NASA reveals highest-resolution panorama photo of Mars ever taken

Zoom into the photo to see the stunning details of the Martian landscape.

A senior Chinese official was heckled while visiting Wuhan, showing how much the coronavirus has weakened the Communist Party's grip on power

Residents under lockdown in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, shouted at Sun Chunlan: "Fake, fake, everything is fake."

Iran coronavirus death toll jumps to 145, govt lashes out at US

Iran's official death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 21 Saturday, with a lawmaker among the latest fatalities, while the government accused Washington of hampering Tehran's response to the virus. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said that the 21 deaths took the country's total death toll to 145, while 1,076 additional cases had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5,823. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later said American sanctions -- reimposed from 2018, after Washington pulled out of a multilateral nuclear deal -- were undermining Iran's battle against coronavirus.

China rejects report it fired laser at US Navy plane

China's Defense Ministry says a report one of its navy ships fired a laser last month at a U.S. Navy surveillance plane circling overhead does not “accord with reality." The report last month was the latest accusation that Chinese forces have used lasers to harass and potentially damage U.S. and other nations' military aircraft and personnel. In China's first public comments on the alleged incident, Ren accused an American P-8A Poseidon of carrying out “long-period circling reconnaissance at low-altitude despite repeated warnings from the Chinese side."

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Trevor Noah praise Warren, bury her presidential run

With Sen. Elizabeth Warren's departure from the Democratic presidential race, "we're getting a clearer picture of America's future -- and it looks a lot like America's past," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "The one-time frontrunner, Warren made the classic campaign mistake of being able to finish a coherent sentence -- and not having a penis." Her departure is "further proof that American cannot have nice things," he said. "She had a plan for everything -- a health care plan, an immigration plan, a student loan plan, and her most popular plan of all: kneecapping Michael Bloomberg with a croquet mallet."Still, "despite her best effort, that Democratic road still has just two lanes -- and two drivers who probably should have their keys taken away," Colbert said. He played Warren's thoughts on sexism in the race, acted out Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders courting her endorsement, and played a clip of Warren's dog stealing a snack: "Yes, it's your burrito, but Bailey has a plan for that.""Who is Elizabeth Warren gonna endorse, Biden or Bernie?" Trevor Noah asked at The Daily Show. "Is she gonna swipe right or far left?" But "Warren has a good point" about sexism, he said. "A woman addressing sexism, or ignoring it, while running for president is either going to be seen as a whiner or living on another planet. Which is unfair, especially since the president is already a whiner who lives on another planet. And whether you think sexism played a role or not, you have to admit it's pretty strange that a race that started with a broad tapestry of candidates is now basically down to two old white men."Yes, in spite of Warren's "experience, her track record, and her skills in the debates, American voters ultimately decided she just didn't have what they were looking for in a president -- which is a penis," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. "It's hard to argue sexism didn't play some part, and not just direct sexism. ... It's second-hand sexism." With the race down to Bernie and Biden, he said, "basically, it's like when you're trying to choose which type of Breyer's vanilla to get at the supermarket, and they've got the the natural, the homemade, and the extra creamy. Which flavor will beat that chunky monkey in the Oval Office? I guess we'll find out." Watch below. More stories from theweek.com China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim An ex-MI6 officer reportedly recruited by security contractor with Trump ties helped infiltrate a major teachers union Trump says doctors keep asking how he knows so much about the coronavirus

Exclusive: U.S. considers discouraging some travelers from cruises - sources

The United States is considering ways to discourage U.S. travelers from taking cruises as part of a broader Trump administration effort to limit the spread of coronavirus, according to four officials familiar with the situation. The discussions were taking place ahead of a meeting this weekend between Vice President Mike Pence, who is in charge of leading the U.S. response to the coronavirus, and the cruise industry. The administration could advise some or all U.S. travelers to temporarily avoid taking cruises in the face of a growing number of coronavirus cases on cruise ships or potentially impose travel restrictions related to cruises, officials said.

Nursing Home Hit by Coronavirus Says It Still Lacks Test Kits

By BY MIKE BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3aEkGWS

N.C.A.A. Weighs Using Fewer March Madness Venues Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/39JP7Le

Bernie Sanders' brother called Joe Biden 'mediocre' and 'a symbol of people who don't really care very much'

"He comes across as a nice guy...but he's got very little ambition," Larry Sanders told CNN on Tuesday from the UK, where he lives.

