| Britain's government spent 4.4 billion pounds on Brexit planning Posted: 05 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PST |
| Esper says new virus won't prevent military operations Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:12 PM PST  The U.S. military and its warfighting command centers in the Pentagon are prepared to continue operations even if there is a local outbreak of the new coronavirus, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday, as the department began finalizing its response plans. Although only one soldier and a handful of family members and Defense Department civilians have so far tested positive for the virus, tens of thousands of troops are in countries and regions that have been hardest hit, including South Korea and portions of Europe. "Our national military command center has the capability to go for weeks at a time if they have to be locked down inside the building if we have some type of outbreak," Esper told reporters during a Pentagon press conference.
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| Klobuchar calls for independent review of murder case Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:04 PM PST  US Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked a top Minnesota prosecutor Thursday to initiate an independent investigation into the case of Myon Burrell, a black teen sentenced to life after an 11-year-old black girl was killed by a stray bullet. "As you are aware, significant concerns about the evidence and police investigation have been raised by a press investigation, by members of the Hennepin County community, and by Myon's family," she wrote in a letter to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. In calling for an "independent investigation and an independent review," Klobuchar yielded to increasing community pressure to reopen a case that dogged her Democratic presidential primary run.
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| US labs await virus-testing kits promised by administration Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:57 PM PST  Trump administration officials doubled down on their promise to deliver 1 million tests for the coronavirus this week as states reported limited testing supplies and federal lawmakers expressed doubts about the government's timeline. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters Thursday that a private manufacturer authorized to make the tests expects to ship the kits to U.S. laboratories by week's end. The number of U.S. cases has grown rapidly in the last several days after more labs started testing and guidelines for eligibility were expanded.
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| Sanders struggles to expand supporter base after Warren exit Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:47 PM PST  It took Joe Biden's moderate rivals just hours to unite behind his presidential campaign after they left the race. Bernie Sanders hasn't been so fortunate. Elizabeth Warren, one of Sanders' closest ideological allies, declined to endorse anyone after suspending her campaign on Thursday.
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| Houston officials confirm first 2 cases of coronavirus Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:57 PM PST |
| Sen. Ted Cruz Hatches Plan to Curtail the International Criminal Court’s Power Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:24 PM PST  Sen. Ted Cruz is aiming to dramatically curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, The Daily Beast has learned. The Texas Republican is working to garner support for a resolution that would call on the UN Security Council to bar the ICC from bringing charges against people from states who aren't parties to the treaty that governs it—which would include Russia, China, the U.S., and Israel.The resolution would also condemn the court for investigating American soldiers and Israeli officials, per a Republican aide familiar with Cruz's outreach. Cruz has indicated that he expects bipartisan support for the effort, the aide said. One human rights expert said Moscow and Beijing would also likely welcome the effort. Trump administration officials—notably Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—have also lambasted the court. Cruz laid out his strategy in a closed-door meeting with American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) activists on Capitol Hill earlier this week, the aide said. In the meeting, Cruz said he expected Russia and China to support the proposed UN Security Council resolution because they also worry the court could target their citizens. Cruz also told the group that he expected British and French diplomats to be open to the effort out of concerns about the court's legitimacy. "The United States will not sit idly by while unaccountable political operatives convene kangaroo courts in foreign countries to prosecute and persecute American soldiers and the soldiers of our allies," the senator said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. "I will work with my colleagues and the Trump administration on measures aimed at countering this decision, including and especially through a United Nations Security Council resolution that would prohibit the ICC from prosecuting the nationals of non-member states."The effort comes after the court greenlit a move by its top prosecutor to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan—including crimes potentially committed by American perpetrators.A treaty called the Rome Statute, agreed to in 1998, established the court to hear cases against people charged with genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. More than 100 countries are party to the treaty; the U.S., Israel, Russia, and China are not.In December 2019, the court's top prosecutor announced she would investigate potential war crimes committed by Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Cruz pointed to the investigation in remarks at the AIPAC conference in Washington last week, calling the court "one of the most profound threats to Israel." Bolton Threatens International Criminal Court With Sanctions if It Keeps Probing Alleged U.S. War CrimesDaniel Balson, Amnesty International's advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia, told The Daily Beast that authoritarian governments will likely cheer the move. "The hostility to the ICC evinced by the Trump Administration and its allies may be welcomed by governments in Moscow and Beijing but it is a minority view around the world," Balson said. "Most UN member states have taken the considered decision to join the court. In seeking to leverage the UN Security Council against the ICC, Sen. Cruz believes he's asserting American sovereignty. In reality, he's expressing contempt for both international law and the sovereignty of others."And Laurel Miller, Asia Director for the International Crisis Group and formerly the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told The Daily Beast that Cruz's plan sounded infeasible. "That doesn't sound very plausible to me," she said. "If the U.S. could have achieved something like that, it would have done so much sooner.""The U.S. has been opposed to the idea of the ICC being able to assert jurisdiction over Americans for many years, and during the Bush administration there was a big effort spearheaded by John Bolton in the State Department to get countries to promise not to hand over Americans," she added. "If there was some other kind of legal maneuver like this available, I strongly suspect it would have been exploited before now."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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| Another senior politician has died of coronavirus in Iran, where 8% of the parliament is infected Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:11 PM PST  Iran has barred government officials from traveling, and parliament has been suspended indefinitely.
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| For a Germaphobe, Trump Is Pretty Bad at Fighting Viruses Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:08 PM PST |
| 5 European nations condemn latest North Korea missile tests Posted: 05 Mar 2020 12:50 PM PST |
| US Iran rep says Tehran must let inspectors into nuke site Posted: 05 Mar 2020 12:16 PM PST |
| UN's first employee with coronavirus among Senegal infections Posted: 05 Mar 2020 12:15 PM PST  A British United Nations employee is one of the four people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Senegal, the organisation said Thursday, confirming it was the UN's first case worldwide. Senegal announced two new cases on Wednesday, one of which was a 33-year-old English woman who returned from a trip to London to the capital Dakar on February 24. The UN said on Thursday that the woman was one of its employees.
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| AP Exclusive: Gun found inside Epstein jail during lockdown Posted: 05 Mar 2020 12:11 PM PST  Federal investigators found a loaded gun Thursday that had been smuggled into the jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself last summer, following a weeklong lockdown that turned up other contraband and led to a criminal probe into guard misconduct, the federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press. The handgun was located by Bureau of Prisons officers inside a housing unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, prison officials said in a statement to the AP.
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| Virus, what virus? Italy's "nonni" step in as schools close Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:56 AM PST  Italian grandparents — "nonni" as they are called — were pulled in two contradictory directions on Thursday — and as usual the grandchildren won out. Italy, the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe, has the world's oldest population after Japan, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. The 148 people who have died so far in Italy were all elderly or had other health problems.
