Beaumont

Elise Stefanik, newest star of Trumpworld, has turned impeachment into a fundraising boon

Leveraging her impeachment performance, Rep. Elise Stefanik raised $3.2 million in the last three months of 2019, exceeding the reelection haul of progressive darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Man gets life for kidnapping stepdaughter, holding her captive for 19 years

Henri Michelle Piette kidnapped his victim in 1997, when she was 12, and subjected her to nearly 20 years of physical and sexual abuse before she escaped.

Doctors Inside Iran Believe Coronavirus Is More Serious Than Reported, and Getting Worse

Medical professionals inside the Islamic Republic tell TIME they believe the country is now grappling with an “epidemic”

North Korea's Kim guides military drills, warns 'serious consequences' if virus breaks out: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw military drills on Friday, state media KCNA said on Saturday, a rare public outing amid efforts to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus in the isolated country. North Korea has not confirmed any cases of the virus, but state media said a month-long quarantine period had been imposed for people showing symptoms and "high-intensity" measures were taken including reinforcing checks in border regions and at airports and sea ports. On Feb. 16, Kim made his first public appearance in 22 days to visit a mausoleum marking the anniversary of the birth of his father and late leader Kim Jong Il.

More than 30,000 pounds of yogurt spilled on New York highway after accident

A tractor trailer carrying more than 30,000 pounds of yogurt in western New York jackknifed on a highway Thursday afternoon.

Jimmy Kimmel has a theory about why Trump picked Mike Pence to lead America's coronavirus effort

Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, and Jimmy Kimmel said he's giving up most human touch. "Today is Ash Wednesday, so, you know, if you see someone with ashes on their forehead today it means either they went to church or, if you're here in Hollywood, put a joint out on their face," he joked on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Pope Francis "is encouraging us to stop insulting each other online," but "I'm giving up the handshake for Lent," he said, noting that experts say countries like Japan have a better shot at containing the virus because they bow instead."The president is doing everything he can to calm this nation's nerves," tweeting out an attack on the media while misspelling coronavirus, Kimmel said. "He's right -- why is the liberal media only focusing on the negative side of the coronavirus? It's so biased. This is all part of his 'If you can't spell it, you can't catch it' campaign." Trump actually held a press conference, and it was "a rambling presentation" in which "he downplayed the virus, he said the flu kills a lot more people than the coronavirus, so I guess we shouldn't worry. I don't know, alligators have killed more people, too, but it doesn't mean we should go jump in the swamp."Trump also said he had picked Vice President Mike Pence to lead the U.S. response to the coronavirus. "Didn't it seem like Pence didn't know that was going to happen?" Kimmel asked, laughing. Seriously, "why is Mike Pence in charge? What is his plan to stop the virus? Abstinence? I think Trump might be trying to kill him, I really do." Watch below. More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Hillary Clinton is starting a Howard Stern-inspired podcast Stephen Colbert teaches Elizabeth Warren about South Carolina cuisine, tells a dirty joke, gets jabbed by a fork

Whistleblower: Feds helping evacuees lacked virus protection

A government whistleblower has filed a complaint alleging that some federal workers did not have the necessary protective gear or training when they were deployed to help Americans evacuated from China during the coronavirus outbreak. The complaint deals with Department of Health and Human Services employees sent to Travis and March Air Force bases in California to assist the quarantined evacuees. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., said the whistleblower recently contacted his office, also alleging retaliation by higher-ups for having flagged safety issues.

Mexico Has Two Coronavirus Cases, Health Officials Say

(Bloomberg) -- A 35-year-old man was confirmed as the first coronavirus case in Mexico, the country’s deputy health minister said on Friday. A second case was verified by a state health official.The first patient has a mild case and has been put in quarantine along with family members in the country’s Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference for further testing, deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said at the National Palace.The man is a resident of Mexico City who took a trip to Italy in February. The case is Mexico’s first, and the second known instance in Latin America after Brazil confirmed a case on Wednesday.“We have the capacity to deal with the situation,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his morning press conference.The man traveled to Bergamo, Italy, for a conference, where he had direct contact with an infected Italian national who normally lives in Malaysia.The second case, in the northern border state of Sinaloa, is a 41-year-old man who also traveled to Italy, said Efren Encinas Torres, the state’s health minister in an interview on Radio Formula. That patient is in isolation, as is a colleague he traveled with, who has not presented any symptoms.Local health officials sent details to the national agency for confirmation.“We see the state laboratory’s confirmation as valid, but nevertheless we will verify it in our own laboratory,” Lopez-Gatell said.Separately, Lopez-Gatell said that a cruise ship that had been stopped in Cozumel on suspicion of possible infection had no cases aboard and that passengers would be allowed to disembark.Worldwide, more than 83,000 cases have been confirmed and deaths from the virus have topped 2,800 people. On Friday, Iran, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the U.K. all reported new infections. Nigeria confirmed the first infection south of the Sahara desert.The Mexican peso fell 0.7% to end the day at 19.6437 per dollar, its weakest close since October 2019. Mexico’s benchmark Mexbol stock index plunged 2.6% after the coronavirus news.(Adds details about second case in lead and sixth paragraph. A previous version added case details, worldwide numbers and stock move.)To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Nacha Cattan, Dale QuinnFor 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.

