| UN non-essential staff to work from home Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:26 PM PDT  All United Nations staff at its headquarters in New York were told Friday to work from home for at least three weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak unless it was essential for them to be present. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the plan was "to reduce our physical presence at United Nations Headquarters, while continuing to deliver on our mandates." About 3,000 UN employees are based in New York.
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| U.N. headquarters in New York to slash staff presence for four weeks over coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:39 PM PDT |
| ‘I Don’t Take Responsibility,’ Trump Says of Virus Test Shortage Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:49 PM PDT |
| What To Know About Trump’s National Emergency Declaration Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:57 PM PDT  After increasing precautionary measures around the world in the wake of exponential rates of growth in coronavirus cases, President Donald Trump made an announcement today declaring a state of national emergency for COVID-19. He also announced a series of measures that will be taken by the United States Government to combat coronavirus. "To unleash the full power of the federal government … I am officially declaring a national emergency," Trump said. Speaking to press from the White House Rose Garden, Trump declared national emergency in order to free up $50 billion for the government to use to help fight the pandemic in America. Also in his announcement, Trump explained how this will help the secretary of Health and Human Services to waive specific laws and regulations to be able to contain the disease and treat people properly. According to his speech, every state is now ordered to set up emergency centers to stop the spread of the disease. So, what is a national emergency exactly? Much like a state of emergency declared in individual states, a national state of emergency simply means that the government is changing how it's operating, and will be tweaking certain laws, like ones mentioned above. Hospitals will be expected to accommodate more people. Disaster relief funding is provided to state governments. Legal barriers can be worked around in order to provide aid to those in need. Essentially, a national state of emergency creates access to emergency funds that have been put aside by the government for this very kind of situation. Limits on the length of hospital stays will also be lifted and there will be great numbers of beds made available to people who need it. And, there are also plans for "drive-thru" virus tests in the works, with 1.4 million new tests for coronavirus that should be available by next week, and 5 million available in the next month. Thanks to the drive-thru testing that will become available, people who think they might be infected with coronavirus will be able to fill out a questionnaire on Google to check if they have any symptoms and are at risk. If they are, they'll be directed to special testing centers which will deliver the tests to automated machines, which will produce results within 24 to 36 hours. But, this isn't the first time the U.S. has invoked a national emergency status to handle this kind of crisis. The National Emergencies Act was signed by President Gerald Ford on September 14, 1976, and created the ability for any president to declare a national emergency as they see fit. As of today, 60 national emergencies have been declared since, with several in the last few months. The first national emergency was declared by Jimmy Carter in 1979, in response to the Iran hostage crisis, and blocked Iranian government property. That emergency is still in effect for all intents and purposes. After September 11, 2001, George W. Bush declared national emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks, which was reinstated in September 2018 and is still in effect. In 2009, Barack Obama declared a state of national emergency over the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. President Trump has already declared multiple national emergencies while in office, which is not unusual for a president, including a national emergency in November to impose sanctions in the event of a foreign country interfering in U.S. elections. Ultimately, a national emergency is not a reason to panic, and it doesn't necessarily mean that there's cause for more alarm. It means that the government is taking the pandemic unfolding seriously, doing what it can to reduce harm, and that more resources will be distributed to combat the crises. Related Content:Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?What Trump Failed To Address About CoronavirusIvanka Trump Was Exposed To CoronavirusThere's No Such Thing As Work-From-Home Style
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| Hungary to Close Schools From Monday in About-Face for Orban Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:38 PM PDT |
| COVID-19 and beyond: World 'nowhere near' ready, expert says Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:22 PM PDT |
| Trump Declares Emergency; Pelosi Drafts Bill: Virus Update Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:12 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency that would free up $50 billion for the testing and care of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. in a tight election year battered by financial collapse."Two very big words," he said after declaring the national emergency. Trump also outlined a public-private partnership in testing. Stocks gained the most since 2008.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she'd drafted a bill with free testing and 14 days sick leave. The Senate will vote next week.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state -- now with the most cases in the U.S. -- won approval to do its own testing.Germany pledged to spend billions, and the European Union is ready to allow fiscal stimulus as the bloc expects the economy to shrink this year.Key Developments:Cases rose to 138,166 worldwide, with deaths topping 5,100China cases drop to single digits for the first time since JanuaryRoche advanced after approval for faster new testAustralian minister who met Ivanka Trump last week tests positiveEuropean stocks jump the most since 2008, and U.S. shares bounce backSubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg's Prognosis team here.Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here. To see the impact on oil and commodities demand, click here.D.C. Scales Back Mass Transit (3 p.m. NY)The Washington, D.C., transit agency will scale back bus and subway service starting Monday as system employees deal with school closings in Maryland, Virginia and the District, which are keeping more children at home.The Washington Area Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said trains will run every 12 minutes Monday through Friday, less frequently than every five minutes typical during weekdays, while bus service will run on a Saturday schedule.The system carried an average of 631,000 riders daily in January.Pelsoi Announces Democratic Plan to Fight Virus (2:30 p.m. NY)Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will pass a bill helping Americans deal with the spreading coronavirus. It was drafted without direct input from President Trump, though with one of his top aides, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said separately that the bill "incorporates nearly all of what the administration and Republicans have requested."In an email to House Democrats, Pelosi said the deal included free testing and 14 days of paid sick leave. The Senate would not take up any bill until next week.Eiffel Tower Emptied; Louvre Remains Shut (2:25 p.m. NY)Two of Paris's landmarks are closed: The Eiffel Tower shut down on Friday, Agence France Presse reported. And the Louvre has not reopened since Sunday.France banned any gathering of more than 5,000 people.Cuomo Says NY Will Do Its Own Testing (2:03 p.m. NY)New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he spoke with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and they agreed to let the state run its own testing.The approval means that by next week, New York will be able to perform 6,000 tests per day, Cuomo said at a press briefing. To date, the state has tested about 3,200.He also said New York now has the largest number of coronavirus cases in the nation, 421, with 154 in an increasingly shuttered New York City.More New Cases Being Reported Than China Did at Peak (1 p.m. NY)Europe has become the epicenter of the outbreak and the world is reporting more new cases of Covid-19 each day than China did when the disease peaked in that country, the head of the World Health Organization said at a briefing. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said canceling sporting events can help slow the spread and he called on political and religious leaders to give more moral guidance. He said the 5,000 reported deaths is a "tragic milestone.""The virus will always get you if you don't move quickly," and social distancing, while not a panacea, can slow the spread, said Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's health emergencies program. Countries shouldn't abandon contact tracing, and blanket travel bans often don't prevent the disease from crossing borders, he said. The WHO will speak more about ongoing clinical trials on therapies next week, he added.The situation will worsen in many countries before it gets better, said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist. While the situation is improving in Asia, countries where the disease has peaked could experience relapses, she said.Louisiana, London to Postpone Upcoming Votes (12:44 p.m. NY)Louisiana has postponed its April 4 presidential primary over concerns about coronavirus, the first state to consider suspending voting since the outbreak began.Boris Johnson delayed U.K. local elections scheduled for May 7, including the London mayoral vote.The European Union's two highest courts, based in Luxembourg, will postpone all hearings that were scheduled for the next two weeks.NYC Hotels Face Bankruptcy, Closures (10:30 a.m. NY)The rapidly escalating restrictions on travel and social gatherings will make it hard for New York City hotel owners to keep creditors at bay, the head of a local trade group said.Revenue per available room, a metric known as RevPar that combines occupancy and pricing, is down as much as 70% at some hotels, according to Vijay Dandapani, chief executive officer at the Hotel Association of New York City.Virus Fears Hit Sports Leagues Around the World (10:15 a.m. NY)The Masters golf tournament was postponed, and other sports events including the NCAA basketball tournament, Major League Baseball, the PGA Tour and the National Hockey League were suspended. England's Premier League called off all matches after Arsenal Football Club head coach Mikel Arteta tested positive.U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the Tokyo Olympics should be postponed, as the events' organizers denied they were considering changing the start planned for July 24. "I would say maybe they postpone it for a year," Trump said, but added that he does not plan on making the recommendation to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.The Indian Premier League, a cricket tournament set to start March 29, has been suspended until April 15. And Formula One confirmed it will cancel this year's season-opening Australian Grand Prix event in Melbourne.European Economy Expected to Shrink (9:20 a.m. NY)Economic output for the euro area and the EU as a whole is likely to shrink this year, with the rate of change potentially "considerably below zero," a European Union official told reporters in Brussels.The baseline assumption for the bloc's executive arm is that EU GDP will contract by around 1% this year, a separate official said.Cases Jump Across Europe (8:50 a.m. NY)Diagnosed cases in Spain jumped to 4,209, from 3,004 on Thursday evening, the Health Ministry reported. The country reported 120 deaths, compared with 84 the previous day. