she was described as wearing when reported missing, was discovered on the Boswell family's property.
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| Italy death toll jumps past 1,000 as Milan bourse nosedives Posted: 12 Mar 2020 08:15 AM PDT  Italy's death toll from the coronavirus epidemic shot past 1,000 on Thursday as the economic impact worsened, with much of the country at a standstill and the Milan bourse posting its largest ever one-day fall. Looking to halt the spread of the disease, the government introduced yet more restrictions on Italians, ordering the blanket, nationwide closure of restaurants, bars and almost all shops except for food stores and chemists. Most Italians were stoical in the face of the unprecedented disruption.
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| Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, and Bernie Sanders preview the future of Bernie vs. Biden Posted: 12 Mar 2020 05:50 AM PDT  "Last night was a pivotal moment for Democrats: Who would they choose to return America to stability, steadiness, and calm?" Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "The overwhelming answer: The old man who threatened to slap an autoworker." Joe Biden "had another huge night, winning Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, and Michigan," he said. "That's a huge blow for Bernie." Sanders even lost voters he won in 2016, Colbert noted. "Apparently in 2016, a lot of white voters were less committed to Bernie than they were committed to not voting for a woman. And you can read all about that in Elizabeth Warren's new book, You Don't Say!""There have already been calls for Bernie Sanders to step aside and let the slightly younger generation take over," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. But "if you think a little turbulence is going to shake Bernie Sanders out of the race, you need to think again." Instead of seeking to "burn the party to the ground," though, "it seems like Bernie wants to push Biden toward a more progressive platform," Noah said, but "I think Joe Biden is ready for the fight -- and I say that because yesterday, a video came out of Biden going toe-to-tow with a factory worker in Michigan, and he was fired up." Lots of Democrats were aghast, he added, but "I'm hoping that this straight-talking, 'You're full of s--t' Biden becomes his new thing.""Many are giving credit for Biden's victory to his new campaign strategy of grabbing voters by the arm and shouting: 'Look here, Jack, you're a jerk who can go to hell!'" Jimmy Kimmel joked on Kimmel Live. "You remember when that guy Nik Wallenda walked on a tightrope across that active volcano? That's what it's going to feel like watching Joe Biden open his mouth every day between now and November."Sanders told The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon he "could feel better" about Tuesday's results, but "people today think that Joe is more electable than I am." "Do you think Biden can beat Trump?" Fallon asked. "I do," Sanders said. "I think even, you know, Republicans and moderates are gonna say, 'You know what, we can't have four more years of this guy.' So do I think Joe can beat him? I do -- I mean, between you and me, don't tell anybody. We're the stronger campaign to do that." More stories from theweek.com The entire country of Norway is 'shutting down' Disneyland has only closed unexpectedly 3 times. Now it's closing for the rest of the month. March Madness is canceled
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| Sister of executed man to governor: 'You killed my brother' Posted: 12 Mar 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The sister of an executed inmate, whose case drew national scrutiny because he was not the gunman, confronted Alabama's governor on Thursday for not stopping the lethal injection. The sister of Nathaniel Woods approached Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey as she spoke with reporters about the U.S. Census, WSFA reported. Woods was put to death March 5 by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court and the governor both declined to intervene.
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| Putin Saw a World in Turmoil and Decided It Needs More Putin Posted: 12 Mar 2020 04:21 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin changed his mind and backed a plan to allow him to run for two more presidential terms because of the current turbulent period in the world, his spokesman said, in the Kremlin's first public explanation of a move that would let him rule until 2036."The situation in the world has become less stable," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call Thursday. He cited the coronavirus pandemic, the risks of "global recession," numerous "acute regional conflicts" and western sanctions as among the factors that led to Putin's decision."In these difficult years, the stability of the authorities, the firmness and consistency of government have huge significance," he told reporters. "In such hard years, some countries have taken decisions to allow the incumbent president to remain on his path into the future."Putin has had a hand in some of the latest turmoil, setting off a price war in the oil market by refusing last week to agree to deepen output cuts in a deal with other major producers and fueling a crisis earlier this year with Turkey over the civil war in Syria. Peskov didn't explain why the Russian leader felt the current instability will continue to be a factor requiring his continued rule four or more years from now.Putin had previously said he would respect term limits, meaning he would have had to step down in 2024, even as he left the door open to take another role to retain control. But Tuesday he reversed himself and backed a constitutional amendment that would exempt him from the restrictions. While Putin had been widely expected to find a way to extend his 20-year rule, he had previously suggested he would likely step down as president.'Our Advantage is Putin'Under the new plan, Putin, 67, would be allowed to run for up to two more terms, opening the way