| 38 positive for coronavirus in NYC jails, including Rikers Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:39 PM PDT  At least 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus in New York City jails, including at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, the board that oversees the city's jail system said Saturday. In a letter to criminal justice leaders, Board of Correction interim chairwoman Jacqueline Sherman wrote that at least 58 other people were currently being monitored in contagious disease and quarantine units. In the past six days, she wrote, the board learned that at least 12 Department of Correction employees, five Correctional Health Services employees, and 21 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
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| UN welcomes positive responses to fighting pause in Libya Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:32 PM PDT |
| Gaza authorities confirm first two COVID-19 cases Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:57 PM PDT  Authorities in Gaza confirmed the first two cases of novel coronavirus on Sunday, identifying the individuals as Palestinians who had travelled to Pakistan and were held in quarantine on their return. The United Nations has warned that a COVID-19 outbreak in Gaza could be disastrous, given the high poverty rates and weak health system in the coastal strip under Israeli blockade since 2007. "These two cases were recorded among those who returned to Gaza ... (and) did not mix with the residents of the Gaza Strip," deputy health minister Yousef Abu Al-Reesh told reporters.
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| How Nigeria's kings lost their power Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:04 PM PDT  The removal of the revered emir of Kano raises questions about the continued role of Nigeria's traditional rulers.
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| Italy Struck by Deadliest Day as Virus Prompts Industry Shutdown Posted: 21 Mar 2020 04:31 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Italy suffered its worst day of coronavirus deaths and shut down almost all industrial production for 15 days, with the pandemic dealing blow after blow across an entire European continent in lockdown.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said late Saturday that Italy will temporarily halt all non-essential business activity as the country of 60 million faces its biggest challenge since World War II. Supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and post offices and other essential businesses will stay open, he said."Stay home, we don't have a choice," he told Italians in a televised address.After overtaking China as the most deadly center of the outbreak, Italy has alarmingly reported 793 deaths on Saturday, raising the total to 4,825 as hospitals overflow and health-care workers die. The country is fast running out of solutions — social and economic — to contain the catastrophe.It's not alone: the death count in the U.K. and Spain also surged.Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was initially reluctant to embrace a large-scale shutdown, warned Britons they can't expect to be spared: "The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating. We are only a matter of weeks — two or three — behind Italy."Desperate TimesWith no end in sight to the carnage, Europe is increasingly on a war footing after restrictions on society that would have seemed outlandish just weeks ago failed to bring down death rates. Italy, a founding European Union member that's survived its share of political and financial crises, is once again on the brink in an EU beset by its latest crisis.Conte's measures to contain the spread of the virus mirror initiatives taken by the Lombardy region, the epicenter of Italy's outbreak and its economic heart. Regional leaders have urged the central government to take tougher action, often imposing their own measures before officials in Rome acted.As the human toll mounts, governments are increasingly throwing out the rulebook to counter the economic impact. Germany, long a holdout on deficit spending, pledged new debt worth almost 4.5% of its economic output. Unprecedented U.K. measures include helping pay people's wages. The U.S. administration is floating about $2 trillion in stimulus.As during Europe's debt crisis a decade ago and the politically divisive influx of refugees that began in 2015, unified leadership has been in short supply. Helmed by an inexperienced team of EU commissioners in Brussels, the bloc did agree to close its outside borders as a way to protect visa-free travel within the EU.Merkel's MomentThis weekend's focus turns to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor with debt-crisis experience whose government is holding emergency talks on Sunday that look set to end years of balanced budgets.Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said Germany is pledging more than 150 billion euros ($160 billion) in new debt to help small companies cover overheads and aid to low-income earners. Merkel is considering a state of emergency, which would allow her government to ask parliament to the German constitution's limits on public debt.Merkel also has prepared Germans for the possibility of sweeping shutdowns like those imposed in Italy and Spain, telling them "you need to take it seriously."Berlin, the capital, on Saturday joined Bavaria and other German states in announcing further restrictions on public movement ahead of Sunday's meeting.Unprecedented StepsWith cafés, bars and pubs now closed, the U.K. government is falling in line with the trend toward restrictions on social gatherings to curb the spread of the virus. But in the ecocomic sphere it is going much further than its cohort with a radical set of measures that include the state paying up to 80 percent of a worker's wages.In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned the nation on Saturday to expect a further increase in deaths. The country is entering the second week of a state of emergency that has confined most people to their homes with police patrolling the streets to enforce the lockdown. Reported deaths rose by 324 on Saturday to 1,326, about twice the pace recorded the previous day.Most people in Spain "have never had to face something as harsh this," Sanchez said in a address.For 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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| Palestinians report 1st cases of coronavirus in Gaza Strip Posted: 21 Mar 2020 04:19 PM PDT  The Palestinian Health Ministry announced early Sunday that two residents who returned recently from Pakistan to the Gaza Strip tested positive for the coronavirus, the first cases to be diagnosed in the Palestinian enclave. The development added to fears of a potential outbreak in crowded Gaza, which has an overstretched health care system after years of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, cross-border conflicts with Israel and Palestinian political division. Gaza has been mostly cut off from the world as Israel and Egypt imposed severe movement restrictions following the 2007 takeover by the militant Hamas group.