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is scheduled to make a statement this afternoon.U.K. coronavirus cases rose to 798 from 590. Fatalities in the Netherlands doubled overnight, bringing the total to 10. Confirmed cases spiked 31% to 804.Switzerland reported a 24% jump in confirmed cases to 1,009, with seven deaths so far. The southern canton of Ticino, which borders Italy and has a 68,000-strong Italian labor force commuting across the border every day, said schools would be closed from Monday.EU Set to Green Light Spending, Germany Pledges Cash (8:45 a.m. NY)The EU's executive arm pledged maximum flexibility in the bloc's fiscal and state-aid rules. The European Commission signaled the bloc's draconian fiscal rules could be suspended altogether, allowing cash injections to companies struggling with the fallout of the viral outbreak, such as airlines and the tourist industry, as well as emergency spending on healthcare services.Earlier, Germany pledged to spend whatever is needed to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus. The country's goal is to make sure firms have sufficient liquidity to get through the crisis unleashed by the outbreak, the finance and economy ministries said in a joint statement Friday. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said there will be no limit to the money available and Germany may need to take on additional debt to finance the spending spree.Xerox to Postpone Meetings With HP Shareholders (8:35 a.m. NY)The company said it is prudent to postpone releases of additional presentations, interviews with media and meetings with HP shareholders to focus on protecting its various stakeholders from the pandemic.Iran's Army to Empty Streets; Cases Surge (8:35 a.m. NY)Iran's army will be emptying streets, roads and shops across the country within 24 hours, semi-official ISNA reported. The commander of the army's ground forces said disinfecting streets and roads across all cities was part of the group's agenda, a day after Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khamenei called on the armed forces to help combat the virus.The health ministry earlier reported 1,289 new coronavirus cases and 85 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide totals to 11,364 cases and 514 deaths. A ministry spokesman said emergency room admissions in recent days have reduced, with empty beds in some hospitals. About 3,529 people have recovered from the virus so far.U.S. Testing to Accelerate Within a Week, Fauci Says (8:10 a.m. NY)Testing for coronavirus in the U.S. will accelerate within the next week because of increased coordination with private companies, the government's top infectious disease scientists said. "I think we are going to see a much different situation than we saw just a few weeks ago," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told MSNBC.Fauci had told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday that the testing of Americans thus far "is a failing.""What has changed is that there has been a major involvement of the private sector -- the companies that generally do these kinds of tests as a living -- are now going to be major league involved in getting these tests to the public," Fauci said Thursday. "Whereas before it was mostly on the burden of the CDC as a public health organization."Roche Holding AG won emergency approval from the U.S. government for a highly automated coronavirus test, potentially allowing a 10-fold acceleration in the ability to test patients.U.K.'s SFO Shuts London Office (7:55 a.m. NY)The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office shut its London office and sent staff home after a possible outbreak of coronavirus. More than one member of staff has suspected symptoms, although no cases have been confirmed, a spokesperson said. Employees have been working from home since Thursday as a precautionary measure and offices will re-open once it's deemed safe.Glencore London Employee Tests Positive (7:03 a.m. NY)The company has asked everyone in its London office to work remotely while deep cleaning takes place on Friday and over the weekend, as a precautionary measure. Glencore's London office is the company's base for its oil trading team.Outbreak Could Lead to Millions of Tourism Job Losses (6:38 a.m. NY)The coronavirus outbreak that has left hundreds of flights grounded and dozens of cruises docked could result in 50 million jobs lost in the tourism industry globally, according to an estimate from the World Travel and Tourism Council, an organization that represents the tourism private sector. The figure was calculated estimating that the outbreak will impact the sector for 3 months, said WTTC director Virginia Messina.Nordic Countries Try to Limit Fallout (6:20 a.m. NY)With the number of confirmed cases now well above 2,000, the Nordic region has cut interest rates, introduced business tax breaks and shuttered schools, as policy makers attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Europe's northern tip.The central banks of Norway and Iceland both held unscheduled meetings to reduce their benchmark rates this week, while Norway has followed Denmark's example by shutting schools and universities for weeks. Governments have also vowed to support businesses and financial institutions with tax breaks, loan facilities and lower capital requirements. Sweden's Riksbank has decided to lend up to $51 billion to the country's banks.Frankfurt Airport's Traffic Drop Reveals Extent of Virus Hit (6:12 a.m. NY)Frankfurt airport said passenger numbers are declining exponentially, almost halving in recent days, in a stark illustration of the devastation the coronavirus is wreaking on the global travel market. The tally slumped 30% last week from a year earlier, double the drop seen toward the end of February.Correct: U.K. Strategy for Millions to Catch Virus (6:10 a.m. NY)The U.K. government's strategy to tackle the outbreak will need almost 40 million Britons to catch the disease to work, according to the country's top scientific adviser. "Sixty percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity," the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance told Sky News.He was referring to the point where a high enough proportion of the population has had an illness -- and gained immunity to it -- that it won't be transmitted to those who haven't had it. The government wants to achieve this over the summer months, before the next winter sets in.The figure is likely to be controversial, and comes a day after Johnson told reporters many families can expect to lose their loved ones and that the nation is facing the greatest public health crisis in a generation. His approach has been criticized by other medical experts because measures announced so far are relatively restrained compared to other countries.Asia's Central Banks Try to Calm Virus-Hit Markets (1) (5:21 p.m. HK)Asian central banks moved aggressively to counter the market carnage, pumping liquidity into the financial system and discussing emergency action. The People's Bank of China injected $79 billion into the economy through a reduction in reserve ratios for banks. The Bank of Korea is considering a special meeting to tackle wild swings in the foreign-exchange market, and Japan offered to provide as much as 2.2 trillion yen ($20.8 billion) of liquidity in three different operations.Regulators Step In to Steady Markets (4:54 p.m. HK)After a brutal trading session on Thursday, Italian and Spanish securities regulators banned short sales during Friday on some stocks. The Spanish ban will affect 69 stocks, while in Italy 85 stocks will be affected. Italy's FTSE MIB plunged 17% on Thursday, while Spain's IBEX-35 slumped 14%, both record losses, amid a global sell-off. Both benchmarks rose at least 3.3% on Friday.In Germany, short selling will not be banned for now, a spokesman for the Deutsche Boerse said. Switzerland's SIX Exchange isn't planning a ban, while Dutch market regulator AFM said it is monitoring the situation.Short-selling restrictions were also put in place for some Asian markets, with South Korea's Financial Services Commission going the furthest by banning short-selling of shares listed on Kospi, Kosdaq and Konex for six months. In Thailand, short sales were not banned, but rules are being adjusted for current market conditions, according to the President of the country's stock exchange.(A previous version was corrected to fix Patrick Vallance's title)\--With assistance from Sophie Alexander, John Tozzi, Dina Bass, John Martens, James Paton, Olivia Konotey-Ahulu, Nick Rigillo, Laura Millan Lombrana, Yasna Haghdoost, Elizabeth Wasserman, Caitlin Webber, Viktoria Dendrinou, Jennifer Jacobs, Saleha Mohsin, Jenny Leonard, Bryce Baschuk, Alex Morales and Henry Goldman.