Alabama executed Nathaniel Woods for killing 3 cops — even though his co-defendant confessed to shooting them

Nathaniel Woods' co-defendant who admitted to killing the police said Woods didn't have a gun on him and had run away when shots rang out.

Bloomberg Staffers Claim Campaign ‘Was a Grift,’ Admit to Canvassing for Other Campaigns

Staffers for former New York city mayor Mike Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign have described how the campaign imploded after Bloomberg’s Nevada debate performance, and detailed how Bloomberg’s vast campaign resources were taken advantage of.“Most people knew this was a grift,” a campaign official told The Nation’s Ken Klippenstein — who reported extensively on Bloomberg throughout the campaign. Staff pointed to the debate as the moment of implosion, after Elizabeth Warren slammed Bloomberg as “a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” and challenged him over his multiple non-disclosure agreements stemming from sexual harassment claims.“The day after when we made calls people were like, ‘Oh yeah, I was thinking about him, but I’m not really sure anymore,’” a staffer said.“Ever since the first debate all of us faced a ton of hostility” a field organizer added. “I once had a woman chase me back to my car demanding that I say you can’t buy the presidency.”Despite paying his staff the best salaries and providing amenities — like free housing and meals and new iPhones — Bloomberg lacked loyalty and enthusiasm among his employees.“At our first office meeting, my [director] said, ‘We don’t need to canvass. We can just make calls, right guys?’ And everyone was like, ‘Yeah, that’s sensible,’” an official said.Staffers also admitted to siphoning away resources from the campaign to serve their own interests, with Bloomberg’s organizers in San Diego reportedly using Bloomberg’s funds for other local campaigns.“I would actively canvass for Bernie when I was supposed to be canvassing for Mike. I know of at least one team of ‘volunteers’ that was entirely fabricated by the organizers who had to hit their goals. It was easy enough to fudge the data to make it look like real people put in real volunteer work, when in reality Mike was getting nothing out of it,” one person said.Others detailed how Bloomberg’s social media campaign — which included paying $2,500 a month in exchange for staffers to text personal contacts and post daily on social media about Bloomberg — was so lackluster that accounts would be flagged as spam and suspended for copying and pasting campaign talking points.

China may soon lift quarantine on virus-hit Hubei province: official

China may soon lift the quarantine imposed on the province at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak which has been under lockdown for more than a month, a senior government official hinted Friday. Asked about the draconian measures taken in central Hubei province to contain the spread of the virus, Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary-general of China's State Council, told journalists "the day everyone is waiting for will not be too far away". Some 56 million people in Hubei have been effectively quarantined since late January, to stop the virus from spreading across the country when people returned to work from their hometowns after the extended Lunar New Year break.

Chuck Schumer Has a Big Supreme Court Problem (This Photo Says It All)

'Shameless efforts to bully our nation’s independent judiciary.'

Mom of missing kids gets bond reduced to $1 million in Idaho

A judge on Friday reduced bail to $1 million for the mother of two missing children after her lawyer contended at her first hearing in Idaho that the amount had been set too high because of media attention. Wearing faded orange-and-white striped jail garb and bright pink lipstick, Lori Vallow Daybell spoke little but nodded emphatically whenever her attorneys mentioned her desire to vigorously defend herself against the child abandonment charges. On the other side of the room were Kay and Larry Woodcock, the grandparents of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow.

One chart shows 11 countries' current coronavirus death rates, based on the known number of cases and deaths

The death rate for the coronavirus varies around the world — but that's likely because some countries are testing more people than others.

UK police review probe into abduction of Dubai ruler's daughter

British police said Saturday they were reviewing an investigation into the disappearance of the ruler of Dubai's daughter after a court found that she had been abducted by her father. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, orchestrated the forcible return home of Sheikha Shamsa from Britain in 2000, the High Court ruled earlier this week. The finding was part of a damning judgement that also revealed the sheikh had seized Shamsa's sister Latifa, now 35, twice and returned her to Dubai.

138 Salvadorans who fled to U.S. to escape violence returned to it and died

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, 138 Salvadorans deported from the United States have been killed upon returning to their country since 2013.