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| Coronavirus: latest developments worldwide Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:56 AM PST  The main countries affected: mainland China (80,151 cases, 2,943 deaths), South Korea (5,186 cases, 28 deaths), Italy (2,502 cases, 79 deaths), Iran, (2,336 cases, 77 deaths), Japan (268 cases and 12 deaths). More than 700 cases have also been registered on the Diamond Princess cruise ship berthed in Japan. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that supplies of protective gear to fight the virus are "rapidly depleting" worldwide.
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| Europeans, Britain raise N.Korea missile launches at U.N. Security Council Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:35 AM PST |
| Greta, crude oil and animal farming: behind a climate-conscious Armory show Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:29 AM PST  This year's annual gathering of artists in New York covers a great many issues – but environmental art is taking clear precedent There's a corny joke going around this year's Armory show that instead of shaking hands – to stay coronavirus-free – there's the Armory arm bump, like bumping fists, but with elbows. Arm-ory, get it?But the virus leading to the cancellation of several cultural events across the world, the much-anticipated annual New York art fair has proceeded as usual (with only the odd mask-wearing fair-goer). About eight art fairs within the show are opening this week, featuring hundreds of artists and galleries across Manhattan. This year, the most pronounced theme is environmental art. Cynthia DaignaultBaltimore artist Cynthia Daignault is showing a new set of paintings at the Night Gallery Booth at the Armory entitled Delia's Gone, a series focused on powerful women in the public eye – from Malala Yousafzai to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Greta Thunberg. "It's hard with the current media climate to not be thinking about the role of women in power," said Daignault. "There's a real price that's paid with that power, they face intense backlash."Her portrait of Thunberg ties into her tradition of environmental-focused art, specifically, how natural beauty is met with destruction. "There's a fear that's grounded in real facts and changes we're seeing; fires, floods, natural disasters but also the warming climate, the rising sea levels," she said. "There's a corresponding anxiety that goes along with that." Jonathan MonaghanIn a seductive, sleek digital video on view at the bitforms gallery booth at the Spring/Break art show, New York artist Jonathan Monaghan looks at the digital age's connection to excess. "It's about the end of the world, where there's a lot of concern, ecologically speaking, about sustainability and the future of our current system, which is on shaky ground," said the artist, whose video Out of the Abyss suggests the effects of consumer consumption. With online shopping growing at an exponential rate, free shipping services have a huge carbon footprint with freight vehicles in constant transit (the electric vans Amazon promised won't hit the road before 2024)."I'm interpreting the apocalypse for the digital age, it's about the environment and ecology, but also surveillance and mass media," Monaghan said. "In the video, we're looking at the recreation of an Amazon Go store, where there's no checkout, you take things off the shelves and Amazon knows what you bought and who you are. With our obsession with buying things and surveillance, it's connected; there's a discord between the natural elements and the synthetic elements." Sheida SoleimaniIranian American artist Sheida Soleimani will also be continuing to focus on Iran's political climate for her symbol-heavy artwork. Here, she sheds a light on crude oil consumption at the Edel Assanti booth at the Armory, by the way of crude petroleum byproducts. "Basically, everything in the word is made from crude petroleum oil, it's also an environmental hazard," said Soleimani, rolling her eyes, whose works in the purple-painted booth look to the recent protests in Iran, the oil and uranium enrichment, Iran's internet blackout and blame0shifting between Donald Trump and Hassan Rouhani, who point their fingers at each other here.In one piece, she has photographed consumer products that use 'Iran Heavy' crude oil, which is produced on Kharg Island; she shows a disfigured portrait of a fish chewing bubblegum, as bubblegum is made of crude oil, stylized as a luscious product photo. It's shown alongside gym weights, which are also filled with the oil. The crude oil is not only destroying the environment, but the agricultural sector in Iran. "Fish you'd find in the area, which is being destroyed by oil pollution in the water, are dying," said Soleimani. "It's about the give and take. What do we get from it and what dies from it?" Scooter LaForgeNew York-based artist Scooter LaForge has built a booth at Spring/Break made entirely from recycled materials. "Everything here is upcycled or recycled," he said, pointing around. "The plates are secondhand from a Chinese restaurant, all the walls are covered in donated fabric, or stuff from Salvation Army, this wood I found on street for my canvases," he said. The booth, Please Don't Feed the Animals, looks at what he calls a "beastly banquet" that links animal farming with the climate crisis."It has to do with agriculture and farming animals, its connection to global warming and the fires in Australia and Brazil," said LaForge. "The plates represent slaughtered animals and the bowls represent a happier animal, how farming and agriculture is a direct effect to fires and wildfires."With the recent news of tropical forests losing their ability to absorb carbon, which will see lasting effects over the next decade, the Brazil fires hit a deep spot for the artist. "In Brazil, they burned the indigenous rainforest to create farms for animals, and the dryness in Australia is a direct result of global warming and emissions from animals in agriculture," he said.The artist's work is loosely based on trailblazing feminist artist Judy Chicago's famed 1979 piece The Dinner Party, which offers a table place for overlooked women in history. Here, the table places are for animals. Rachel SchmidtUpon walking into Washington-based artist Rachel Schmidt's booth at Spring/Break, one can't help but think of garbage – junk is strewn across the floor. "That's my microwave that broke," she says, pointing to a box in the corner, alongside single-use plastic waste. This project, Vanishing Points, puts consumer products on view, some of which will take 450 years to fully biodegrade (the artist links the time span from the Baroque era). Curated by Dawne Langford, the artwork includes recycled tissue paper, paint cans, bottles and foam packaging. "I focused on plastics that will not be recycled," said Schmidt. "The majority of the plastics here are all type five and six plastics that will never get reused or processed. Really, the only way to not have them here is to stop consuming, but how close are we ever going to get to that?"The artist's videos here are inspired by how climate change has impacted different parts of the world. "Everyone is handling it a bit differently, there's clips I shot in Taipei, where they recycle everything," she said. The artist, too, is mindful of how she recycles. Schmidt has committed to a more sustainable, eco-friendly practice by repurposing other materials. "There's a ton of exciting stuff going on in Taiwan because they're an island," she said. "They're going to feel the impact of climate change in a more abrupt fashion than most of us will."
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| Lawyer: Detained Egyptian student moved to notorious prison Posted: 05 Mar 2020 10:52 AM PST  Police on Thursday transferred an Egyptian rights activist who was arrested after returning to Cairo from Italy last month to a notorious prison complex, his lawyer said. Patrick George Zaki, 28, a student at the University of Bologna in Italy, has been detained since arriving at Cairo airport Feb. 7 for what was supposed to be a brief trip home. Zaki has been accused of disseminating false news and calling for unauthorized protests.