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Adveith Nair in London at anair29@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net, ;Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Ian FisherFor 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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| Borders Tighten Within EU as Germany Readies Virus Aid Package Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:11 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Denmark, Poland and Cyprus tightened their borders to limit the spread of the coronavirus even as European leaders called for more concerted action to contain the economic fallout.Germany, which borders both countries, pledged to spend whatever was necessary to protect its economy and the European Commission said it's ready to green-light widespread spending after a market meltdown and a forecast that the euro zone was headed for recession.With Group of Seven policy makers struggling to forge a united front, the response from national capitals reflects the urgency to avoid the lockdown that hit Italy amid an epidemic that seemed to be spiraling out of control. In Denmark, only Danes, Danish residents and green card holders will be let in. For everyone else, the country's borders will be closed until April 14 and people arriving in Denmark will be sent back."We're painfully aware that this will have severe consequences," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in Copenhagen on Friday, as she announced borders would close. "We can see how the situation in Italy developed in a catastrophic direction," she said. "Everything we're doing is to ensure that we get through this situation in a different way."Likewise, Cyprus is closing its borders for 15 days to foreigners who don't live or work on the Mediterranean island, President Nicos Anastasiades said in a televised address.Poland implemented full checks at its border crossings for at least the next 10 days, with Premier Mateusz Morawiecki saying the government would quarantine Polish nationals as well as foreigners crossing into the country, while allowing trade to continue. "We want to reduce risks as much as it's possible to do," he said.Success StoryMeantime, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed that EU leaders discuss coordinated action to add stricter border controls.The ability to travel without border checks has been a fact of life for more than two decades in most of Europe, with passport-free movement arguably the most successful feature of daily life for more than 400 million people in the EU. Officials in Brussels are accepting the new -- if temporary -- restrictions through gritted teeth."General travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization," said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. "Moreover, they have a strong social and economic impact. They disrupt people's lives and business across the borders."Just hours earlier, German officials announced KfW, the state bank, can lend as much as 550 billion euros ($610 billion) to companies to ensure they survive the pandemic and shield their workers from its impact. Switzerland pledged 10 billion francs ($10.5 billion) of aid for its companies. European stocks surged."This is the bazooka," Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. "We're using it to do what is necessary. We'll check later to see if we need additional smaller weapons."Chancellor Angela Merkel said later on Friday that the measures show "that we're ready to do whatever is necessary, to do whatever Germany needs, so we can get through this crisis as best possible."Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency Friday after the number of confirmed cases jumped by 40% in 24 hours to 4,209. A week ago there were 261. "The Spanish government will do whatever it takes" to slow contagion, Sanchez said.Switzerland's aid program is targeted at small businesses and freelancers who've been hit by government restrictions on cultural events and school closures. "To them we say, we're not abandoning you," President Simonetta Sommaruga told reporters in Bern.European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde triggered a massive selloff on Thursday when she indicated the ECB wasn't prepared to bail out the markets. On Friday, her ECB colleagues insisted the central bank still has plenty of ammunition and is willing to use it.Italian Governing Council member Ignazio Visco told Bloomberg Television that officials are prepared to target bond purchases toward the worst-hit countries -- such as his -- to narrow bond spreads. That would make borrowing more affordable for companies, individuals and the government in Italy as they ride out the downturn."We can frontload, we can concentrate on particular jurisdictions according to the circumstances," Visco said in the interview.Trading was volatile throughout the day, with the Stoxx 600 Index rising 1.4% after having jumped almost 9%. The weekly loss was 18%.Completing the barrage of policy pledges, European Commission President Von der Leyen said she's ready to recommend that euro members trigger an emergency clause in their budget rules that would allow the whole bloc to engage in fiscal stimulus if there's a severe downturn.In the meantime, she said countries can have full flexibility within the fiscal rules, meaning measures to address the impact of the virus won't be factored into the assessment of their deficits. Italy has already announced a 25 billion euro stimulus package that is set to push its deficit beyond the 3% limit this year.The commission also announced a 37 billion-euro "Corona Investment Fund" that would use spare money from the EU budget to help businesses, healthcare systems and sectors in need. It also said the EU's own investment fund will guarantee 8 billion euros of loans to 100,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises. Affected companies will be able to delay the payment of their existing loans.\--With assistance from Chris Reiter, Daniel Schaefer, Dana El Baltaji, John Ainger, Ian Wishart, Steven Arons, Jeannette Neumann, Catherine Bosley, Zoe Schneeweiss, Arne Delfs, Birgit Jennen and Paul Tugwell.To contact the reporters on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.net;Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw at mstrzelecki1@bloomberg.net;Viktoria Dendrinou in Brussels at vdendrinou@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, James Hertling, Tony CzuczkaFor 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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| Why coronavirus crisis may keep Putin in office until 2036 Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:07 PM PDT |
| Biden virtual town hall marks new normal for campaigning Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:50 PM PDT  Joe Biden held a town hall in Illinois — or at least tried to — from 800 miles away in Delaware. Bernie Sanders is staging daily news conferences from Vermont, instead of his usual rallies around the country with thousands of supporters. The global coronavirus pandemic has sent the 2020 presidential campaign into a virtual phase.
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| Lawyer: Man asleep when police fired on house, killing him Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:49 PM PDT  The Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release Friday that Duncan Socrates Lemp "confronted" police and was shot by one of the officers early Thursday. Rene Sandler, an attorney for Lemp's relatives, said an eyewitness gave a "completely contrary" account of the shooting. The warrant that police obtained to search the Potomac home Lemp shared with his parents and 19-year-old brother doesn't mention any "imminent threat" to law enforcement or the public, Lemp's relatives said in a statement released Friday by their lawyers.
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| Coronavirus Sinks Maritime Conferences Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:39 PM PDT  From AAPA to WISTA, more and more maritime industry groups are canceling or postponing conferences or making the gatherings available to participants remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) announced in a tweet Wednesday that it had canceled its spring conference "due to the ongoing public health crisis." That conference had been slated for next week, from Tuesday to Thursday, in Washington.The U.S. chapter of the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) also had been scheduled to meet next week. The two-day annual general meeting and conference was to get underway Thursday in Houston.WISTA USA President Parker Harrison said in a letter to members that the planning committee was working "to identify alternate dates, likely in the summer to avoid conflicting with the myriad other maritime events throughout the year, including the WISTA International AGM & Conference in Hamburg in mid-September."Harrison thanked members for their "support, patience and understanding as we work through this challenging and rapidly evolving situation." She added, "In the meantime, please take all necessary precautions to keep yourselves and your families safe."Harrison is Crowley Maritime's senior vice president of procurement and risk management. Crowley has suspended employee travel to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea and limited travel to Seattle-area airports. All vessel crew members are being prescreened for the coronavirus prior to any travel or boarding of vessels, Crowley said. The 14th annual Capital Link International Shipping Forum will go on — but not in person in New York City. "Adapting to the current environment, our event will not be a physical conference but a digital event with live interaction among delegates," Capital Link stated on its website."The need for information on market developments is at its highest given the circumstances and our proactive approach will enable all of us to keep the sense of community, exchange views and information and network online. We expect record turnout for this digital event," Capital Link said. The CMA Shipping Conference, scheduled for March 31 to April 2 in Stamford, Connecticut, has been postponed until June 29 to July 1. Billed as "the largest international shipping event in North America," the conference staged by the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) was expected to draw more than 2,500 attendees. Those registered for the March conference are automatically signed up for June.The Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) has canceled its conference planned for March 31 to April 2 in Newport, Rhode Island. "We are working to reschedule the conference and information will be posted when it is available," CONECT said on its website.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) headquarters in London is closed through Monday as parts of the building undergo a deep cleaning. An interpreter working in the building March 4 later was diagnosed with COVID-19, the IMO said. "All individuals who were in close contact with this person have been informed," the IMO said on its website. "Certain areas of the IMO HQ building are undergoing deep cleaning during the closure period. The remainder of the building will be sanitized as appropriate."The IMO also has canceled: * The 107th session of the legal committee scheduled for Monday through March 20. * The seventh meeting of the intersessional working group on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships scheduled for March 23 to 27. * The 33rd meeting of the international maritime solid bulk cargo editorial and technical group slated for March 23 to 27. * The 75th session of the marine environment protection committee set for March 30 to April 3.Last week the IMO distributed a coronavirus guide for ship operators prepared by the International Chamber of Shipping. The guide covers port entry restrictions, virus screening and outbreak management.Image Sourced from PixabaySee more from Benzinga * Supertanker Spot Rate On Verge Of Breaking Record High * ATA Seeks Freeze On Truck Toll Collection In Rhode Island * Freight Futures Daily Curve: 3/13(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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| US hospitals brace for 'tremendous strain' from new virus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:31 PM PDT  U.S. hospitals are setting up circus-like triage tents, calling doctors out of retirement, guarding their supplies of face masks and making plans to cancel elective surgery as they brace for an expected onslaught of coronavirus patients. Depending on how bad the crisis gets, the sick could find themselves waiting on stretchers in emergency room hallways for hospital beds to open up, or could be required to share rooms with others infected. Some doctors fear hospitals could become so overwhelmed that they could be forced to ration medical care.
