South Korea to launch mass coronavirus testing, U.S. pledges $1 billion for vaccine

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korea aims to test more than 200,000 members of a church at the center of a surge in coronavirus cases, as countries stepped up efforts to stop a pandemic of the virus that emerged in China and is now spreading in Europe and the Middle East. More than 80,000 people have been infected in China since the outbreak began, apparently in an illegal wildlife market in the central city of Wuhan late last year. China's death toll was 2,663 by the end of Monday, up 71 from the previous day.

Senate FISA Abuse Investigation to Focus on Mystery Source Who Contradicted Steele Dossier

Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Sunday told Fox News the Senate's investigation into FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will focus on interviews the agency conducted with a Russian source who contradicted much of the information in the Steele dossier. The first thing I want to do is call the people who heard from Russian sub-source that this dossier is a bunch of bar talk and hearsay,” Graham said on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures. I want to find out when did [former FBI director James] Comey and [former FBI deputy director Andrew] McCabe understand it was not reliable and start from there.

Trump says the stock market is 'starting to look very good' after the Dow plunged over 1,000 points amid coronavirus fears

Getty Images Trump tweeted that the "stock market is starting to look very good to me" on a day the Dow plunged over 1,000 points. "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA," Trump said on Twitter. The comments come as the Trump administration prepared to ask Congress for an emergency spending package to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

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  Dow Plunges By Over 1,000 Points As Coronavirus Sparks Third Worst Daily Point Loss Ever

  Deadline
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  Stocks Routed As Coronavirus Spreads Outside China; Dow Dives Up To 1,079 Points

  Investor's Business Daily

Iran official running anti-coronavirus task force has virus

The head of Iran's counter-coronavirus task force has tested positive for the virus himself, authorities announced Tuesday, showing the challenges facing the Islamic Republic amid concerns the outbreak may be far wider than officially acknowledged. The announcement regarding Iraj Harirchi came after he gave a news conference with journalists in Tehran about the virus just one day prior, seeking to minimize the danger posed by the outbreak. The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday meanwhile banned all flights to and from Iran over the outbreak of the new coronavirus, just a day after its spread from the Islamic Republic was announced across multiple Mideast nations.

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  Iran neighbours impose travel bans as coronavirus toll rises

  AFP
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  Virus pushes beyond Asia, taking aim at Europe, Mideast

  Associated Press

Ginni Thomas: SCOTUS justice's wife leading right-wing effort to purge officials 'disloyal' to Trump

A group of pro-Trump activists led by Ginni Thomas has reportedly compiled lists of “disloyal” government officials it wants sacked.

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  Conservative activists are reportedly sending Trump lists of 'disloyal' government officials to fire

  The Week
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  White House spokesperson confirms Trump is purging people: 'If we find them, we'll take appropriate action'

  Business Insider

Probe into abuse at America's oldest deaf school finds 'appalling truths'

An investigation into inappropriate conduct at America's oldest school for deaf people corroborated multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse that stretched decades, school officials said. In a report, officials at the American School for the Deaf, in West Hartford, Connecticut, said Friday that the allegations involved former dorm supervisors, a maintenance worker, a dean and the school's longtime executive director. "The results of this investigation reveal startling and appalling truths," Executive Director Jeffrey S. Bravin and Catherine Burns, president of the board of directors, said in the report.

Trump administration backs off sending coronavirus patients to Alabama -governor

The Trump administration has backed off plans to quarantine patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship stricken with coronavirus at a federal facility in Alabama, the state's governor and a U.S. senator said on Sunday. The news came as worry grew over the spread outside China of the sometimes fatal virus, with a spike in the number of cases found in South Korea, Iran and Italy. Experts were baffled over outbreaks with no clear link to China.

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  'Welcome Home': Australian Couple Films Evacuation From Diamond Princess to Darwin

  Storyful
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  Two American cities fight to block quarantine facilities in their communities

  ABC News Videos

Nine of the World’s Most Beautiful Outdoor Saunas

From Seattle to Oslo, these outdoor saunas take relaxation and high-design to the next level Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Tom Steyer has paid more than $40,000 to rent a property owned by Jim Clyburn's daughter

Billionaire Tom Steyer is facing some criticism over his spending in South Carolina, a state where his Democratic presidential campaign is making some legitimate headway. Some people have even accused him of trying to buy votes from the state's African-American voters, which Steyer and many others have adamantly denied, The New York Times reports. One thing that's been particularly scrutinized is the Steyer campaign's rental agreement with a company owned by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, the daughter of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African American in Congress whose endorsement is considered key in South Carolina.

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  Clyburn thinks Sanders may make it tougher for Democrats to keep House majority

  The Week
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  South Carolina Kingmaker Representative Clyburn to Endorse Biden in Bid to Slow Sanders

  National Review

China Is Trying to Compare the Flu to Coronavirus. That Sounds Like Fake News.