Israeli PM vows to press forth even after election shortfall

A defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday he was “not going anywhere” even after he again fell short of a parliamentary majority with his hard-line allies in his country's third election in less than a year. Convening what he called an “emergency conference,” Netanyahu accused his opponents of trying to “steal the elections” by aligning with Arab-led parties he said were hostile to the state. The embattled Netanyahu had been looking for a decisive victory in Monday's vote, and initial exit polls had indicated his Likud party and smaller religious and nationalist allies had captured 60 seats, just one short of a majority required to form a new government.

Warren Should Send Sanders Packing, and It Sounds Like She Might

So now there are none, women, that is, running for president, leaving out the quixotic Tulsi Gabbard. Elizabeth Warren suspended her campaign Thursday but didn’t do what others have done — endorse Joe Biden, the candidate her party has coalesced around as the one who can deprive Donald Trump of another four years. Bernie Sanders, who’s treated his so-called friend like gum on his shoe in the course of his campaign, is hoping that means her endorsement will come his way. He might not want to hold his breath.Warren should send Sanders packing in a Massachusetts minute, and it sounds like she might.Elizabeth Warren is Strong. So is the Glass Ceiling.Talking with Rachel Maddow Thursday evening, Warren discussed “this onslaught of online threats” where her supporters “felt really under attack.” She said that “we are responsible for the people who claim to be our supporters and who really threaten ugly, dangerous things to other candidates.”Maddow interjected: “And it’s a particular problem with Sanders’ supporters.”And Warren replied: “It is. It just is.”She said that she’d talked with Sanders about that particular problem, and that “it was short.” She added that “It’s a real problem.” Past that, Warren declined to characterize her conversation with Sanders (which of course was one of the things that led his supporters to that “real problem” the last time she did so), saying “It’s something he should speak for himself on.”The Warren-Sanders interplay tells us a lot about why the Democratic primary that started out with six women has devolved into an uninspiring one between between two men, both white, both flawed, and both over 70. In exiting, Warren said she started out believing there was room for her and Sanders in the race but “Evidently, I was wrong.” True, but what an admission. Sanders drove her off the shoulder of the road in his Humvee with his left blinker flashing constantly and she let him, although she was the much better person, an actual Democrat and capitalist, to carry the progressive torch.  Warren had a plan for everything. Bernie has a plan for nothing, or vague ones in a briefing book somewhere. If you have a question, she has an answer and if you waited long enough after a speech, she held office hours where she would explain the finer points of restructuring institutions holding working people down—a health care system that bankrupted them, college costs that crippled them, and banks that exploited them. And then she’d pose for selfies where she’d get contact info for her massive operation of  field directors, paid staff and volunteers, and a get-out-the-vote effort in states others hadn’t set foot in. By the fall, after hundreds of lectures, rallies attracting 10,000 roaring fans, and stellar performances at debates, she was a front runner. It didn’t last. When everyone was yelling last fall for a price tag for Medicare for All, Warren, the A student, stepped up and offered one. That bought breathing room for Sanders, who still hasn’t. And Warren suggested there would be a transition period before anyone’s private insurance would be taken away. That was heresy to purists but not enough reassurance to moderates to keep her from sinking in the polls. Last month, Warren took the risk of being too aggressive, which for a woman means being aggressive at all, and took down Mike Bloomberg. I haven’t heard Sanders or Biden thank her for that, which had the added benefit to them of reducing the time she had to point out their shortcomings. It had been a sideshow but a telling one when Warren was rattled by Sanders’ underhanded breach of their non-aggression pact. His campaign had been making calls to voters claiming that she was too elite to win. In the dust-up that followed, she was more hurt than angry. She shot back that he’d told her a woman couldn’t be president. He denied it, and she asked him, off mic, if he was calling her a liar. He was. But voters couldn’t follow the dust-up, and the betrayal, like so much else, didn’t stick to him. When Sanders did pay attention to Warren, it was to compliment her on agreeing with him on issues he took up first. Mostly he treated Warren like a supporting actress in his star turn as a romantic revolutionary admiring of Fidel Castro. Good luck with Florida’s 29 electoral votes if he makes it to the general election. You only have to look at the debate stage next week, emptied of women, to know something’s wrong in our politics. It used to be “I’d vote for a woman, just not this one.” Now we know there’s always something that makes any woman just not right. If we're going to have a Hollywood ending, where my daughter cheers at the inauguration of the first woman president, it may be that we have to have a Hollywood candidate. We know the first isn't going to look like Warren, or Amy Klobuchar, or Hillary Clinton. She's going to look like Tea Leoni’s Madame Secretary (whose show was canceled after she became president) or Julia Louis-Dreyfus (whose show petered out after the Veep moved into the Oval Office), or Sela Ward who studied Clinton in 2016 thinking the first female president to-be would provide pointers for her role as commander-in-chief in Independence Day 2. Sanders welcomed Warren’s supporters into his fold earlier on Thursday, remembering Warren with cold words like disciplined, focused, and hard working. He told Maddow that “it’s too early to talk about her as a running mate but I would love to sit down and talk to her about what sort of role she could play in my administration.” I have an idea, how about if she runs it? Warren got emotional earlier on Thursday when she lamented all those little girls she made pinky promises to who would have to wait another four years for a woman president. And she tiptoed up to gender, the third rail of politics for women. “If you say, yeah, there was sexism in this race, everyone says ‘whiner.’ And if you say no, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, what planet do you live on? I promise you this, I will have a lot more to say on that subject later on.”We’ll be listening, and hoping that Warren will stick with her initial decision not to endorse anyone. Biden doesn’t need it and Bernie doesn’t deserve it. Here’s hoping that, after a lot of hard knocks, a woman can learn. 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.