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| South Korea is Beating the Coronavirus. Mass Testing is Key. But There’s More. Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:29 PM PDT  Americans would do well to look to South Korea for an example of how to contain and possibly defeat the fast-spreading coronavirus.After days of indecision in which President Moon Jae-in and his aides could not believe how quickly the disease was spreading from China, they woke up to the danger and instituted one of the most effective systems anywhere.South Korea's Creepy Coronavirus Cellphone Alerts are Useful, But They May Be TMIIn one remarkable innovation, drive-by centers test those with symptoms without asking them to leave their vehicles. A quick temperature check, a rub inside the mouth and maybe the nose with a cotton swab, and it's all over until the results are known a few hours later.Dr. Ogan Gurel, who got his medical degree from Columbia in New York and moved to Seoul 10 years ago, cites drive-by testing as one of "a panoply of measures" designed to stop the virus from overwhelming this country of 51 million people."There is no silver bullet," says Gurel, who teaches medicine and provides scientific advice. "Individually, people might suffer, but in aggregate they end up with qualitative stabilization." That is to say, for the overall population the disease is brought under control.The proof is in the numbers showing new cases in South Korea decreasing steadily–just 110 on Thursday, the lowest in more than two weeks, while 177 were declared cured and sent home. All told, the number of cases totals 7,979, but the general feeling sense is the worst is over."Korea is setting a good example for the U.S.," said Jang Sung-eun, who still rides the subways to work every day while many of her colleagues try to work from home. "They say we Koreans are rather effective in dealing with the problem."Such guarded optimism reflects a discernible shift in national mood from the near-panic that engulfed the country after the virus was discovered to be emanating from a church in the city of Daegu, 170 miles southeast of Seoul. The church was one of dozens run by the secretive Shincheonji sect, whose leader, Lee Man-hee, has proclaimed himself the embodiment of Jesus Christ."There was some resistance among them to testing," says Gurel, but by now almost all the sect's 230,000 members have been checked. Most of those suffering from the disease were members of the church or caught the virus from members who may have passed it on through two or three others, who in turn transmitted it to still more contacts.Korean self-discipline and community cohesiveness explain much of the success in coming to terms with an illness that remains almost out of control elsewhere."The rate of new cases is tapering much more than in Italy, Iran or the U.S.," says Gurel. "They've been taking measures that are quite constructive. They've been isolating cluster areas but not in a totalitarian way."Quite aside from the availability of quick, no-cost testing, Dr. Gurel cites the discipline of Koreans in heeding advice of all sorts. "There is a constant message about social hygiene," he says. Avoidance of public spaces, frequent hand-washing, all that "eventually improved the situation."Kim Ganglip, vice health minister, outlined the philosophy behind the campaign to halt the spread of the disease."We consider two core values to be important," he told journalists in Seoul. "First is that public participation must be secured through openness and transparency. Second is to respect creative thinking and use cutting-edge technology to develop the most effective means of response." On that basis, he said, "the government is working on various ways to ensure that the information that citizens need to stay safe includes detailed explanations."Once a patient is confirmed to have the disease, the words "emergency alert" on mobile phones show his or her "travel history," said Kim. "The more transparently and quickly accurate information is provided, the more the people will trust the government." If that approach seemed like an intrusion on privacy, Kim adopts that same argument in debunking what he called "the traditional response to an outbreak of contagious disease" that involved "locking down afflicted areas and isolating infected victims." That approach, he said, has had only "modest effectiveness" while appearing "close-minded, coercive, and inflexible." In fact, he said, "We have experienced harmful consequences with democracy being undermined and active public participation in the process being reduced." As a democratic country and a pluralistic society, said Kim, "we must transcend the limitations of the conventional approach to fighting infectious diseases." But how can South Korea manage to pull off the trick of sticking to democratic principles while trying to tell people what to do and how to behave? The answer, some believe, lies in Korea's military history. "Having the large military and needing to remain in constant readiness for an outbreak of war is probably helpful," says Steve Tharp, a retired U.S. army officer who's lived on the peninsula for decades. "The government was also able to quickly pull assets from the military, such as nurses and others, to assist in the effort. We see pictures of soldiers walking around in hazmat suits spraying different locations." Then too, Tharp notes, geography helps. "South Korea is essentially an island with the water on three sides"–and the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea "blocking the hostile nation to the north." Finally, he adds in an email, "The small geographical size of Korea and the great rail and road networks also mean that assets/resources needed to fight the virus can be redistributed quickly nationwide–in just a matter of hours." Korea's history of having battled, and defeated, previous epidemiological threats undoubtedly helped.While President Donald Trump's people seemed oblivious to the danger of a pandemic, observes Tom Coyner, a long-time business consultant in Seoul, in South Korea "the national health program is relatively immune to political pressures." Thus "precautionary measures, such as those pertaining to a possible pandemic, such as SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19, were being treated seriously and unlikely to face budgetary cutbacks. "Hank Morris, also a consultant in Seoul, agrees. "The Koreans must have developed viral infection testing capacities from the time of SARS and MERS, and also for swine flu, all of which were within the past 20 years," he says. "They began developing large-scale testing years ago and have allocated some resources to testing capability every year."Amazingly, even Korean conservatives, bitterly opposed to the liberal policies of President Moon, cannot deny that Korea's approach to coronavirus actually appears to be working."We're very advanced," says Maeng Joo-seok, a regular participant in right-wing protests before the government banned them. "We are very developed and reliable"–enough to imbue Koreans with confidence in their ability to defeat the odds as they have done so often since the country's rise from the rubble of war.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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| Jack Ma to donate test kits, masks to U.S. in fight against coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 12:10 PM PDT |
| Election officials: Tuesday primaries on despite virus fears Posted: 13 Mar 2020 11:38 AM PDT |
| Burial pits from Iran's coronavirus outbreak have grown so large you can see them from space Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  Along with China and Italy, Iran has been hit especially hard by coronavirus. Burial pits have grown so fast in Qom, Iran, they're visible from space,
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| Schools scramble to feed students after coronavirus closures Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Kiyana Esco needs free school lunches and breakfasts to feed her six children. Esco, a single mother who was just promoted to manager at a Dollar Tree, fears she'll be fired because she can't work following school closures in Elk Grove, the fifth-largest district in California. Congress is considering making it easier for school meals to be passed out at places like food banks as schools shut down in a growing list of states that included Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and South Dakota.
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| Visits halted in fed prisons, immigration centers over virus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:34 AM PDT  Inmates at all 122 federal correctional facilities across the country will no longer be allowed visits from family, friends or attorneys for the next 30 days, in response to the threat of the coronavirus, officials told The Associated Press on Friday. The restrictions, now in effect, were portrayed as a precaution, since no federal inmates or Bureau of Prisons staff members have tested positives for COVID-19. The plan to temporarily suspend visitation, curtail staff travel and pause inmate transfers is part of the bureau's action plan for concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus for the 175,000 inmates in Bureau of Prisons custody.
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| Tax on internet ads gets traction in Maryland Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:33 AM PDT |
| Chinese businessman to donate 500,000 test kits and 1 million masks to the U.S. Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:57 AM PDT  Jack Ma's businesses have already sourced and donated supplies to other countries being hit by the virus, including Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain.
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| WHO, UN Foundation and partners launch first-of-its-kind COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:55 AM PDT |
| Germany unleashes biggest post-war aid package against virus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:52 AM PDT  The German government on Friday unleashed the biggest economic aid package in the country's post-war history, offering companies "unlimited" credit to keep them afloat during the coronavirus crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel said the measures "are unprecedented in the history of the German government", and repeated that Berlin would do "whatever is necessary" to tackle the fallout from the pandemic. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz described the rescue measures as the equivalent of bringing "a bazooka" to the economic fightback against the virus.
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| US keeping two carriers in Gulf to deter Iran proxy attacks Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:51 AM PDT  The Pentagon said Friday it would keep two aircraft carrier task forces in the Gulf region after carrying out strikes in Iraq on five depots for Iran-supplied rockets. Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said the carrier groups would be staying for a sustained period following a series of attacks on US positions in Iraq by Iranian-backed groups that have ratcheted up tensions with Tehran. Early Friday the US military launched air strikes against weapons depots of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iraqi armed faction backed by Iran.