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| Coronavirus Concern Interrupts Manhattan Criminal Trial Posted: 05 Mar 2020 10:12 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A criminal trial in Manhattan was interrupted Thursday when the judge informed lawyers and spectators that a member of the jury pool had been contacted by health authorities about possible exposure to the coronavirus.U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said the prospective juror -- who wasn't selected for the case -- had attended the same synagogue as a person who's been diagnosed with coronavirus and that the courtroom will be thoroughly cleaned "as a precautionary measure."Nathan called a break in the trial of Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, who is charged with helping an Iranian construction company avoid U.S. sanctions, to discuss the issue with lawyers while deciding whether to go forward with the trial after a break or to send jurors home early for the day."It's not an issue any of us had to deal with before," Nathan said.Jury selection in the case was conducted Monday, with dozens of potential panelists crowding into the jury box and spectator benches in the courtroom for most of the day. The jury was picked by the end of the day Monday, and opening statements from the prosecution and defense took place Tuesday morning.Nathan called jurors back into the courtroom around 11:20 a.m., telling them they'd be taking "an early lunch break so the process can continue." She told them the trial would resume at 12:30 p.m. in a large courtroom on the first floor of the federal courthouse, in downtown Manhattan's Foley Square. Nathan didn't immediately tell jurors the reason for the early break and the courtroom change.During the lunch break, Nathan told the lawyers that the potential juror had received a letter from the Health Department saying that he or she had attended the synagogue on the same day as an infected person. The potential juror had no signs or symptoms of the illness, the judge said.Nathan spoke to the jury privately at the end of the break."I think it went fine with the jurors," she told the lawyers, before bringing the jury into the courtroom for the afternoon session. "They seemed accepting of the information."At least 13 New Yorkers have tested positive for the coronavirus, including a New Rochelle man who works as a lawyer in Manhattan. He's currently hospitalized. The New Rochelle synagogue attended by the lawyer was closed on Tuesday and families who'd recently attended services there were asked to quarantine themselves.Nejad, a dual Iran-St. Kitts citizen, is accused of sanctions evasion, money laundering and bank fraud. Nejad allegedly funneled $115 million in payments for a Venezuelan housing development through the U.S. financial system to ultimately benefit an Iranian construction company owned by his father.The jury has been hearing testimony from FBI agents, a former executive of the construction firm and a U.S. Treasury Department official, among others.(Updates with change of courtroom)To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net;Christian Berthelsen in New York at cberthelsen1@bloomberg.net;Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Steve StrothFor 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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| New screening measures to apply to cruises Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:56 AM PST  The world's largest cruise industry trade association has called on the industry to tighten screening measures and deny boarding to all guests who have traveled from, visited or even transited via countries hardest hit by the coronavirus. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) issued a statement this week calling on members to enhance screening measures in response to Covid-19, which has forced ocean liners around the world to reroute, dock and quarantine passengers in the wake of the global health crisis. Effective immediately, cruise ships are being told to deny boarding to passengers who traveled from, visited or transited via airports in South Korea, Iran, China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and any municipality in Italy subject to lockdown by the Italian government.
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| At least 10 Palestinians killed in Gaza market fire Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:54 AM PST |
| Israel's Netanyahu falls short of parliamentary majority Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:37 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again fallen short of a parliamentary majority with his hard-line allies, final election results confirmed Thursday, extending the country's year-old political deadlock and weakening the longtime leader as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges. The embattled Netanyahu had been looking for a decisive victory in Monday's vote, and initial exit polls had indicated his Likud party and smaller religious and nationalist allies had captured 60 seats, just one short of a majority required to form a new government. Netanyahu triumphantly declared a "huge victory."
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| Iraq's virus response halts Iran trade, resorts to online schooling Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:35 AM PST  Iraq has ordered schools to teach pupils online, cancelled Friday prayers and suspended trade with major partner Iran, after confirming its first three deaths from the new coronavirus. Border officials meanwhile closed crossings with Iran, where officials say the COVID-19 epidemic has so far killed 107 people. Iraq has suspended trade for at least a week with its neighbour, a leading trade partner whose $9 billion (eight billion euros) in annual exports to Iraq range from fresh produce to vehicles.
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| COVID-19 epidemic can be pushed back with concerted approach -WHO Posted: 05 Mar 2020 08:54 AM PST  The epidemic of COVID-19 coronavirus infection spreading around the world from China can be contained and controlled, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, but only with a concerted response by all the world's governments. "We are calling on every country to act with speed, scale and clear-minded determination," the WHO's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a briefing at the U.N. health agency's Geneva headquarters.
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| Schumer: I 'should not have used' critical words on justices Posted: 05 Mar 2020 08:50 AM PST  Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that he "should not have used the words I used" when he declared at a rally in front of the Supreme Court that two justices would "pay the price" for their decision in an abortion case. Republicans chastised Schumer for the remark and Chief Justice John Roberts in a rare rebuke said the words were "inappropriate" and "dangerous." Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Schumer's words "astonishingly reckless and completely irresponsible" and said they could have "horrific unintended consequences."
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| Judge: Dubai ruler threatened wife, had daughters abducted Posted: 05 Mar 2020 08:38 AM PST  The ruler of Dubai conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his estranged wife and ordered the abduction of two of his daughters, a British judge ruled in documents that were unsealed Thursday. A judge at the High Court in London found that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 70, "acted in a manner from the end of 2018 which has been aimed at intimidating and frightening" his ex-wife Princess Haya, 45. Judge Andrew McFarlane also said the sheikh "ordered and orchestrated" the abductions and forced return to Dubai of two of his adult daughters from another marriage: Sheikha Shamsa in August 2000, and Sheikha Latifa in 2002 and again in 2018.
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| New ward provides hope for Gazans coping with gunshot wounds Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:59 AM PST  Mansour al-Masri has been largely confined to bed for almost two years, iron rods protruding through bandages wrapping his lower leg. On Thursday, the World Health Organization and the local Health Ministry offered some hope, officially inaugurating Gaza's first limb reconstruction center, which aims to provide the wounded with permanent specialized and centralized care. Al-Masri is among thousands of protesters shot by Israeli forces during 20 months of weekly demonstrations along the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel.
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| Warren ends presidential campaign, centering race on 2 men Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:53 AM PST  Elizabeth Warren ended her once-promising presidential campaign on Thursday after failing to finish higher than third place in any of the 18 states that have voted so far. While the Massachusetts senator said she was proud of her bid, she was also candid in expressing disappointment that a formerly diverse field is essentially now down to two men. "All those little girls who are going to have to wait four more years," Warren told reporters outside her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as her voice cracked.
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| Civil rights: The road to Bloody Sunday began 30 miles away Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:52 AM PST  Della Simpson Maynor remembers the mounted police officer cracking her elbow with a baton. Two weeks before Bloody Sunday — the clash in Selma on March 7, 1965, that helped propel passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — there was a march in this small town 30 miles away. What happened in Marion is now a less-familiar episode in the civil rights movement, a footnote in the textbooks.
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| From kissing bans to the death penalty: Here's how seriously different countries are taking the coronavirus outbreak Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:46 AM PST  In Japan, officials shut schools and suspended sports games while Iran warned that hoarding medical equipment could result in a death penalty.