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| AP Exclusive: 1st fed inmate tests positive for coronavirus Posted: 21 Mar 2020 04:03 PM PDT  An inmate at a federal jail in New York City has tested positive for coronavirus, marking the first confirmed case in the federal prison system. The inmate, who is housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, complained of chest pains on Thursday, a few days after he arrived at the facility, the federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press. The inmate was discharged from the hospital on Friday and returned to the jail, where he was immediately placed in isolation, the agency said.
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| Israeli leader offers to step down next year in unity deal Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:10 PM PDT  Israel's prime minister Saturday said he is ready to step down next year as part of a proposed power-sharing agreement with his chief rival meant to steer the country through the coronavirus crisis and end a year-long political deadlock. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his proposal during a nationally televised interview, calling for the formation of a three-year "emergency" unity government with the rival Blue and White Party. Netanyahu told Channel 12 TV that he would remain as prime minister for the first year and a half, and allow Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to assume the post for a second year-and-a-half term in September 2021.
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| Iran president foresees virus relief, even as death toll tops 1,500 Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:29 PM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday said authorities' efforts to combat the COVID-19 epidemic would produce significant results within 15 days, as the country's official death toll from the virus surpassed 1,500. There were 123 more fatalities -- taking the country's death toll to 1,556 -- and 966 more cases of the novel coronavirus reported in Iran over the past 24 hours, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced in a televised address. Despite the increasing toll, Rouhani said the government's response to the virus is producing "a lot of impact", indicating "the situation will change automatically within 10 to 15 days" if "everyone observes the directives", according to a statement by the presidency.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 21 Mar 2020 09:53 AM PDT  The death toll from the global coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 13,000 people worldwide and sickened more than 292,000. Presidential nominating contests in the U.S. are being pushed back, and a $1 trillion-plus U.S. economic rescue package is being negotiated. Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics are facing resistance from athletes who want the games postponed.
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| Virus concerns lead to `public' meetings without the public Posted: 21 Mar 2020 08:04 AM PDT  First, Oklahoma lawmakers excluded the public from the Capitol because of coronavirus concerns. Then with the public gone, lawmakers made an emergency change to the state's open-meetings law to let all governmental entities meet via video or teleconference, so long as people can watch or listen remotely. Across the U.S., numerous governors, lawmakers, mayors and county officials have made similar decisions to keep the public away from public meetings — all for the sake of public health.
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| As offerings dwindle, some churches fear for their future Posted: 21 Mar 2020 07:22 AM PDT  One church leader, Bishop Paul Egensteiner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Metropolitan New York Synod, said some of the 190 churches in his region were unlikely to survive because of a two-pronged financial hit. At Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, a mostly African American congregation of about 1,100, the Rev. Alvin Gwynn Sr. bucked the cancellation trend by holding services last Sunday. There was a brighter outcome at the Church of the Resurrection, a large United Methodist Church congregation that operates out of five locations in the Kansas City area.
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| Moderates may decide Trump's political fate in wake of virus Posted: 21 Mar 2020 07:07 AM PDT  An 80-year-old man, defying officials' advice to stay home, beamed near a life-sized cutout of a grinning President Donald Trump. Outside its walls, state officials put in place an unprecedented shutdown of public life and Trump scrambled to fight a virus that he had accused political opponents and the media of pushing as a "new hoax." Criticism of the president's preparedness was rampant.