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| Revolutionary Guards to enforce coronavirus controls in Iran Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:30 AM PDT  Streets, shops and public spaces to be cleared in next 24 hours after virus kills hundreds * Coronavirus latest – live updatesIran's Revolutionary Guards are to clear streets, shops and public places in the country within the next 24 hours, in a dramatic escalation of efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus.The near-curfew follows growing exasperation among MPs that calls for Iranian citizens to stay at home had been widely ignored, as people continued to travel before the Nowruz new year holidays. Shops and offices have largely remained open.Controversy over the health ministry's authority within government and the haphazard way in which Iran's provinces were implementing its advice has led to the change in tactics, and a clearer role for the army. The failure to impose a quarantine around the spiritual city of Qom, seen as the centre of the outbreak, has caused anger on social media.There have also been complaints that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has not been taking a sufficiently hands-on role in the crisis.Official figures, disputed by foreign media and opponents of the regime, show the numbers of dead in Iran have climbed to 514 and the numbers infected to 11,634. Hospitals in some provinces have been overwhelmed by the demand for treatment.Satellite images released this week showed what appeared to be mass graves in Qom, suggesting Iran's coronavirus epidemic is more serious than authorities are admitting.The pictures show the excavation of a new section in a cemetery on the northern fringe of the city in late February, and two long trenches dug by the end of the month.The new steps, reflecting a transfer of power from political to military rulers, and ordered by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was announced by the armed forces commander-in-chief, Mohammad Baqeri. He said the intervention would start in the next 24 hours and last as long as a week. The volunteer Basij force will be involved in the programme, which will include phone calls, internet contact and house-to-house visits.Baqeri said the army would be working alongside the health ministry, and not supplanting it, but pictures show the army meeting at a separate headquarters to discuss the new action plan. He urged people "to follow the recommendations and requests of the ministry of health and so help break this chain of transmission", adding: "If the chain continues, disease control [measures] will be prolonged."As many as 1,000 fixed and mobile detection clinics were being set up as part of the plan. He said the army would step in alongside nurses to set up a corps of staff, including volunteers that could work alongside exhausted medical workers. Army factories were producing face masks and gloves, and 6,000 army hospital beds were being made available, he said. The health ministry said it was setting up a national coronavirus mobilisation programme to increase early detection and had already piloted implementation of it in five provinces.A spokesman claimed the pilot scheme had already reduced the scale of infections in Qom and Guilan provinces so that the total number of new cases for the first time was exceeded by the numbers recovering.The aim was to identify patients at the first stage of the disease and prevent them from circulating in the community, as well as those associated with them, so cutting the transmission chain.Despite Iran's reputation as an authoritarian state in which human rights are ignored, the opening fortnight of its fight against coronavirus has been marked by citizens demanding the state take more draconian and consistent steps to bring the disease under control. An earlier proposal for a house-to-house detection system was criticised on the grounds that it might lead to the spread rather than the containment of the disease.The crackdown came as the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, sparred with Khamenei on Twitter over claims the US had launched a biological war on Iran. Pompeo tweeted: "As Khamenei knows, the best biological defense is to tell the truth to the Iranian people about how the virus came from Wuhan, China. He [Khamenei] allowed Mahan Air's flights to and from China, the centre of the epidemic, to continue, and imprisoned those who talked about it."Khamenei had tweeted the day before: "Evidence suggests this could be a biological attack. So the fight against the coronavirus can be left to the armed forces, and it can also be a biological defense combat exercise and increase our national authority and capability."Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, joined in the row, saying: "Instead of hypocritical compassion and disgusting boasting, stop economic and medical terrorism so that medicine and medical equipment reach the medical staff and people of Iran.""By the way, pay attention to the American people too!" the spokesman advised US officials.Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund for $5bn in aid to help combat the crisis but may well find the request is blocked by the US. Any hopes the crisis would lead to a temporary truce between Tehran and Washington appear to have been dashed by an Iraqi militia attack on a US army base in Iraq.
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| Coronavirus: What misinformation has spread in Africa? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Which claims about the coronavirus are gaining the most traction in Africa?
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| Coronavirus Can’t Quarantine The Proxy War Between U.S. and Iran Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:09 AM PDT  A pandemic is spreading around the world, challenging global health systems and national preparedness. About the only thing the novel coronavirus is not disrupting is conflict between the U.S. and Iran, as the top U.S. general in the Middle East signaled Friday that the airstrikes on Iranian proxy militias in Iraq are likely to not be the last. On Thursday night, U.S. warplanes struck what Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie described as five "advanced conventional" weapons storage sites in Iraq kept by the Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah. Kataib Hezbollah's Iraqi leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed by the same U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian external security chief Qassem Soleimani. McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, for the first time called the group responsible for this week's rocket attack on Iraq's Camp Taji that killed two U.S. service members, Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts. While McKenzie testified on Thursday that the Soleimani assassination restored a "rough form of deterrence" against Iran itself, McKenzie indicated on Friday that Iran's proxy forces—for 15 years, Iran's preferred, deniable mechanism to kill and maim U.S. forces—are unlikely to cease attacks on the U.S. in Iraq. "The threat remains very high. Tensions have not gone down," McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon early on Friday. Iran's decision not to respond conventionally after launching ballistic missiles at U.S. positions in January—and shooting down a civilian airliner by accident—provides only what McKenzie called an "illusion of normality." For all the Trump administration has said about restoring deterrence by killing Soleimani, McKenzie indicated that the major impact two months after the loss of the Iranian general was that "it's harder for them to make effective decisions, it's harder for them to convey their will to their proxies… None of their core objectives have changed, it's their ability to execute."McKenzie said that the five weapons depots struck were nowhere near the entirety of Kataib Hezbollah's arsenal. "Plenty" of additional caches exist and may become U.S. targets, he added, should Iran-backed militias, as expected, continue targeting U.S. forces in Iraq. McKenzie telegraphed that Americans should expect "continued engagement [from the militias] we're just going to have to deal with in the theater going forward."Asked why the U.S. didn't hit all Kataib Hezbollah's weapons sites, McKenzie answered, "restraint." That was a reference to the anger that Iraqis have felt over becoming a battleground for the U.S. and Iran— something that has jeopardized the future of U.S. forces there. "We have to respect, to some degree, the government of Iraq's wishes," McKenzie said— although he stopped short of saying the Iraqis were consulted prior to the strike. Top General: Coronavirus Could Push Iran To Lash Out at U.S.Iraq, like everywhere else, is struggling with COVID-19. Eight deaths have been attributed to the pandemic. Hospital systems battered by decades of war have to balance bed space for the public health emergency and the wounded from war. While McKenzie did not detail Iraqi casualties from the Thursday strike, the Iraqi military said the U.S. killed three Iraqi army commandos, two federal policemen and a civilian, as well as wounding five Popular Mobilization Unit militiamen—something that showed the deep ties between the Iranian-backed militias and the Iraqi security forces that the U.S. sponsors. The Iraqi presidency on Friday called the U.S. strike a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, much as it called the Soleimani slaying. "The presidency of the Republic denounces the foreign bombing that targeted many locations inside Iraq, including the Karbala airport under construction, and led to the martyrdom and wounding of members of the Iraqi security forces and civilians," it said in a statement. The presidency had earlier denounced the militia strike on Camp Taji."We're a post-conflict state. Our resources are stressed. Oil prices are down," an Iraqi official explained to The Daily Beast. "We have to contend with coronavirus. The last thing we want to deal with is an escalation in a proxy war." Yet the U.S. remains in an escalatory posture. For the first time since 2012, the military has two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Harry S Truman. Plus McKenzie said batteries of the Patriot anti-missile system are continuing to stream into Iraq, despite representing another source of tension with the Iraqi government. While Navy aircraft can launch from the carriers to strike militia targets, the heavy hardware is more responsive to a state like Iran than to its low-level proxy forces in Iraq. The actual mission of the U.S. in Iraq, to prevent a resurgence of the so-called Islamic State, seems like an afterthought, despite two Marine Raiders dying in an intense fight against ISIS this week.Coronavirus Is a Moral Test That Conservatives Are FailingMcKenzie appeared to acknowledge the stress. The Patriots don't protect against rocket fire, and there aren't enough counter-rocket systems to safeguard every position hosting U.S. forces in Iraq, he said. But McKenzie reiterated what he told a Senate panel on Thursday: As long as the Trump administration continues its Maximum Pressure campaign on Iran, Iran will seek to break it through violence, including proxy violence. Thursday's strikes were supposed to be a "clear, unambiguous signal that we will not tolerate this behavior in the future."Ilan Goldenberg, a senior Pentagon and State Department Middle East official during the Obama administration, said this week's attacks displayed "mindblowing stupidity" from the Americans, the Iranians, and the Iranian-backed militias. He questioned the carrier and Patriot deployments as overkill and warned that coronavirus posed a far greater threat to all involved."This is a moment for deescalation and to focus on things like regional diplomacy. In the midst of a global pandemic, borders don't matter," said Goldenberg, now with the Center for a New American Security. "We should be having Iraqis, Saudis, Iranians, and Americans sitting down to talk about how you manage this... All of our major resources need to go to thinking through that global emergency, not going to the Middle East." 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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| Iran imposes lockdown to check all citizens for virus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:50 AM PDT  Iran said Friday the security forces will clear the streets nationwide within 24 hours so all citizens can be checked for coronavirus -- its toughest measure yet to combat the outbreak. The COVID-19 epidemic in Iran -- a nation of more than 80 million people -- has now claimed over 500 lives and infected more than 11,000. Since it announced the first deaths last month, Iran has shut schools, postponed events and discouraged travel ahead of Nowrouz, the country's New Year holidays.