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| This Moroccan Beauty Staple Could Be The Key To Shiny, Healthy Hair Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:45 AM PST  Stepping into the bustling medina of Marrakech, the Moroccan capital's historic city center, makes navigating New York City's Times Square feel like taking a nap. Men, women, and children huddled over moped bikes power through the narrow market streets, and if you're not paying close enough attention you might run straight into a donkey in an alleyway. The colorful lanes are lined with vendors haggling with tourists over locally-made wares; shops are packed with souvenirs ranging from magnets to Berber carpets. There, tucked into every nook and lining every shelf, are pint-sized plastic bottles decorated with roses.The liquid inside each container is indistinguishable from drinking water at first glance, but twist one open and you'll find it's filled with rose water, one of Morocco's most ubiquitous ingredients. "Rose water is widely popular in Morocco," says Siham Lahmine, operations manager of Plan-It Morocco, a local female-owned travel agency. "The Persian rose was cultivated in Morocco centuries ago, and locals have eagerly consumed it." Throughout history, rose water has been used as a remedy for burns and insect bites, as flavoring in food and teas, and as a cosmetic product — particularly in hair and skin care.During my time in Marrakech, Lahmine's team took me and a group of other eager editors on a beauty tour, where Moroccan women walked us through the significance of rose water and other locally cultivated ingredients, like argan oil, in their beauty routines. In nearly all of their time-honored recipes that had been passed down and refined over generations, rose water was used as the liquefier rather than plain water, despite it being costlier and more time-intensive to produce. "To produce a few liters of rose water, you need tons of rose petals," says Lahmine. "However, local Moroccan women do not hesitate to purchase it since it's so beneficial and multi-functional."Salma Ekambi, founder of the progressive networking platform Blk History Project, grew up in a half-Moroccan household, where she says that rose water was always on hand. "We always had it in the cabinets," she says. "If I had a migraine, my mom would crush up some cloves, garlic, and rose water, pack it into a scarf, and tie it on my head." In addition to its medicinal use, Ekambi would douse her face and body in rose water after showering, too.Rose water's cultural significance runs deep: Shiva Tavakoli's Persian roots are exactly what inspired her and her brother, Keyvan, to launch Joon, a hair-care line that aims to combine modern formulations with the generational use of rose water. "I've used rose water for years to moisturize and soften my skin and hair," she says. "In Iran, we even drink it to help improve our skin overall, thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties."That said, the ingredient's appeal goes beyond sentimentality — it has real benefits, too. Erica Bibb, a cosmetic chemist based in Chicago, says that rose water is especially useful in hair-care products thanks to its slightly acidic pH level. "Rose water is a natural antibacterial agent that is extremely hydrating, and also has a naturally pleasant scent," Bibb says. "When hair is exposed to an acidic environment, it causes the cuticle layer of the strand to constrict, which allows for better moisture retention."Dermatologist Angela Kyei, MD, says that while there isn't enough solid research to confirm the beauty claims of rose water, it's still worth adding to your routine. "There aren't a ton of studies that scientifically show the benefits of rose water on hair," Dr. Kyei says. "However, it isn't a stretch, considering it has strong antioxidant and antiviral properties and is used for medicinal purposes in many cultures."When formulating its new Moisture Boost line, Pantene tested the exact composition of rose water to zero in on why the ingredient seems to be so beneficial in hair care. "With the help of the Swiss Vitamin Institute, we were able to determine that rose water samples had significant concentrations of vitamins B5 and B3," says Jeni Thomas, Global Science Communications Leader for Pantene. "Both are known to be wonderful ingredients for the skin's moisture barrier, and hair and skin have similar structural elements, which made rose water an appealing ingredient for this collection."The good news is that you don't have to book a flight to Marrakech to experience the benefits of rose water, with brands like Joon and Pantene bringing it to the masses. The first time I used Pantene's Miracle Moisture Boost collection, which includes shampoo, conditioner, and a hair mask, I was seriously impressed: The three-step system turned my curls impossibly smooth and glossy, even without additional shine-enhancing products, and smelled like a real-life rose garden, not an imitation of one.Each May, the Moroccan city of Kalaat M'gouna, which translates to "valley of roses," holds a Rose Festival, where thousands of locals and tourists alike gather in song and dance to celebrate the harvest of the flower and to bask in its beauty. It's a vibrant, sweet-smelling testament to just how important it is to their culture — and now it has the potential to be crucial to your hair-care routine, too.At Refinery29, we're here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission. Travel and accommodations were provided to the author by Pantene for the purpose of writing this story.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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| New York City Is Prepping for Coronavirus Mayhem Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:38 AM PST  On Sunday night, New York officials reported the first Manhattan case of the 2019 novel coronavirus. By Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had announced four more cases in a 50-year-old lawyer, his wife, his son, his daughter, and the neighbor who drove him to the hospital. Hours later, the governor confirmed that another family of five, which was linked to the lawyer, had contracted the virus. On Thursday morning, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced two new confirmed cases—a man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s—with no connection to travel or other diagnosed patients.Just hours later, Westchester Communications Director Catherine Cioffi told The Daily Beast that the total number of cases in that suburban county had risen to 21 overnight. "We did a significant number of tests overnight," said Cuomo, who tallied the confirmed cases statewide at more than 22, of which he said at least eight were connected to the lawyer in New Rochelle.Both new Manhattan patients announced by the mayor were hospitalized in the intensive care unit, and the city's disease detectives were tracing their possible contacts. "We are going to see more cases like this as community transmission becomes more common," said De Blasio. "We want New Yorkers to be prepared and vigilant, not alarmed. We are taking the same decisive steps in every case to shut transmission down: isolate and test each suspected case, trace close contacts, and isolate and test them as well." As cases of unknown origin spiked in the country's most populous city, authorities moved to calm the public, closing a Bronx high school and part of a private university in Manhattan out of an abundance of caution. All of the confirmed patients in New York were either in isolation at a hospital or in quarantine at their homes, officials have said.But as has been widely reported, at least so far, there has been a conspicuous shortage of available and effective diagnostic tests in the United States, even as the same tools had been widely distributed by the thousands in countries like Italy and South Korea. It did not help to assuage public fears about access to the tests when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week stopped publicly announcing how many tests had been completed. And along with supply-chain concerns in such a massive population center, a city like New York may be uniquely vulnerable to a wider outbreak because of easy access to public transportation, and its assorted travel hubs.Italy is Headed for Multiple Coronavirus Disasters—and Maybe a Baby Boom"COVID-19 spreads like a common cold through sneezing, coughing, and sharing nasal secretions," said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at UCLA who previously worked at CDC. "Close contact like in crowded transportation could help increase that spread."In response to the largest outbreak in the U.S., including 10 deaths, health authorities in Washington state on Wednesday began recommending—but are not requiring or mandating—that high-risk individuals stay home and avoid large groups, including public places. King County Executive Dow Constantine told reporters that those recommendations should apply to people 60 and older; those with underlying health conditions like heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes; people who have weakened immune systems; and people who are pregnant.Health officials also used a Wednesday press conference in the Seattle area to encourage all county businesses to allow telecommuting to as many employees as possible.The CDC guidelines for triggering social-distancing measures reportedly vary based on any given virus's severity, contagiousness and mortality rate, which is measured on a scale from one (seasonal influenza, for example) to five. Voluntary home isolation and quarantine are not normally recommended until an outbreak hits category three, followed by school closures at category four or five. Even in a category five, essential services in New York, like the power grid and even some public transportation, would continue to operate, according to New York magazine.But the response to the outbreak in Washington state may shed light on what New Yorkers can expect in the coming weeks and months, if the spread of the virus continues.