Bernie's Fatal Mistake: Most Americans Don't Want Medicare For All

And the 'public option' isn't much better.

Italy to Lock Down Milan Region in Bid to Contain Coronavirus Outbreak

(Bloomberg) -- The Italian government is set to dramatically restrict movement and activity for a quarter of its population, or about 16 million people, according to a draft decree seen by Bloomberg.The decision to lock down the Milan region and several other northern areas is the latest step in the effort to contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak. It comes as cases surged to 5,883 on Saturday with 233 deaths, and as Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of one of the two major government parties, announced he had contracted the illness.The measures, set to come into force Sunday and last until April 3, will stop anyone from entering or exiting the most-affected areas, while movement inside will be allowed only for “non-deferrable” business or health reasons, the draft said. Skiing, public events, religious ceremonies and work meetings will be suspended, while schools, museums, swimming pools and theaters will close.Bars and restaurants will have to make sure patrons keep at least a meter apart or they’ll be shut. The draft specifies that failing to respect the measures is a criminal offense, and might lead to imprisonment. Police and the army will be responsible for ensuring that containment measures are respected.The restrictions will apply across Lombardy and in 11 provinces around cities including Venice, Modena, Parma, Rimini and Treviso.A second draft decree with new containment rules for the rest of the country, also seen by Bloomberg, recommends citizens avoid travel outside their hometowns unless absolutely necessary, and restricts public events. The government is set to approve both decrees in a meeting Saturday evening.With Italy’s economy already at risk of recession before the outbreak, the crisis has all but paralyzed business activity in Lombardy -- which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product -- and the rest of the north, Italy’s economic engine.The government decided on Thursday to double emergency spending to 7.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) to help cushion the economic impact of the virus. It’s also calling up 20,000 doctors, nurses and medical personnel to help deal with the outbreak. Fallout from the virus’s spread is slamming Italy’s key tourism industry at a time when the country is already teetering on the brink of recession.The European Commission’s top economic officials approved Italy’s spending plans, saying in a letter to the government in Rome that its stimulus plans won’t be factored in when assessing the country’s compliance with the European Union’s fiscal rules.One case was diagnosed in the Vatican -- the tiny walled city-state in central Rome that is home to Pope Francis and “emeritus” Pope Benedict XVI.Pope Francis will not celebrate Sunday’s weekly Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace as he usually does, the Vatican said in a statement.Francis will instead hold the event from the library in the palace, to avoid the risk of the coronavirus spreading among people queuing for security checks to access St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said. The event will be relayed on giant screens and via streaming.(Updates with details of rules for rest of country)\--With assistance from Daniele Lepido, Tommaso Ebhardt, Alessandro Speciale and Sonia Sirletti.To contact the reporters on this story: Alberto Brambilla in Milan at abrambilla5@bloomberg.net;John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten, Karl MaierFor 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.