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| US is reportedly investigating ZTE over new bribery allegations Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:29 AM PDT  Just when it seemed that Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE was in the clear, it is once again being investigated by the Justice Department. In March 2017, ZTE agreed to pay $1.19 billion and submit to a three-year probation period as punishment for violating US trade sanctions with Iran and North Korea. That probation period ended Saturday, and now, the Justice Department is reportedly looking into new and separate bribery allegations, sources tell NBC News.
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| Trump says he's likely to be tested after repeat exposure Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:22 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Friday he will "most likely" be tested for the novel coronavirus, as questions swirled about why he, his top aides and his family weren't doing more to protect themselves and others after repeated exposure to COVID-19. Trump has now had multiple direct and indirect contacts with people who have tested positive for the pandemic virus, which on Friday prompted him to declare a state of emergency as schools and workplaces across the country shuttered, flights were canceled and Americans braced for war against the threat. Trump spent time last weekend at his private club in Florida with a top Brazilian official who later tested positive.
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| In These Aging Places, Coronavirus Is a Huge Threat Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:20 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The coronavirus is much, much more dangerous for the elderly than the young. A epidemiological study released several weeks ago by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention that found an overall Covid-19 case-fatality rate of 2.3% put the rate at 3.6% for those 60 to 69, 8% for those 70 to 79, and 14.8% for those 80 and older.That obviously has implications for individuals as they assess the risks they face from Covid-19. It also matters for governments — because some places have a lot more old people than others.Japan has the highest share of 65-plussers on the planet: 27.6% of its population in 2018, according the World Bank. All the other countries where the percentage is above 20% are in Europe, with Italy leading the way at 22.8%. Italy is also the country with the second-most Covid-19 cases and deaths after China. That's probably not a coincidence.It's not as if having a younger population will spare a country from major coronavirus trouble: Iran's 65-plus share is just 6.2%, yet it seems overwhelmed by the disease. Still, it's an indication that European countries with well-regarded universal health-care systems will nonetheless face huge challenges as the disease spreads, and that nations in Africa and South Asia that are usually seen as especially vulnerable because of poverty and inadequate medical care may stand a chance of weathering this pandemic better than some rich countries do.Among wealthy countries, the U.S. population share of those 65 and older is on the low end: 15.8% in 2018. Still, there are states with age profiles that look more like Europe's, with Maine and Florida leading the way at 20.6% and 20.5%. Due in part to a big exodus of younger residents both before and after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico (not on the map below) is even higher, at 20.7%. Utah has the lowest share, at 11.1%.It's when you break it down by county that the really big differences appear. Every county that isn't in the lightest blue in the map below has a 65-plus population of 20% or more.The county with the nation's highest senior-citizen share is Sumter County, Florida, home of the fast-growing retirement community, The Villages. Its 65-and-older percentage was 55.6% from 2014-2018, a period I used in the above chart because single-year data for many smaller counties isn't reliable, and 57.6% in 2018. That's an estimated 74,162 people 65-and-older in a county with 277 acute-care hospital beds.Apart from other retirement destinations in the South and Southwest, most of the old-skewing counties are in rural areas, which tend to have inadequate access to health care. On the positive side, the virus will probably take longer to get to such areas. Still the maps do indicate an imbalance of health-care resources and likely severity of coronavirus consequences. Some of these place are going to really need help.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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| China's ZTE subject to new U.S. bribery investigation, NBC News says Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Chinese telecoms company ZTE <000063.SZ> is the subject of a new bribery investigation at the U.S. Justice Department, centered on suspected bribes paid to foreign officials to gain advantages in its worldwide operations, NBC News said. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ZTE pleaded guilty in 2017 and paid nearly $900 million to settle with the U.S. after an investigation found the telecommunications equipment maker conspired to evade U.S. embargoes by buying U.S. components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran.
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| Louisiana governor moves primary because of coronavirus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 07:30 AM PDT  Louisiana's governor Friday postponed the state's presidential primaries due to fears of the coronavirus, making it the first state to push back its election because of the outbreak. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed an executive order delaying the April 4 primary until June 20, according to his spokeswoman Christina Stephens. In a statement, he described the step as "necessary to protect the health and safety of the people of Louisiana from the risk of COVID-19," the disease caused by the coronavirus.
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| Turkish, Russian troops to start Syria patrols on Sunday Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:59 AM PDT  Turkish and Russian troops will begin jointly patrolling a key highway in northwest Syria on Sunday as part of a fragile truce brokered by the countries, Turkey's defense minister said Friday. Hulusi Akar made the announcement after Turkish and Russian officials ended four days of talks in Ankara over the technicalities of the cease-fire reached last week for Syria's Idlib province. The cease-fire by Russia and Turkey — which support the opposing sides in the Syria conflict — called for the establishment of a security corridor along Syria's M4 highway, running east-west in Idlib, with joint patrols by Russian and Turkish troops.
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| Supreme Court petitioned on police officers' legal immunity Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:48 AM PDT  James King had no idea that the men who grabbed him and took his wallet were plainclothes officers looking for a fugitive. King, 27, was a college student at Grand Valley State in Michigan in 2014 when he was beaten. King's case is one of several taken up by the Arlington-based Institute for Justice in an effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the "qualified immunity" doctrine, which frequently shields police officers and other government agents from lawsuits when they are accused of violating a person's constitutional rights.
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| Northern Irish government split on coronavirus measures Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:40 AM PDT |
| Trump scrambles to broaden coronavirus testing options Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:13 AM PDT  The Trump administration scrambled Friday to broaden testing for the coronavirus with a flurry of new measures, and public confusion persisted over who should be tested and how to get checked for the disease. Declaring a national emergency, President Donald Trump and senior staffers laid out a new testing strategy designed to screen hundreds of thousands of Americans at drive-thru centers based around major retail chains. Countries including South Korea and Germany have been using that approach for weeks, allowing people to quickly provide a throat or nasal swab for testing without leaving their cars.
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| Death toll at 21 as Egypt storms, flooding enter 2nd day Posted: 13 Mar 2020 06:03 AM PDT  Thunderstorms and flooding around Egypt entered a second day Friday, interrupting daily life in much of the country, including the capital Cairo, as the death toll rose to 21, authorities said. Since the rains hit late Wednesday and early Thursday, social media has been inundated with images and video showing flooded roads and villages as well as water-filled apartments in some of Cairo's richest neighborhoods. Chaos always accompanies bad weather in Egypt, raising questions about the country's poor infrastructure and dilapidated sewage and drainage systems.
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| US general: 'fairly certain' North Korea has COVID-19 cases Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:58 AM PDT  The top American general in South Korea said Friday he is fairly certain North Korea has not been spared by the COVID-19 outbreak that began in neighboring China, although the North has not publicly confirmed a single case. Speaking by video-teleconference from his headquarters in South Korea, Army Gen. Robert Abrams told reporters at the Pentagon that the North had halted military training for a month — including a 24-day hiatus in military flying — but has since resumed. Earlier this week, North Korean state media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised his second live-fire artillery exercise in a week.