> Do you know something we should about 2019 novel coronavirus, or how your local or federal government is responding to it? Email Olivia.Messer@TheDailyBeast.com or securely at olivia.messer@protonmail.com from a non-work device. Though it's tough to predict if or when authorities in New York would want to implement those same measures, Klausner said "some might suggest" social distancing of that magnitude at more than 1,000 cases per day for at least three days in a row. But he cautioned that "New York is a much larger and more complex population" to handle. "I think that advice is going to come very soon," said Dr. Adrian Hyzler, chief medical officer for Healix International, which provides medical information to travelers. "We've come to appreciate that this virus is a lot more contagious than was initially hoped." As authorities recommended in Washington on Wednesday, Hyzler said it would be wise, even at this point, for New Yorkers "to stagger your journey times to avoid the busiest times if possible when the trains are packed." Some of the supply issues facing a giant metropolis—like the test kits, along with mechanical ventilators and masks—are simply not within the city's control, and are faced by all major urban centers, experts said."New York City is hampered by the same thing that the rest of the country is hampered by: The extraordinary delay in getting testing kits," said Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and an expert on U.S. readiness for pandemics. "There were all sorts of technical problems that should not have happened. At some point, there needs to be a serious investigation into what went wrong and why the U.S. took so long to get its act together on this." "We're all sort of scrambling to make up for lost time," said Redlener. "We're way behind where we should be."The Department of Health and Human Services said on Wednesday that the United States has only 1 percent of the required respirator masks needed—just for medical professionals—if the outbreak were to become a pandemic. The nation's emergency stockpile of drugs and medical supplies currently holds about 12 million medical-grade N95 respirator masks and 30 million surgical face masks, out of a need for about 3.5 billion.Also on Wednesday, the World Health Organization officials urged medical supply manufacturers to "urgently increase production" to meet the global demand, CNBC reported.Redlener said he was in meetings with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday, where he was "pleasantly surprised" by the city's actions, especially when it comes to basics like manpower."But we should have far more tools and assets than we currently have," he added. "If it really gets significantly worse as a pandemic, we could find ourselves with a serious shortage of mechanical ventilators and antibiotics and other things that we'll need."According to a laundry list of actions announced by de Blasio's office, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene instituted an early detection system for the virus for deploying disease detectives; launched a $6.5 million subway, digital, and multi-media campaign to encourage hygiene for people to seek care if they're symptomatic; and activated an incident command system to focus agency resources. At the same time, New York City Health + Hospitals activated its Emergency Operations Center after conducting drills across all 11 emergency departments to assess readiness. The Fire Department of New York has also implemented call screening for potential 2019 novel coronavirus cases, where dispatchers may ask about symptoms and travel history, so that responders may be equipped with proper protective equipment in the event of a coronavirus case.New York City Lawyer, Family, Neighbors Infected with CoronavirusThe city's Department of Education, meanwhile, increased the frequency of deep-cleans on campuses; moved to ensure all 1,800 schools have adequate hygiene and cleaning materials; sent updated federal guidance home to families; and advised cancelling study abroad programs and agency-sponsored school trips to countries with level 2 or higher advisories like China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan. The city's plans also included distributing educational materials on safe hygiene practices to all clients and employees at social services shelters, as well as updated clinical protocols for intake—and the event that symptoms pop up among inmates—correctional facilities.Still, even de Blasio pointed to questions about sufficient equipment for a worst-case scenario."To ensure we are able to test as many people as possible, we urgently need the CDC to increase our supply of COVID-19 test kits and expedite the approval of any testing approaches developed by private companies," he said Thursday. "Our single greatest challenge is the lack of fast federal action to increase testing capacity—without that, we cannot beat this epidemic back."And the unique reliance of so many millions on a dense public transit system loomed especially large. "The probability of cross-contamination is very high," said Oren Barzilay, President of FDNY EMS Local 2507. Echoing Redlener and de Blasio's concerns about supplies, Barzilay expressed concern New York simply doesn't have the resources to deal with an outbreak of epidemic proportions, especially when fear takes over."When people panic, calls will start coming in for a regular flu," he said.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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| Even Virus Risk Can’t Sway Merkel’s Party to Loosen Up Spending Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:32 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party is putting the brakes on calls for a sweeping stimulus package to help offset the economic fallout from the spread of the coronavirus.The Christian Democratic Union, which has enshrined fiscal discipline as one of its central tenets, argues that a surge in public spending won't address the fear factor among consumers and investors -- and would do little to kick-start demand and investment, according to people familiar with the discussion.On Sunday evening, Merkel will chair a meeting of coalition leaders who will discuss growing concerns that the epidemic could stifle an already wobbly recovery in Europe's largest economy. The country's influential industry federation BDI on Thursday warned of the risks of recession this year and urged the government to study "targeted support mechanisms" as well as "long-term growth measures."Earlier in the week, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz touted Germany's preparedness. In the event of "large-scale distortions in the global economy, for instance because global markets and production chains are disrupted, we have all the ability to react to it quickly, decisively and powerfully," he said.Yet while Italy is shutting down schools, the number of corporate warnings multiply, and equity markets are pummeled, Germany's fiscal hawks are stubbornly holding the line as they did last year when Washington, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank unsuccessfully urged Berlin to loosen its purse strings as a way to bolster a stuttering economy. For years Merkel has stuck to a zero-deficit spending policy which has helped the nation slash public debt by more than 20 percentage points to around 60%.Read More:Central Banks Are Looking Beyond Just Rate Cuts to Combat VirusLufthansa's Brussels Airlines Cuts European Flight Offer by 23%Germany Tightens Border Checks in Bid to Curb Coronavirus SpreadStill, amid a growing leadership vacuum in the twilight of Merkel's political career, the coalition is deeply divided over whether to dip into Germany's considerable savings and just how to spend them.Merkel's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, initially said as much as 50 billion euros ($56 billion) were available this year if needed. But following criticism from leading Christian Democrats like caucus leader Ralph Brinkhaus, who said it is premature to talk about a crisis, the CSU downsized demands to a package worth around 15 billion euros.A hodgepodge of policy measures currently being discussed includes public lines of credit for potentially cash-strapped companies, as well as more structural measures such as lower electricity costs and some corporate tax cuts. Scholz backs an earlier-than-planned phaseout of the so-called solidarity tax, which helped finance Germany's reunification costs over 3 decades, a spokesman of his ministry said this week.Another idea being dusted off is a plan to offer subsidies for employees to reduce their work load and enter training programs in times of crisis. A similar program back in 2009 helped secure some 1.4 million jobs, according to government estimates.Deep divisions remain within the coalition as parties push for pet projects, from Scholz's plans to slash municipal government debt to CSU wishes for tax benefits targeted at tourism and other important business sectors in Bavaria. A working paper presented by Scholz for Sunday's meeting failed to generate consensus, according to one person who asked not to be named because the discussions weren't public.Still, signs of economic malaise are growing. Lufthansa is planning to drastically reduce its domestic and international flights in coming weeks and on Thursday said it would ground more planes due to a high number of cancellations. Employees were asked to take unpaid vacation or to reduce their working hours, according to Der Spiegel magazine.To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Patrick Donahue, Iain RogersFor 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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| WHO racing to send supplies to countries as new virus surges Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:25 AM PST  In an open expanse of desert in Dubai, seven World Health Organization workers are racing to sort, package and send out hundreds of shipments of medical supplies to countries around the world battling a new virus that has spread fast, disrupting life for millions of people. Demand for protective medical supplies like masks, gloves and gowns is skyrocketing as the virus spreads far beyond China, where the illness originated late last year. The WHO team in Dubai is in charge of preparing the precious cargo of supplies, including goggles, virus testing kits and specialized face masks.