Seventy trapped after Chinese coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses, more than half rescued

A five-storey hotel being used for coronavirus quarantine collapsed in the southeast Chinese port city of Quanzhou on Saturday, trapping about 70 people, state media said.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2W5alQ7

Third coronavirus-related death in Australia after Sydney man dies

A man in his 80s died in a Sydney hospital after testing positive to COVID-19, becoming the third coronavirus-related casualty in Australia, state health authorities said on Sunday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2xeQMu0

Spiraling Virus Fears Are Causing Financial Carnage

By BY DAVID ENRICH, JAMES B. STEWART AND MATT PHILLIPS from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3aFE7ip

Cómo dejar de tocarse la cara

By Unknown Author from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/38wMoDM

Pence, a Loyalist Tapped for Coronavirus Effort, Adds to Trump’s Mixed Messages

By BY KATIE ROGERS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TvuSvg

Boeing Faces $20 Million Fine by F.A.A.

By BY NIRAJ CHOKSHI from NYT Business https://ift.tt/38wMewa

How to Quarantine Yourself

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3cNgdDs

The Resurrection of Joe Biden

By BY MICHELLE COTTLE from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3cEPZ5O

Joe Biden Has Had Flimsy Organization. It Hasn’t Hurt Him.

By BY KATIE GLUECK AND THOMAS KAPLAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3awUwFC

Review: In ‘Skinfolk,’ the Joys of Blackness Burst From the Earth

By BY JOSE SOLÍS from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/2VTvMmS

Stocking Your Pantry, the Smart Way

By BY MELISSA CLARK from NYT Food https://ift.tt/2uWWdNo

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

By BY THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/3aFz3up

A Baseball Radical Infiltrates the Reds. They Couldn’t Be Happier.

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2wCtr54

One chart shows 11 countries' current coronavirus death rates, based on the known number of cases and deaths

The death rate for the coronavirus varies around the world — but that's likely because some countries are testing more people than others.

Wuhan residents decry 'fake' work as Chinese official tours city

Videos showing residents at the centre of China's coronavirus epidemic haranguing a top Chinese official have highlighted persistent anger at how authorities have handled the crisis. The clips, which have been circulating online since Thursday, show occupants of an apartment block in the city of Wuhan yelling "it's all fake" from windows during an official neighbourhood inspection by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan. Surprisingly, China's censors, usually quick to scrub any criticism of government officials, have allowed the homemade videos to remain on Weibo, the country's Twitter-like social media platform.

Trump's mental state — not Biden's — is the real concern, mental health professionals say

Mental health professionals who have expressed concern over what they see as Donald Trump’s declining mental state say that similar fears about Joe Biden are overblown.

China's Handling of the Coronavirus Has United Its People Against the Government

How China's Great Firewall was breached.

As the coronavirus spreads, one study predicts that even the best-case scenario is 15 million dead and a $2.4 trillion hit to global GDP

A group of Australian researchers estimate that the coronavirus may have severe consequences on the global GDP.

Police seek suspects following attack on teenage girl

Police are currently trying to find suspects who attacked a teenage girl in NYC. 

'Despicable' - Women seethe over Mexican leader's wobbly response to violence

Mexico's president sells himself as lifelong champion of the rights of women, who he calls "more honest" than men. Support for an unprecedented women's "strike" on Monday has swelled, even as Lopez Obrador has tried to paint the event as a cynical attempt by political opponents to discredit him and capitalize on problems he says they created. Such comments strike many as tone-deaf and lacking empathy, exposing a weak spot for a government already battling to tackle gang violence, impunity and a stagnant economy.

'We'd be better off with a monkey president': Late night hosts roast Trump’s ‘hunch’ about coronavirus death rate

Late Night hosts are continuing their assault on Trump’s ignorance of the coronavirus with Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel making a slew of jokes at Trump’s ‘hunch’ about its death rate.Trump told Fox News earlier this week that he has a “hunch” that the death rate is “way under 1 percent”, branding the World Health Organisations (WHO) estimate of 3.4 percent a “false number.”

Dubai ruler abducted and imprisoned his princess daughters, UK court rules

The billionaire ruler of Dubai orchestrated the abductions, torture and imprisonment of two of his princess daughters, a British court rules.

Saudi Arabia detains at least two senior princes, including king's brother: sources

Saudi Arabia has detained two senior members of the Saudi royal family including Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, a younger full brother of King Salman and uncle of the crown prince, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2IpNSoF