Early on in the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, the receptionist at the hotel I was staying at in China asked me if it was true that the United States was experiencing an epidemic of influenza that killed 61,000 people last year. In skimming the Chinese news, I had seen some mentions of the flu “epidemic” in the U.S. I classified it as typical misdirection, the kind of subtle criticism of the U.S. that China's state-owned media engages in from time to time when they are embarrassed, frustrated, or trying to advance a foreign policy goal. Turns out the 61,000 death toll estimate comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, making it all the more fun for China to cite in order to boost their trolling credibility.

Erdogan Falters in Efforts to Bring Europeans Into Syria Talks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's effort to co-opt European leaders to try to defuse a potential new refugee crisis in Syria has faltered, with Russia ruling out a four-way meeting at this time with the heads of Germany and France. Erdogan on Tuesday offered to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss fighting in northwest Syria that could touch off that crisis and send hundreds of thousands of refugees spilling into Turkey and from there into Europe.

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  Turkey-backed rebels say they've seized town in Syria's Idlib in first advance

  Reuters
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  Syrian troops press ahead with campaign as strike kills 3

  Associated Press

North Korea has yet to officially report any coronavirus cases. But it just quarantined 380 foreigners.

Kyodo News via Getty Images Three-hundred eighty foreigners in Pyongyang, North Korea, have been placed in medical quarantine, state media reported Monday. The isolated, secretive country has yet to announce any cases of the novel coronavirus. On February 19, the World Health Organization announced it had "no indications" North Korea was facing an outbreak.

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  Feds backtrack on transfer of quarantined coronavirus patients to Alabama

  ABC News
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  World is on the brink of a coronavirus pandemic, warn virologists, as four more cases emerge in Britain

  The Telegraph

German Carnival floats take aim at racism in wake of attack

Biting commentary on racism in Germany featured prominently Monday among Carnival floats in western cities, hastily put together in the aftermath of a deadly far-right attack last week near Frankfurt. The floats for parades in Cologne, Duesseldorf, Mainz and elsewhere are notorious for their no-holds-barred satire, and also took aim at Brexit, the potential candidates to take over leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party, and U.S. President Donald Trump. Last Wednesday, a 43-year-old German man who had posted a racist screed online advocating genocide gunned down nine people of foreign background in the Frankfurt suburb of Hanau, before apparently killing himself and his mother.

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  Several injured as car hits crowd at German carnival

  PA Media: World News
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  Dozens including children, injured after a man intentionally drove his Mercedes Benz into a crowded carnival parade in Germany

  INSIDER

Chris Wallace Relentlessly Grills Top Pence Aide on Russia Briefing: ‘You Say None of This Happened?!’

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, struggled during a pair of Sunday morning talk show appearances as he was grilled relentlessly over the White House's assertion that Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire wasn't fired over a House briefing on Russian interference in the 2020 election to assist President Donald Trump. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, after host Chris Wallace asked why Trump was attacking Democrats over the Russia story, Short insisted early on that “there's no intelligence that said the Russians are trying to help Donald Trump win elections,” prompting Wallace to immediately push back.

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  Trump security adviser slammed for 'politicizing intelligence' on Russian meddling

  The Guardian
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  Trump says he was not told about Russian efforts to help Sanders

  PA Media: World News

14 products dermatologists recommend for soothing redness and rosacea

To help you tackle red, irritated skin, we consulted top dermatologists for their favorite products. "This cleanser is very gentle on reactive or sensitive skin, which most patients with rosacea have. It also contains feverfew, an ingredient known to decrease redness and help with irritation," said Noelani González, MD, director of cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai West in New York City.

Afghanistan confirms first coronavirus case in province bordering Iran

KABUL/HERAT (Reuters) - Afghanistan confirmed its first case of the coronavirus in the western province of Herat on Monday, declaring a state of emergency in a territory bordering Iran which itself reported a sharp rise in cases. Dozens of cases of the virus, which originated in the central Chinese province of Hubei in December, have been confirmed in Iran where 12 people have died, the highest death toll outside of China. "I ask people to try to stay at home and restrict their movements," Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz told reporters, referring to Heart, the gateway to Iran.

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  Large parts of China ease coronavirus curbs, many report no new cases

  Reuters
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  China's Hubei sees rise in new coronavirus cases as infections slow in other provinces

  Reuters

MSNBC host urged to quit after comparing Bernie Sanders win in Nevada to Nazi invasion

MSNBC's Chris Matthews is under fire after comparing Bernie Sanders' victory in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. The 'Hardball' host is now under pressure to resign after invoking the historical comparison during an on-air conversation with Brian Williams. In the widely shared clip, he analyses the vote tally of Mr Sanders and compares his strong early performance to the lacklustre voting numbers of Joe Biden and other moderates.