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| Coronavirus and protests wreck Iraq's pilgrimage industry Posted: 05 Mar 2020 07:19 AM PST |
| Virus cancels exams and jeopardizes Chinese students' plans Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:50 AM PST  Universities that rely on international enrollment are expected to take a big hit in the next academic year as canceled entrance exams and travel restrictions in China because of the coronavirus make it impossible for students to enroll and attend college. Over 660,000 Chinese students study abroad annually — close to half of them at schools in the United States, where they represent the largest group of foreign students by far — and many universities have come to rely on their tuition dollars. To avoid losing students, universities have begun planning to enroll admitted students initially through online programs, accepting alternatives to traditional standardized tests, and considering virtual orientations for students and their families in China.
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| EU, Turkey trade blame on deal as thousands gather at border Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:49 AM PST  As thousands of people near Turkey's border with Greece wait to cross over to the European Union, a migration deal the EU and Turkey reached four years ago has become a political football. The EU says Turkey is waving migrants through to Europe. The deal called for Turkey to halt the flow of Europe-bound migrants and refugees in exchange for up to 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in aid for Syrian refugees on its territory, fast-track EU membership and visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens.
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| Dogs, cats can't pass on coronavirus, but can test positive Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:24 AM PST  Pet cats and dogs cannot pass the new coronavirus on to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners. The dog, and another also in quarantine which has tested negative for the virus, will be tested again before being released.
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| Is Idaho turning a little blue? Primary might provide clues Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:24 AM PST  Idaho last year was the nation's fastest-growing state, with close to 37,000 new residents boosting its population to nearly 1.8 million. In the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the deeply conservative state has seen a population jump of more than 200,000. Or are they Republicans fleeing the coast for conservative Idaho?
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| Bloomberg's hope for Super Tuesday splash lands in Pacific Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:17 AM PST  What does more than $500 million get you? For Mike Bloomberg, it was 175 winning votes in this U.S. territory — a group of Pacific islands with lush vegetation and stunning coastlines some 7,200 miles (11,600 kilometers) from where he once served as New York City's mayor. Bloomberg's lone primary victory in American Samoa, population 55,000, was an unorthodox and inauspicious culmination to a much-hyped but short-lived Democratic presidential campaign marked by unprecedented spending designed to make a splash in Super Tuesday states.
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| Iran says 15 new coronavirus deaths raise toll to 107 Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:12 AM PST  Iran on Thursday reported 15 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the national toll to 107, and said it would keep schools and universities closed until early April. Data gathered by the agency from medical universities across Iran as of Wednesday night show at least 126 have died, as it lists the toll in Tehran and Gilan -- two of the worst-hit provinces -- as "unknown". Iran has already suspended major cultural and sporting events and reduced working hours across the country, which is one of the worst hit after China.
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| EU’s Hogan Upbeat on Brexit Talks After Opening ‘Argy-Bargy’ Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:06 AM PST |
| German police: At least 7 involved in Dresden jewelry theft Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:06 AM PST |
| How Bad Is the Coronavirus? Let’s Run the Numbers Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The coronavirus outbreak has been turning a lot of us into amateur epidemiologists. Just listen to Mick Mulvaney, the former real estate developer and member of Congress from South Carolina who is now acting White House chief of staff. "The flu kills people," he said last week. "This is not Ebola. It's not SARS, it's not MERS. It's not a death sentence, it's not the same as the Ebola crisis."All those statements are true. The flu does kill people: an estimated 61,099 in the U.S. in the worst recent flu season, that of 2017-2018. People who get Covid-19, the World Health Organization's shorthand for Coronavirus Disease 2019,(1) are much less likely to die than those infected with Ebola, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome of 2003 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome first reported in 2012. And no, this is not the same as the Ebola crisis.It's not the same as the 2014 Ebola crisis in part because it appears to be a much bigger deal for the U.S. and other countries outside of West Africa. As Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, also technically an amateur epidemiologist but by this point quite a well-informed one, put it Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine: "Covid-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about."How do we reconcile these differing views of Covid-19? Well, I too am an amateur as an epidemiologist, but I find that charts and (very simple) equations help me think through things. On the theory that others might find this helpful, too, let's start with the approximate case-fatality rates for the diseases listed by Mulvaney and a few others you may have heard of.These fatality rates can change a lot depending on time and place and access to treatment. The Covid-19 rate is obviously a moving target, so I've included both the 3.4% worldwide mortality rate reported this week by the World Health Organization and the 1% estimate from a study released Feb. 10 by the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London that factored in probable unreported cases. The authors of that study also said that, given the information available at the time, they were 95% confident the correct fatality rate was somewhere between 0.5% and 4%. Gates used the 1% estimate in his article, and when I ran it by Caroline Buckee, an actual professional epidemiologist who is a professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she termed it "reasonable."In a context that includes Ebola and MERS, the Covid-19 death rates are much closer to those of the flu, and it's understandable why people find the comparison reassuring. Compare Covid-19 with just the flu, though, and it becomes clear how different they are.The 61,099 flu-related deaths in the U.S. during the severe flu season of 2017-2018 amounted to 0.14% of the estimated 44.8 million cases of influenza-like illness. There were also an estimated flu-related 808,129 hospitalizations, for a rate of 1.8%. Assume a Covid-19 outbreak of similar size in the U.S., multiply the death and hospitalization estimates by five or 10, and you get some really scary numbers: 300,000 to 600,000 deaths, and 4 million to 8 million hospitalizations in a country that has 924,107 staffed hospital beds. Multiply by 40 and, well, forget about it. Also, death rates would go higher if the hospital system is overwhelmed, as happened in the Chinese province of Hubei where Covid-19's spread began and seems to be happening in Iran now. That's one reason that slowing the spread is important even if it turns out the disease can't be stopped.Could Covid-19 really spread as widely as the flu? If allowed to, sure. The standard metric for infectiousness is what's called the reproduction number, or R0. It is usually pronounced "R naught," and the zero after the R should be rendered in subscript, but it's a simple enough concept. An R0 of one means each person with the disease can be expected to infect one more person. If the number dips below one, the disease will peter out. If it gets much above one, the disease can spread rapidly.Here are R0s for the same list of diseases as above. These are rough approximations, in most cases the midpoints of quite-large ranges. But they do give a sense of relative infectiousness.This helps explain why public health authorities want everybody to get vaccinated against the measles. It's not all that deadly a disease, but once it gets going in an unvaccinated population, everybody gets it.The numbers also seem to indicate that Covid-19 is a lot more contagious than the seasonal flu. Average R0 isn't the whole story, though. Why all the worry about MERS, for example, which with an R0 below one shouldn't spread at all? Well, it's extremely deadly, its R0 can rise above one in certain environments, among them hospitals, and ... you can catch it from your camel.Then there's SARS, which is both deadlier than Covid-19 and has a similar R0. Why was it wiped out in about a year, while some experts warn that Covid-19 may be around forever? Because SARS usually didn't become contagious until several days after symptoms appeared. This meant that, as four British infectious disease experts wrote in 2004, "actions taken during this period to isolate or quarantine ill patients can effectively interrupt transmission." They proposed adding another variable to disease-transmission models: the proportion of transmission occurring prior to symptoms. For SARS, this was less than 11%, probably much less. For influenza, it is between 30% and 50%, making it far harder to control the disease's spread.With Covid-19, "it seems that it can transmit quite a bit before symptoms occur," Buckee says. How much is still up in the air. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been arguing this week that pre-symptomatic transmission appears to be low enough that Covid-19 can be controlled in ways that the flu cannot. "If this was an influenza epidemic, we would have expected to see widespread community transmission across the globe by now," he said Monday, "and efforts to slow it down or contain it would not be feasible."To understand how the spread of such a disease can be contained, it helps to break R0 down to its constituent parts. A simple formula that I got from Buckee is:the probability of infection given contact with an infectious person (b), multiplied by the contact rate (k), multiplied by the infectious duration (d)In some cases you can shorten the infectious duration with treatment. Quarantining people once you know they're infected effectively shortens it, too. Variables b and k, meanwhile, are clearly dependent on behavior. The probability of infection is reduced by things like frequent hand-washing, replacing handshakes with fist bumps and such. The contact rate is reduced by staying home. By putting much of the country on lockdown, Chinese authorities reduced the contact rate enough that Covid-19's R0 in the country fell below one. They also incurred huge economic and social costs. Now, as China begins to go back to work, the big question is whether a less-draconian approach can keep the disease in check or whether it will just start spreading again.That's the big question in the U.S., Europe and pretty much everywhere else on earth too. It can't be answered entirely by professional epidemiologists, either. Weighing whether the costs of a particular intervention are worth the benefits is at heart a political decision. So it's actually good that politicians are moonlighting as amateur epidemiologists. Some of them may just need to study a little harder.(1) The name for the virus, as opposed to the disease, is SARS-CoV-2.To contact the author of this story: Justin Fox at justinfox@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Stacey Shick at sshick@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He was the editorial director of Harvard Business Review and wrote for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is the author of "The Myth of the Rational Market."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Javier Perez, Former UN Secretary-General, Passes Away At 100 Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:18 AM PST  The former Secretary-General of the United Nations Javier Perez de Cuellar died in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday.What Happened Perez de Cuellar, a centenarian, held the position of U.N. Secretary-General twice from 1982-1991. His terms saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and an era of renewed international cooperation, according to Reuters. Praising the role that Perez de Cuellar played as the head of the international organization, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "He was an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world."The President of Peru Martin Vizcarra also expressed his condolences in a statement saying that Perez de Cuellar had dedicated his entire life to the task of "glorifying our country."Why It Matters Perez de Cuellar was the only head of the U.N. from Latin America. He played a role in the independence of Namibia from South Africa in 1990.In 1995, Perez de Cuellar ran for the Peruvian Presidency but lost to incumbent Alberto Fujimori.Ban Ki-moon is currently the only surviving former Secretary-General of the U.N.Photo Credit: UN NewsroomSee more from Benzinga * California Declares State Of Emergency After Passenger Who Sailed Aboard Carnival's Cruise Ship Dies * House Lawmakers Demand Amazon, eBay Take Stronger Action Against Stolen And Fake Products * Angry Chinese Customers Threaten To Boycott Tesla(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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| 'When Can We Go to School?' Nearly 300 Million Children Are Missing Class. Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:13 AM PST  HONG KONG -- The coronavirus epidemic reached deeper into daily life across the world Wednesday, with a sweeping shutdown of all schools in Italy and warnings of school closings in the United States, intensifying the educational upheaval of nearly 300 million students globally.Only a few weeks ago, China, where the outbreak began, was the only country to suspend classes. But the virus has spread so quickly that by Wednesday, 22 countries on three continents had announced school closings of varying degrees, leading the United Nations to warn that "the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled."Students are now out of school in South Korea, Iran, Japan, France, Pakistan and elsewhere -- some for only a few days, others for weeks on end. In Italy, suffering one of the deadliest outbreaks outside China, officials said Wednesday that they would extend school closings beyond the north, where the government has imposed a lockdown on several towns, to the entire nation. All schools and universities will remain closed until March 15, officials said.On the West Coast of the United States, the region with the most American infections so far, Los Angeles declared a state of emergency Wednesday, advising parents to steel themselves for school closings in the nation's second-largest public school district. Washington state, which has reported at least 10 deaths from the outbreak, has closed some schools, while on the other side of the country in New York, newly diagnosed cases have led to the closing of several schools as well.The speed and scale of the educational tumult -- which now affects 290.5 million students worldwide, the United Nations says -- has little parallel in modern history, educators and economists contend. Schools provide structure and support for families, communities and entire economies. The effect of closing them for days, weeks and sometimes even months could have untold repercussions for children and societies at large."They're always saying, 'When can we go out to play? When can we go to school?' " said Gao Mengxian, a security guard in Hong Kong whose two daughters have been stuck at home because school has been suspended since January.In some countries, older students have missed crucial study sessions for college admissions exams, while younger ones have risked falling behind in reading and math. Parents have lost wages, tried to work at home or scrambled to find child care. Some have moved children to new schools in areas unaffected by the coronavirus and lost milestones like graduation ceremonies or last days of school."I don't have data to offer, but can't think of any instances in modern times where advanced economies shut down schools nationally for prolonged periods of time," said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.In Hong Kong, families like Gao's have struggled to maintain some semblance of normalcy.Gao, 48, stopped working to watch her daughters and started scrimping on household expenses. Masks in particular are pricey, so she ventures outside just once a week. She spends most of her time helping her daughters, 10 and 8, with their online classes, fumbling through technology that leaves her confused and her daughters frustrated.Governments are trying to help. Japan is offering subsidies to companies to help offset the cost of parents taking time off work. France has promised 14 days of paid sick leave to parents of children who must self-isolate, if they have no choice but to watch their children themselves.But the burdens are widespread, touching corners of society seemingly unconnected to education. In Japan, schools