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| A Pandemic in Search of an Establishment Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:55 AM PDT |
| Can You Be Forced Into Quarantine? Your Questions, Answered Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:21 AM PDT  Government-imposed quarantines were fairly common in ancient times, before medicine stemmed the ferocity with which contagious diseases spread. The very word quarantine is rooted in the Italian words quarantenara and quaranta giorni, or 40 days, the period of time that the city of Venice forced ship passengers and cargo to wait before landing in the 14th and 15th centuries to try to stave off the plague. Since then, quarantines have often generated tensions between protecting public health versus respecting individual rights.Here are answers to some common questions about how quarantines are imposed and enforced in the United States in the wake of the coronavirus.Can the government impose a quarantine on anybody?The legal authority to impose quarantines on individuals is rooted in the "police powers" granted broadly to states, counties and cities to protect public health. That means for most Americans, a state or local quarantine imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus will be far more important than any federal order.When it comes to the federal government, it can impose quarantines under the Public Health Service Act for two main reasons: to prevent the spread of communicable disease into the United States or between states. That is why, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered Americans flying home after visiting mainland China or Iran to fly into one of 11 major U.S. airports that had the ability to screen passengers.Quarantines are considered a measure of last resort when no preferable means is available to halt the spread of a deadly communicable disease. Those subject to quarantine should be either infectious or have been exposed to the disease, experts said."We do not want to restrict people's liberty unless it is necessary, unless we cannot achieve the public health end with less draconian measures," said Wendy Parmet, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University.So there is no blanket law?No, the laws vary by state and even locality. Some 40 states updated their quarantine laws after fears spread over a possible broad anthrax attack in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown University Law School who specializes in public health law. He is the author of a legal template called the State Emergency Health Powers Act, which many states adopted in whole or in part. Some states retain antiquated regulations on their books.Are quarantines, including self-isolating at home, voluntary or mandatory?It is a bit of a gray area. It often seems voluntary until the person involved tries to leave, at which point health officials are likely to make it compulsory, experts said. The rules are notoriously hard to confirm because county governments often do not publish their regulations online.When one of the Americans flown home from Wuhan, China, tried to leave a California military base where the group was quarantined, for example, Riverside County mandated the quarantine.The bottom line, however, is that if a quarantine is not enforced and other people catch the fatal disease as a result, the local government could be held liable, Gostin said. "Thinking about this as purely voluntary is wishful thinking."Is it a crime to evade a quarantine?Again, laws vary by state, but those who ignore the rule could face fines or jail time. Logic dictates that draconian enforcement would be difficult and often counterproductive. No local law enforcement agency would likely compound its problems by throwing a quarantine scofflaw with a deadly communicable disease in among its jail population.Local authorities often have some form of enforcement power, but usually try gentle persuasion to persuade people that it is for their good and the good of the community. An infected person blatantly ignoring an order might be forced to go into medical isolation -- that is, some form of locked hospital ward.Experts worry that many Americans might think they have the right to go someplace local like the supermarket without considering the consequences for others. "We have lost this tradition of the common good and social responsibility to each other and that could be a big problem in America," Gostin said.Is there a right to appeal?States should have some manner of appeal process, and some require a court order from the outset. If there is no medical tribunal or other means for a second opinion, ultimately anyone could challenge a quarantine order in court through a writ of habeas corpus.Quarantine laws tend to be controversial because they are akin to jail time, using the coercive power of the state to tell people that they have to stay confined, even if in their own homes.The CDC rewrote its quarantine guidelines in 2017 and they have never been tested in court. The Supreme Court has also never dealt with an infectious disease quarantine case, Gostin said.Under CDC rules, the federal government must test those confined within 72 hours and define the length of stay from the outset -- two weeks for the coronavirus because that is the incubation period for the disease.The most famous recent test case was Kaci Hickox, a nurse who was initially quarantined involuntarily at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2014 upon returning from West Africa, where she had worked with Ebola patients.After a few days, she was allowed to return to her home state of Maine but ordered to remain in isolation. Having tested negative for the virus, Hickox sued and the judge rejected the quarantine order.With the help of the ACLU, Hickox also sued New Jersey, which resulted in a settlement that gave arriving passengers more rights, including the right to appeal the decision and to seek legal advice.What does the government provide during a quarantine?The most glaring hole in American quarantine laws, experts said, is that there is no guaranteed salary. An employer could even fire a quarantined employee. President Donald Trump has said that his administration would address financial relief for people quarantined.If you are separated from the community for the public good, the government should provide medical service, essential medications, food and other social support if you need it, Gostin said.Secretary of Defense Mark Esper selected more than 1,350 total rooms on 13 bases to house American travelers or U.S. government personnel under federal quarantine, with three bases currently hosting some 600 people, said Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon spokesman. Aside from offering housing, military personnel are not involved, he said, with the Department of Health and Human Services deciding who goes where and providing services.Are quarantines effective?They generally help slow the spread of the disease but sometimes do not depending on the disease and the conditions of the quarantine, experts said. In China, that seemed to decelerate the exponential spread of the virus, they said, whereas holding passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan appeared to create a kind of petri dish with more people infected.Could there be broad quarantines in the United States like those imposed by China or Italy?The United States government lacks the broad authority to impose the sweeping quarantine seen in China, where some 70 million people were confined in the largest such effort in history. Italy, which has a more centralized government, attempted to lock down the entire country. But in the United States neither federal nor state law contains the powers for such expansive measures, Gostin said.In addition, the United States does not really have the logistical systems in place to guarantee the distribution of medical services, food and other necessities to people under quarantine.New York state decided to deploy the National Guard in New Rochelle, a New York City suburb and the center of a significant outbreak, to help provide those kinds of services and to help scrub public spaces clean. The center of the city is considered a "containment zone," but it is not under quarantine.Is there any history of quarantines in the United States?The measures being implemented now around the globe are the most sweeping since the 1918 influenza pandemic.In the United States, quarantines have been extremely rare. The last federal quarantine was in the early 1960s against a suspected smallpox outbreak. Instead the CDC tends to issue health warnings, like advising pregnant women to avoid Southern Florida in 2016 during an outbreak of the Zika virus.In earlier times, there were frequent legal quarantines, dating back to at least the early 18th century. The fact that they often targeted minority immigrant communities is a key reason that civil libertarians are leery about giving the government wide powers today.Two of the most notorious cases occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.In 1900, the city of San Francisco tried to impose a quarantine on Chinatown, arguing that a diet of rice made people more susceptible to bubonic plague than the more American diet of meat, and demanded that its residents submit to an unproven vaccine, according to Howard Markel, the director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. Residents sued under the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal treatment under the law, and won.In New York City, which once deployed health police armed with billy clubs and powers of arrest, an outbreak of typhus among Russian Jewish and Italian immigrants on the Lower East Side prompted the authorities to confine some 1,200 people on North Brother Island off the Bronx for several months in 1892.Perhaps the island's most infamous resident ever was Mary Mallon, known as "Typhoid Mary," an Irish-born cook who infected dozens of people in New York, killing some of them, by changing jobs frequently and refusing to stop working as a cook.Markel cited in his book "Quarantine" an example of the sense of sweeping power held by the authorities at that time, when they thought it was in the public interest to impose a quarantine.Asked to testify in Congress about quarantining hundreds of immigrants on the island in 1892, Cyrus Edson, the New York City's sanitary supervisor, responded, "We may take possession of the City Hall forcibly and turn it into a contagious disease hospital if in our opinion it is necessary to do so."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Biden and Trump agree on strong US-Israel relations – Bernie, not so much Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:03 AM PDT  President Donald Trump has claimed for himself the title of history's most pro-Israel U.S. president, while characterizing his Democratic opponents as radicals seeking to destroy the special bond between the United States and the Jewish state."If you vote for a Democrat," Trump recently said, "you are very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people."Joe Biden's emergence as the all-but-official Democratic candidate, however, may have stymied attempts to frame the presidential election as a referendum on U.S. policy toward Israel. Reality 'complex'In early March, Bernie Sanders was the Democrats' frontrunner – and an easy target for the Trump campaign. He made a series of comments that many interpreted as threatening to the future of U.S.-Israel relations. For instance, during the Democratic debate in South Carolina, Sanders said he would seriously consider reversing a decision Trump had made that was widely viewed as favoring Israel: moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.That was the backdrop when Vice President Mike Pence recently urged the crowd at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., to give his boss "four more years" for Israel's sake. Sanders did not attend the conference, accusing the bipartisan AIPAC of providing a "platform" for "bigotry.""The most pro-Israel president in history," Pence said, pitting Trump against Sanders, "must not be replaced by one who would be the most anti-Israel president in the history of this nation." But the reality of U.S.-Israel relations is far more complex. I've learned that during my dozen years of researching an illegal 1947-1949 operation by American World War II aviators who risked their lives and freedom to halt what they viewed as an imminent second Holocaust in the contested land that would become the state of Israel. A look at the pastWhenever I screen my documentary, "A Wing and a Prayer," or give a book talk, audience members express shock at the U.S. State Department's efforts in the late 1940s to dismantle this operation and prevent the Jewish state's creation.Given the complicated roots of the two countries' relations, Americans should not be surprised that the 2020 presidential elections have caused confusion about the future of U.S.