for him to remain president until 2036, when he would be 83. Peskov said Putin hasn't yet announced whether he will run again in 2024."I doubt these arguments will be seen as convincing," said Mikhail Vinogradov, a St. Peterburg political analyst. "Now it's coronavirus, but there was a time when the Icelandic volcano erupted and they suspended air service. These things happen but it's no reason to change the constitution."The amendments were approved by parliament this week and are expected to go to a national vote next month after Putin signs them and the Constitutional Court signs off. They would take effect immediately."Today, with the challenges and threats that are out there in the world, it's not oil and gas that are our advantages," Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told members of the State Duma Thursday. "Our advantage is Putin and we should defend him."Despite the apparent alarm about coronavirus, Peskov said the Kremlin isn't currently considering changes to its plans for the constitutional vote next month or the May 9 festivities to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The government Wednesday recommended canceling public events because of the risk of spreading the virus."The Putin regime is a classic personalistic autocracy of the Latin American or Asian type, which always uses current circumstances to justify cracking down," said Andrei Kolesnikov, analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "They assume that an authoritarian system deals with crises more confidently."(Updates with parliament speaker quote in ninth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Andrey Biryukov in Moscow at abiryukov5@bloomberg.net;Evgenia Pismennaya in Moscow at epismennaya@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, 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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| 'The virus is already here': Trump accused of xenophobia and shifting blame in historic coronavirus address Posted: 11 Mar 2020 08:19 PM PDT  Donald Trump has drawn fire for his reference to the coronavirus as a "foreign virus" and for focusing on a ban on European travel despite repeated warnings from health officials that the Covid-19 outbreak's inevitable surge throughout the US is coming through community spread that's already in the country.In his address to the nation on Wednesday, the president asserted that "the virus will not have a chance against us" as he blamed Europe for failing to contain the outbreak and said the administration's ban on China travel was effective in limiting its spread.
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| Coronavirus Outbreak Is Pressuring Iran's Government. That Makes Some U.S. Officials Nervous Posted: 12 Mar 2020 01:38 PM PDT  The U.S. military is mulling how to respond after two U.S. service members died under rocket fire from Iranian-backed groups
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| India reports first coronavirus death amid new restrictions Posted: 12 Mar 2020 11:59 AM PDT  India on Thursday reported its first coronavirus death as authorities ordered schools, theatres and cinemas closed in New Delhi for the rest of the month in a bid to keep the pandemic at bay. India with its 1.3 billion population and proximity to China has so far come through the global virus crisis, that has killed more than 4,600 people, relatively unscathed. The death was announced, however, only hours after India suspended all visas for incoming tourists from Friday and ordered the closure of most border points with neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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| U.S. probe into Mexican drug cartel yields 750 arrests Posted: 11 Mar 2020 09:59 PM PDT  Agents also seized more than 20 kilograms of drugs and $20 million in cash from the cartel, the Justice Department said.
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| Facing coronavirus spread, Romania's president makes new push to form government Posted: 12 Mar 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called talks with political parties for Friday to try to get parliament to endorse a new prime minister next week so he can focus entirely on tackling the coronavirus outbreak. Prime minister-designate Florin Citu abandoned his bid to become premier earlier in the day, minutes before a scheduled parliamentary vote of confidence that his Liberals had hoped to lose in order to trigger an early election. Cases in Romania have doubled over the past 24 hours to 52.
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| Clyburn calls for Democrats to 'shut this primary down' if Biden has big night Posted: 10 Mar 2020 08:04 PM PDT  The South Carolina congressman spoke as six states were voting with 352 delegates up for grabs.
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| One chart shows how the coronavirus is more deadly than the flu even in South Korea, where the COVID-19 death rate is low Posted: 12 Mar 2020 02:18 PM PDT  South Korea has reported lower coronavirus death rates than other countries. But even those rates indicate COVID-19 is far more deadly than the flu.
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| Bernie Sanders supporter ‘put in headlock’ after confronting MSNBC anchor over coverage Posted: 11 Mar 2020 06:51 AM PDT  A podcaster and radio host who supports Bernie Sanders says he intends to press charges after a filmed confrontation with an MSNBC anchor, during which he claims he was put in a headlock.Jack Allison, who co-hosts morning show JackAM and pop culture podcast Struggle Session, approached journalist Chris Jansing on 10 March while filming on his phone, asking her: "Why did your network not find it newsworthy to report on an anti-semitic attack at the Jewish candidate's rally on Friday?"
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| Mike Pence says 'thousands' more Americans will get coronavirus Posted: 12 Mar 2020 11:55 AM PDT  Thousands more Americans will become infected with coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday.