have canceled bulk food delivery orders for lunches they will no longer serve, affecting farmers and suppliers. In Hong Kong, an army of domestic helpers have been left unemployed after wealthy families enrolled their children in schools overseas.Julia Bossard, a 39-year-old mother of two in France, said she had been forced to rethink her entire routine since her older son's school was closed for two weeks for disinfection. Her days now consist of helping her children with homework and scouring supermarkets for fast-disappearing pasta, rice and canned food."We had to reorganize ourselves," she said.Online and AloneSchool and government officials are doing their best to keep children learning -- and occupied -- at home. The Italian government created a webpage to give teachers access to videoconference tools and ready-made lesson plans. Mongolian television stations are airing classes. Iran's government has made all children's content free.Even physical education takes place: At least one school in Hong Kong requires students -- in gym uniforms -- to follow along as an instructor demonstrates push-ups on screen, with the students' webcams on for proof.The offline reality of online learning, though, is challenging. There are technological hurdles, as well as the unavoidable distractions that pop up when children and teenagers are left to their own devices -- literally.Thira Pang, a 17-year-old high school student in Hong Kong, has been late for class several times because internet connection is slow. She has taken to logging on 15 minutes early."It's just a bit of luck to see whether you can get in," she said.The new classroom at home poses greater problems for younger students, and their older caregivers. Ruby Tan, a primary school teacher in Chongqing, a city in southwestern China that suspended schools last month, said many grandparents were helping with child care so that the parents can go to work. But the grandparents do not always know how to use the necessary technology."They don't have any way of supervising the children's learning, and instead let them develop bad habits of not being able to focus during study time," Tan said.Some interruptions are unavoidable. Posts on Chinese social media show teachers and students climbing onto rooftops or hovering outside neighbors' homes in search of a stronger signal. One family in Inner Mongolia packed up its yurt and migrated elsewhere in the grasslands for better internet, a Chinese magazine reported.The closings have also altered the normal milestones of education. In Japan, the school year typically ends in March. Many schools are now restricting the ceremonies to teachers and students only.When Satoko Morita's son graduated from high school in Akita prefecture, in northern Japan, on March 1, she was not there. It will be the same for her daughter's ceremony at elementary school."My daughter asked me, 'What's the point of attending and delivering speeches in the ceremony without parents?'" she said.For Chloe Lau, a Hong Kong student, the end of her high school education came to an abrupt halt because of the closings. Her last day was supposed to be on April 2, but schools in Hong Kong will not resume until at least April 20.A Burden on WomenWith the closings, families are having to rethink how they support themselves and split household responsibilities. The burden has fallen particularly hard on women, who across the world are still largely responsible for child care.Babysitters are in short supply or leery of taking children from hard-hit regions.The 11-year-old son of Lee Seong-yeon, a health information manager at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, has been out of school since the government suspended schools nationwide, starting on Monday of this week. South Korea has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases outside China.Working from home was never an option for Lee: As the coronavirus has slammed the country, she and her husband, also a hospital employee, have had more work duties than ever.So Lee's son spends each weekday alone, eating lunchboxes of sausage and kimchi fried rice that Lee prepares ahead of time."I think I would have quit my job if my son were younger, because I wouldn't have been able to leave him alone at home," Lee said.Still, she feels that her career will suffer anyway. "I try to get off work at 6 p.m. sharp, even when others at the office are still at their desks, and I run home to my son and make him dinner," she said. "So I know there is no way I am ever going to be acknowledged for my career at work."For mothers with few safety nets, the options are even more limited.In Athens, Greece, Anastasia Moschos said she had been lucky. After her 6-year-old son's school was closed for a week for disinfection, Moschos, 47, an insurance broker, was able to leave her son with her father, who was visiting, while she went to work. But if the schools stay closed for longer, she may have to scramble to find help."We're a community where there is usually a grandfather or a grandmother that can look after a child. The assumption is that everyone has someone to assist," she said. "That's not the case with me. I'm a single mother, and I don't have help at home."Even mothers who have been able to leave affected areas have had trouble finding child care. Cristina Tagliabue, an entrepreneur in communications from Milan -- the center of an outbreak in Italy -- recently moved with her 2-year-old son to her second home in Rome. But a day care would not accept her son, because other parents did not want anyone from Milan near their children, Tagliabue said.The closings in Italy -- which include day cares in addition to schools and universities -- are likely to create problems for parents around the country.Tagliabue has turned down several job proposals, she said, because she is unable to work at home without a babysitter for her young child."It's right to close schools, but that has a cost," she said. "The government could have done something for mothers -- we are also in quarantine."Beyond the ClassroomThe epidemic has shaken entire industries and businesses that rely on the rituals of students going to school and parents going to work.School administrators in Japan, caught off guard by the abrupt decision to close schools, have rushed to cancel orders for cafeteria lunches, stranding food suppliers with piles of unwanted groceries and temporarily unneeded employees.Kazuo Tanaka, deputy director of the Yachimata School Lunch Center in central Japan, said his center had to cancel ingredients for about 5,000 lunches for 13 schools. It would cost the center about 20 million yen (nearly $200,000) each month that school was out, he said."Bakeries are blown," said Yuzo Kojima, secretary-general at the National School Lunch Association. "Dairy farmers and vegetable farmers will be hit. The workers at the school lunch centers cannot work."To blunt the economic effects of the coronavirus, Japan's government is offering financial help to parents, small businesses and health care providers. But school lunch officials said they had not heard about compensation for their workers.In Hong Kong, many of the city's sizable population of domestic helpers have been left without work as parents who can afford to have enrolled their children in schools overseas.Demand for nannies had already dropped by a third at the beginning of the outbreak, because many companies allowed parents to work from home, said Felix Choi, the director of Babysitter.hk, a nanny service. Now, some expatriate families have left the city rather than wait out the closings in Hong Kong."Over 30% of our client base is Western expat families, and I'm not seeing many of them coming back to Hong Kong at this moment," Choi said. "Most of them informed us they will only come back after school restarts."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| UN says Cyprus crossing closures over coronavirus 'disruptive' Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:11 AM PST  The United Nations voiced concern on Thursday over the disruption caused by the Cyprus government's temporary closure of several crossings on the divided island's ceasefire line over the coronavirus crisis. "Following the decision to temporarily close four crossing points along the buffer zone, UNFICYP is concerned by the ongoing disruption caused to people on both sides," the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus said in a statement. "While the UN supports all effective measures to address any potential public health emergency, it is imperative for the two sides to coordinate closely in order to provide a comprehensive response," it added.
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| Tripoli’s civilian airport attacked amid diplomatic impasse Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:02 AM PST |
| EU's Barnier: "serious" differences with Britain after first round of talks Posted: 05 Mar 2020 04:34 AM PST |