-Israel relations. On one side, new members of Congress Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have been hypercritical of U.S. policies in the Middle East, specifically of what they view as the sidelining of the Palestinians.Trump, on the other hand, clearly has warm feelings for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently under indictment for fraud and bribery.By contrast, Biden served under Barack Obama, who repeatedly provoked Netanyahu's ire by lamenting Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank on land the Palestinians argue belongs to them. Biden himself has also voiced frustrations with Netanyahu's West Bank settlement expansion – and has continued attacking the prime minister, most recently for his pledge to annex the Jordan Valley, which is part of the disputed territories on which the Palestinians hope to set up their state. Biden stands firmThe truth is that U.S.-Israel relations will most likely remain stable no matter who wins the presidency on Nov. 3. Biden has consistently expressed a commitment to maintaining strong ties with the Jewish state; he just disagrees with the current president on what that means in practical terms. Yes, Biden stands to the left of Trump. But despite clashing with Netanyahu on settlements, he and the Obama administration bolstered strategic cooperation between the two countries. That included giving Israel its biggest-ever military-aid package: $38 billion over 10 years.Even Biden's thumbs up for his boss's polarizing Iran nuclear deal came because he believed it benefited the Jewish state. Despite Netanyahu's disparagement of the deal, many Israelis, including Efraim Halevy, former head of the Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, shared the Obama administration's view. Addressing the AIPAC conference by video link, Biden warned that if Israel carries out Netanyahu's new West Bank plans, it may lose young Americans' support. "We can't let that happen," Biden said. "We can't let Israel become another issue that divides Republicans and Democrats. We can't let anything undermine the partnership." Together, after allU.S.-Israel relations have rarely played a major role in presidential elections because most candidates have generally agreed on the importance of the relationship. It has been decades since there was really a major disagreement about U.S. foreign policy toward Israel.In the late 1940s, the British were relinquishing control of the territory of Palestine, and President Harry Truman and his State Department held different views of what should happen next. Truman's administration voted for the United Nations proposal to split Palestine between the Arabs and the Jews, which passed 33-13 in 1947. The State Department, however, opposed the Zionists' push to establish a Jewish state, believing its creation would alienate Middle Eastern allies and lead to an all-out war that would provide the Soviet Union with an excuse to gain a foothold in the region.State Department officials worked to reverse the U.N. partition plan and prevent Israel's birth, including convincing Truman to impose an embargo on weapons sales to the Middle East. Egypt, Transjordan and Iraq, who opposed the establishment of the Jewish state, received weapons, equipment and training from the United Kingdom. The U.S. arms embargo severely limited how much help the Israelis could get.The secret operation by American veterans that I have studied and documented helped Israel survive its first war, which began the morning after it declared independence. But for two decades, disputes among U.S. leaders kept the two countries from becoming strategic and military allies.John F. Kennedy made the first meaningful overture when he sold Israel defensive weapons in the early 1960s. A decade later, Richard Nixon was the first to provide meaningful military aid: the U.S. arms airlift during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.By then, the United States and the Jewish state were becoming best friends. They needed each other. Washington needed the Israelis to help protect American interests in the Middle East and provide intelligence on allies and foes alike; and the Israelis needed the Americans for strategic and military assistance, including access to advanced weapons. Most Americans and Israelis believe they still do.Their ties are almost certainly safe no matter who wins the presidential elections.[You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * As Israel turns 70, many young American Jews turn away * Boaz Dvir does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Give Iran Help, Not Cash, to Fight the Virus Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:34 AM PDT |
| Iran reports 85 new virus deaths, taking total to 514 Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:34 AM PDT  Iran announced on Friday that the new coronavirus has claimed another 85 lives, the highest single-day death toll in one of the world's worst affected countries. "Sadly, 85 people infected with the COVID-19 disease have died in the past 24 hours", bringing to 514 the overall number of deaths in Iran, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference. "The total number of patients has therefore reached 11,364 cases," he said, adding Tehran province had the most new infections.
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| Several Global Tipping Points May Have Arrived Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:23 AM PDT |
| Iraq army says US strikes kill 5 security forces, 1 civilian Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:23 AM PDT  Iraq's military said five security force members and a civilian were killed early Friday in a barrage of U.S. airstrikes launched hours after a rocket attack killed and wounded American and British servicemen at a base north of Baghdad. An Iran-backed Shiite militia group vowed to exact revenge for the U.S. strikes, potentially signalling another cycle of tit-for-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq. U.S. officials said the airstrikes' intended targets were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the militia group believed to be responsible for Wednesday's attack on Camp Taji base.
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| 10 things you need to know today: March 13, 2020 Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:48 AM PDT |
| What's Happening: Life feels surreal; emergency measures Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:39 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic has spurred leaders to take emergency action and lent a surreal quality to the lives of millions of people around the globe. It has disrupted daily routines, overwhelmed hospitals, shuttered schools and offices and halted many sporting and entertainment events. The intensifying spread of COVID-19 beyond Asia has dashed hopes for a quick containment, even with travel and social events curbed drastically.
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| Leadership in a Time of Crisis Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:10 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus impact is pervasive. Schools, bars and restaurants are closed, sporting and other events canceled. Broadway shut. Italy resembles a ghost country under a nationwide lockdown.Governments and central bank officials are arguing in Europe over how to mitigate the economic hit. And more politicians are being directly affected, right as people want reassurance.The Canadian prime minister is in self-quarantine as his wife has the virus. Brazil's president is being tested. His communications secretary – who recently met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago – is infected.Top Iranian officials have not just contracted the virus – they've died from it. The head of one of Italy's ruling coalition parties has it. So does an Australian minister who met Ivanka Trump in Washington last week.Among the challenges these and other leaders face is how to stay visible and communicate effectively in a time of crisis, when social media rumors are rife and panic buying leaves shoppers brawling in the aisles amid empty supermarket shelves.Broader political business is also being affected, with multilateral meetings ditched or held virtually. U.K. and European Union negotiators won't meet in London next week to talk post-Brexit arrangements. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party delayed a conference to choose a new leader. France says weekend municipal elections will go ahead, but expect turnout to be affected.The pandemic has transformed the way Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Trump are campaigning as the U.S. presidential race enters a key phase. Biden and Sanders are scheduled to hold their first one-on-one debate — sans audience — Sunday in Arizona ahead of that state's March 17 primary.The more the virus drags on, the more challenges it generates. These next months may test leaders more than they currently imagine.Global HeadlinesWho's in charge? | French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte took a rare swipe at the European Central Bank last night after its measures to tackle the fallout from the coronavirus sent markets tumbling. Today governments get their turn, with the European Commission setting out a menu of options for shielding the economy. Viktoria Dendrinou has a rundown of what's on the table.Perfect storm | Iran's rampaging coronavirus outbreak and the collapse in oil prices are presenting the 40-year-old Islamic Republic with an existential crisis. With the approach of the Persian New Year, normally full restaurants and confectioneries are empty as people are too frightened to venture out. Even atomic inspectors need the remote-monitoring powers they received under the beleaguered nuclear deal more than ever.Deadly attack | The American military hit back at an Iraqi militia believed responsible for the rocket attack that killed two Americans and a Briton on Wednesday. The strike on the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah comes at a difficult time for the leadership in Tehran, which is facing fallout from the downing of a commercial airliner and the killing of anti-government protesters. A previous attack nearly led to a direct military confrontation with Iran.Walking away | The Trump administration pressured Indonesia into dropping deals to buy Russian-made fighter jets and Chinese naval vessels, part of a global effort to prevent its top adversaries from eroding the U.S.'s military superiority. It shows the U.S. is having some success deterring countries from dealing with Russia and China, which the government has identified as the biggest threats to national security.Modi dawdles | India's messy banking system has long been a source of friction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and the central bank. But even the collapse of the nation's fourth-largest lender isn't spurring any urgency to clean things up. The Yes Bank crisis comes as the economy is already set to decelerate to an 11-year low, and there's rising investor discomfort over worsening religious tensions.What to WatchU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's near an agreement with the Trump administration on a plan to mitigate some of the economic blows from the virus outbreak, with an announcement planned for today. U.S. government lawyers are asking a federal judge for permission to reconsider the Pentagon's decision to award Microsoft a controversial $10 billion cloud contract after a legal challenge from Amazon. Ivory Coast's ruling party named Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as its candidate for October's presidential election after Alassane Ouattara ruled out seeking a third term in the world's biggest cocoa grower.Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Which leader in the Middle East arrested members of his own family in a bid to consolidate power? Send us your answers and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. And finally ... Thirty young South Korean activists are suing their government, claiming that parliament's recent revision to the nation's climate-change law doesn't go far enough to protect their future. The students' complaint to the Constitutional Court in Seoul argues their fundamental rights, including the right to live and to a clean environment, have been infringed by the law, which doesn't set specific targets aimed at preventing global temperatures from rising. \--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter and Ben Sills.To contact the author of this story: Rosalind Mathieson in London at rmathieson3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Ruth PollardFor 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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