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| Wisconsin voter purge case appealed to state Supreme Court Posted: 11 Mar 2020 10:00 AM PDT |
| Senator says Trump administration mulling use of oil reserve to help crude producers Posted: 11 Mar 2020 11:27 AM PDT  Sen. John Thune said on Wednesday he believes the Trump administration is evaluating use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and other measures, to help oil producers deal with the plunge in crude prices due to the coronavirus and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
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| Bahrain accuses Iran of 'biological aggression', Gulf states try to curb coronavirus Posted: 11 Mar 2020 05:44 PM PDT  Bahrain accused Iran on Thursday of "biological aggression" by covering up the spread of the coronavirus and failing to stamp Bahraini travelers' passports. As the death toll continued to rise in Iran, Gulf Arab states took new steps to contain the virus, with Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority saying anyone diagnosed with coronavirus was forbidden from attending Friday prayers. Attendance is generally mandatory for able-bodied men in Islam, but Riyadh said those under quarantine and those afraid of being infected or infecting others need not attend.
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| Man in car with daughter, 2, was approached by police, drove into river Posted: 12 Mar 2020 10:12 AM PDT  The man was found dead in the water, and the girl is missing in what police called "a very tragic event."
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| Dem Senator Calls for Probe into Agencies’ Cooperation with GOP Hunter Biden Requests, Suggests Political Bias Posted: 11 Mar 2020 06:51 AM PDT  Senator Chris Murphy is seeking an investigation into several federal agencies over concerns they acted with political bias in acquiescing to Republican requests involving Hunter Biden and Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company where he was a board member.Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, voiced concerns that the agencies are cooperating with GOP investigations into Democratic 2020 presidential front runner Joe Biden's son and Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings in a letter to be sent Wednesday to inspectors general for the State Department, Treasury Department, Department of Homeland Security and the National Archives. He has asked for a response by March 23."These agencies said 'no' to every document request related to the investigation of President Trump, but they may be willing to cough up anything that Senate Republicans are asking them to produce on the Biden family," Murphy told Politico, adding that it appears to be a "really concerning double standard.""Our responsibility is to make sure that the official letters of the government aren't used to destroy people's political opponents — that seems to be a theme in this administration," Murphy continued. "I expect Democrats are going to have to spend time explaining why it's illegitimate for Senate Republicans to use their position to try to destroy the Bidens."Earlier this month, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson the Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee announced plans to issue the first subpoena related to the committee's probe of Hunter Biden and his position on the board of Burisma, which paid him up to $50,000 a month. The younger Biden obtained the lucrative position in 2014 while his father was vice president and in charge of tackling Ukrainian corruption and left the board in April of last year.The committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to subpoena former Ukrainian embassy official Andrii Telizhenko, who worked as a consultant for the Washington-based Blue Star Strategies, a firm Burisma hired to combat accusations of corruption within the energy company.Internal State Department email exchanges reported last year showed that Blue Star leveraged the Biden name to secure a meeting between the gas company and State Department officials and then brought his name up again during that meeting. The meetings were part of a longstanding campaign to rehabilitate Burisma's reputation in Washington following a corruption probe.Along with Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Johnson have also asked the State Department to release any records on Hunter Biden, and the Secret Service has already turned over travel documents from Biden's time as vice president. The chairmen have also asked the National Archives and Records Administration for records related to probing Ukraine's involvement in the 2016 election.
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| US bill forcing women to see baby on ultrasound before having abortion passes – despite walkout protest by female senators Posted: 11 Mar 2020 12:43 PM PDT  The entire female body of the Utah Senate staged a walkout in protest of an abortion bill mandating women to be shown the foetus on an ultrasound before being allowed to have the procedure.All six female members of the Senate refused to vote on the bill and left the room, leaving only male peers to vote on Wednesday.
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| Global stocks plunge after Trump announces coronavirus response package Posted: 11 Mar 2020 09:09 PM PDT  Global stocks and US stock market futures dropped late Wednesday with futures for the three major US indexes falling by more than 4.5%.
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| American commandos to hold down the fort in Afghanistan as US troops withdraw Posted: 12 Mar 2020 12:50 PM PDT  Pentagon planners and lawmakers have voiced support for maintaining a small counterterrorism footprint in Afghanistan as hedge on the Taliban reneging on their commitments outlined in the agreement.
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| 'Big concerns' about Nashville: Severe storms, tornadoes forecast in central, southern US Posted: 12 Mar 2020 03:07 PM PDT  Cities at risk include the tornado-ravaged Nashville area, which is still reeling from a violent outbreak just over a week ago.
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| Omar marries political consultant, months after affair claim Posted: 12 Mar 2020 06:41 AM PDT  U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has married a political consultant who worked for her, months after the two were accused of having an affair, which she denied. A marriage license filed in Washington, D.C., shows Omar married political consultant Tim Mynett on Wednesday. Omar announced her new marriage Wednesday night on Instagram, with a photo of her and a bearded man smiling and displaying wedding rings.
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