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  Nevada caucus results delayed for hours, Buttigieg camp claims 'irregularities'

  NBC News
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  Time for Pete Buttigieg to Quit

  The National Interest

How South Korea’s Coronavirus Outbreak Got so Quickly out of Control

Buses and subways in Seoul, the normally crowded South Korean capital, were unusually quiet on Monday, and social media was filled with posts with the hashtag “work from home.” South Koreans work some of the longest hours in the world, and companies tend to frown on allowing employees to telecommute. This drastic departure from the conventions of corporate culture are a sign of how the country is scrambling to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The country's public health authorities have for the past several days reported drastic increases in the number of cases here, with 231 new cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 833, with more than 11,600 people undergoing diagnostic testing.

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  South Korea becomes biggest coronavirus centre outside China

  AFP Relax News
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  Xi says China facing 'big test' with virus, global impact spreads

  AFP

Missing Tennessee toddler's grandmother and her boyfriend extradited after arrest

Previously: Two fugitives arrested in connection with missing Tennessee toddler Evelyn Boswell The girl, who has been the focus of an Amber Alert issued Wednesday night, was not with her grandmother and McCloud when they were captured. "I'd like to get back there and get this situation with my granddaughter resolved," Boswell told Wilkes County District Court Judge David Byrd. McCloud, 33, of Bristol, Tennessee, claimed the BMW was a gift from Evelyn's mother, Megan "Maggie" Boswell.

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  Police have arrested 'persons of interest' in the case of still-missing toddler Evelyn Boswell on car theft charges

  INSIDER
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  Mom of Missing Toddler Evelyn Mae Boswell Claims She Has 'Full Confidence' Girl Will Be Found

  People

Supreme court denies Rodney Reed appeal

The United States Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed. But while the petition for a review of his case was denied, Justice Sonia Sotomayor left the door open for further appeals pending the outcome of upcoming hearings. "There is no escaping the pall of uncertainty over Reed's conviction," Sotomayor wrote.

China said it would relax its lockdown of Wuhan's 11 million residents, only to immediately reintroduce it

Wuhan announced on Monday that some people who are deemed healthy will be allowed to leave the city, whose transport links have been severed since January 23. China's decision to lock down Wuhan and nearby cities is the largest quarantine in human history, with the World Health Organization calling it an unprecedented step that's it's not sure will work. The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, relaxed the unprecedented quarantine restrictions on its 11 million citizens on Monday, only to almost immediately reverse that decision and reimpose the lockdown of the city.

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  Coronavirus outbreak in China has 'peaked' but world must prepare for pandemic, says WHO

  Yahoo News UK
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  Tyranny is fueling the coronavirus pandemic

  The Week

Auschwitz Museum upset at scene in Amazon series 'Hunters'

The museum of the Nazi German Auschwitz death camp is objecting to a scene in a new Amazon TV series that shows a murderous game of human chess being played there, insisting that no such thing took place at the camp. The museumand memorial that guard the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in southern Poland, its historic facts and the memory of the victims tweeted about the scene in Amazon's series “Hunters.” It said inventing fake scenes is “dangerous foolishness and caricature," encourages Holocaust deniers and is disrespectful of the camp's some 1.1 million victims, including women and children. The series' creator, David Weil stressed in a statement it was not a documentary but a narrative with largely fictional characters.

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  'Hunters' creator defends show after Auschwitz Memorial calls human chess scene 'dangerous foolishness and caricature'

  Yahoo TV
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  Auschwitz museum criticises scene in Hunters TV series

  PA Media: World News

Trump Hails Stronger India Ties With an Eye to Countering China

I'm optimistic we can reach a deal that will be of great importance to both countries,” Trump said on Tuesday while sharing a stage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The momentum on trade appeared to pave the way for closer strategic relations, as the U.S. looks to court India as a counterweight to China. Trump lauded increased security ties with India and showered praise on Modi, who has faced deadly protests -- including during the president's visit -- over a citizenship law that singles out Muslims.

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  Trump hails 'exceptional' Modi at huge India rally

  AFP
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  'Namaste Trump!': What’s Behind the Trump-Modi Bromance

  WSJ

NASA space telescope spots a double star system with an alter ego

A volatile double star system appears to change its behavior rapidly and unpredictably like a cosmic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The pair consists of a neutron star — an extremely dense remnant of a supernova explosion — and a smaller, sunlike star. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Science Foundation's Karl F. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers found that this binary star system switches between two alter egos every few years.

Fake News or Reality? Did F-35s from Israel Fly Over Iran?

Key point: An Israeli strike in Iran would be risky even with F-35s, given distance to the target and Iranian air defenses... Israel's F-35 stealth fighters are positively supernatural: here, there and everywhere. In 2018, the Israeli Air Force claimed its new F-35s had attacked Iranian targets in Syria.