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| Iran Releases French Scholar in Prisoner-Exchange Agreement Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:45 AM PDT |
| Greece sends nearly 600 migrants to locked camp Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:43 AM PDT |
| 10 things you need to know today: March 21, 2020 Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:43 AM PDT |
| France: researcher jailed in Iran is free and returning home Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:26 AM PDT |
| Nursing home outbreaks lay bare chronic industry problems Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:11 AM PDT  Burgeoning coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes in Washington, Illinois, New Jersey and elsewhere are laying bare the industry's long-running problems, including a struggle to control infections and a staffing crisis that relies on poorly paid aides who can't afford to stay home sick. Beyond that outbreak, at least 15 more have died and dozens have been infected at long-term care facilities across the nation, with major outbreaks of 46 infected in the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook, four deaths in at least two facilities in New Jersey, 13 infected in Little Rock, Arkansas, and 11 infected in Troy, Ohio, with 30 more showing symptoms.
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| Election limbo as coronavirus outbreak upends US primaries Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:27 AM PDT  At least 13 states have postponed voting and more delays are possible as health officials warn that social distancing and other measures to contain the virus might be in place for weeks, if not months. The states that have yet to hold their primaries find themselves in a seemingly impossible situation as they look to balance public health concerns with the need to hold elections. While election officials routinely prepare for natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, the virus outbreak poses a unique challenge.
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| Enjoyable at a distance, holiday lights brighten dark times Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:01 AM PDT  Wrapped around a tree trunk in Colorado, fashioned into a heart in Alabama and hung high over Main Street in a New Hampshire town, holiday lights are going back up. "We live out in the country, but I know you can see them from the highway," said Julie Check, who turned on the white lights that trace the roof line of her home in Eastman, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night. In Farmington, New Hampshire, a roughly five-block stretch of downtown has been re-illuminated with holiday lights that swoop and zigzag between tall wooden posts.
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| Jordan goes on virus lockdown as Iran's death toll mounts Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Air raid sirens echoed across Jordan's capital Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the region's worst outbreak. The latest deaths bring Iran's overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials.
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| As virus spreads, growing need for hospital beds, supplies Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:20 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic took an increasingly bleak toll Saturday in the U.S. and Europe, producing staggering caseloads in New York and Italy and setting off a desperate scramble to set up thousands of additional hospital beds as the disease notched another grim advance. Italy, at the heart of Europe's rampaging outbreak, announced nearly 800 new deaths and 6,600 new cases — its biggest day-to-day increase yet. In New York, state officials sought out desperately needed medical supplies and hospital beds as confirmed coronavirus cases soared above 10,000 statewide, with 56 deaths.
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| China, on virus PR offensive, sends masks and experts abroad Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:03 PM PDT  As the fight against a new virus shifts to Europe and beyond, China is supplying millions of masks and other desperately needed items to struggling governments, hoping to build political ties and defuse criticism that it allowed the disease to spread early on. Serbia's president plans to be at the airport this weekend to welcome a shipment of medical supplies from his "brother and friend," Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China, said Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, is "the only country capable of supplying Europe with such amounts."
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| New Orleans' 'Let the good times roll' now 'Wash your hands' Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:03 PM PDT  A week ago, revelers jammed bars in the French Quarter and New Orleans' Irish Channel neighborhood ahead of St. Patrick's Day while hotels, taverns and restaurants looked ahead to what is usually a lucrative festival season. Coronavirus dread has settled uncomfortably over this most social of cities, where public gatherings are banned and 15 of Louisiana's 20 COVID-19 deaths had been recorded as of Saturday. While Gov. John Bel Edwards openly worries that the state's ability to deliver health care could be overwhelmed in another week, the metro area has become one of the nation's hot spots for the virus, home to the vast majority of the more than 760 infected statewide.
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| Fraud and sex abuse probes in UN peace operations increase Posted: 20 Mar 2020 08:14 PM PDT |
| US tourists stranded abroad desperate to secure return Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:41 PM PDT  After being confined to a hotel room in Peru and watching "heavily armed guards" patrolling the streets, Linda Scruggs was awash with emotions Saturday when she glimpsed out the airplane window at the Florida Everglades below. Scruggs and her traveling companion, Mike Rustici, were among dozens of American citizens who caught a LATAM Airlines flight to Miami after being trapped for days in the Peruvian capital of Lima. For days, the couple didn't know how or when they would make it home – especially after the State Department essentially told them they were on their own.
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| N Korea test fires missiles; Seoul slams it as inappropriate Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:19 PM PDT  North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea's military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were fired around 6:45 and 6:50 a.m. from an area around the county of Sonchon, western North Korea. South Korea and the U.S. were analyzing the launches.
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