Laurene Powell Jobs says she won't pass down her and Steve Jobs' billions to their children: 'It ends with me'

Powell Jobs, who is worth an estimated $24 billion, said she believes a massive accumulation of wealth is "dangerous for a society."

Trump Spends 45 Minutes With ‘Deep State’ Play Actors Amid Coronavirus Mayhem

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—One day after briefing the press in an attempt to calm nerves about the spread of the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump spent 45 minutes talking to the lead actors of a low-budget conservative play about the so-called Deep State. Phelim McAleer, the playwright behind the play FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers, told The Daily Beast that the meeting with Trump had originally been scheduled for just 15 minutes but went 30 minutes longer than that. “We went for a 15-minute meeting that took 45 minutes,” McAleer said. “We were there for 45 minutes in the Oval Office, and he loves it, he loves the play.”Trump hasn’t seen the play, according to McAleer, but praised its concept: a script based entirely on congressional testimony and the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who discussed the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s campaign and Russia while having an affair. The play’s leads—Superman actor Dean Cain and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Kristy Swanson—also attended the White House meeting.  Lisa Page Sues FBI and the Justice Department for Leaking Her Texts With Peter StrzokMcAleer said Trump complained in the meeting about “why some people are in prison [and] why other people aren’t”—an apparent re-airing of grievances that law enforcement officials involved in investigating his campaign haven’t been charged, while his own campaign staffers have been.“He did most of the talking,” McAleer said. McAleer said he couldn’t remember whether coronavirus came up in his discussions with the president. “It was 45 minutes,” he said, “we talked about a lot of things.” The meeting was not listed on the president’s formal daily guidance and was only announced via a press release from New Hampshire Republican Party official with ties to James O'Keefe’s video sting operation, Project Veritas. What else Trump was up to on Thursday was not entirely clear. In uncharacteristic fashion, the president barely tweeted throughout the day, as the Dow Jones industrial average took another massive dive driven by fears that the spread of the virus may severely disrupt global commerce and medical supply chains. Late Thursday afternoon, he called the press in for a meeting with Trump-friendly African-American leaders and media personalities to discuss community empowerment, several of whom called him the best president since Lincoln.The White House did not return a request for comment. But according to three people who’ve independently discussed coronavirus with the president over the past three weeks, each said he seemed more preoccupied with his beliefs that Democrats and perceived enemies in the news media were going to try to use coronavirus panic to make him “look bad” than with the public health fallouts. “He made a joke about how he could invent a cure for the coronavirus tomorrow, and Nancy Pelosi would still find ways to criticize him for it,” said one source who privately spoke to Trump in the past weekWhile the president was out of sight, Vice President Mike Pence was not. On Wednesday, the VP was tasked with spearheading the administration’s response to the virus’ outbreak. And by Thursday he had made several appointments to supplement the task force, including tapping a former Obama administration official, Debbie Birx, who had previously served as U.S. global AIDS coordinator. That decision was widely cheered among Democrats and medical experts. But the goodwill was quickly replaced by concerns that the VP’s office was limiting public communication from various health agencies in an effort to assert control over messaging around the crisis. Officials at the office of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, told The Daily Beast that he was not able to speak to the press because the White House was handling all media requests. Meanwhile, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they would not be able to return media inquiries for a matter of “days” despite the intense public interest in gathering and disseminating official information on the virus. Coronavirus May Explode in U.S. Overnight Just Like in ItalyPence himself did not brief the press on Thursday. But he did speak at a gathering of conservative activists known as CPAC. And while there, he spent time talking to two conservative media luminaries. According to the vice president’s pool report, Pence met with Fox News’ Sean Hannity for 15 minutes to discuss coronavirus for Hannity’s show. And Eric Bolling, a Sinclair TV host and friend of the president, told The Daily Beast that he too had an audience with Pence, behind the CPAC stage. “I asked him if he thought $2.5 billion [for a federal response] was enough... I even asked him why not go further than even [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer’s $8.5 billion ask...and say… $18 billion,” Bolling said. “Whatever we don’t spend, return to the Treasury? He said, ‘President Trump has made it clear’ that there will be as much funding as needed to fight an epidemic here.”According to Bolling, Pence said that he and Trump had talked about the administration’s coronavirus task force that day. Later on Thursday, Pence went to the Department of Health and Human Services to meet with the task force himself, during which he re-emphasized that the president’s vision is a “whole of government approach” and declared that “in the days ahead the full resources of the government will be brought to bear.” The vice president is slated to attend a fundraiser in Florida on Friday, hosted by former Congressman Vern Buchanon. As of now, the event appears to be still on. The VP’s office did not respond to numerous requests as to whether they were considering canceling.  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.

Biden says he's not worried about Trump refusing to leave if defeated in November

Joe Biden says he isn't worried about the prospect of President Trump refusing to leave his post if he’s defeated in November.

Pennsylvania man charged with kidnapping woman found dead in Nevada desert

The naked body of Jaime Rae Feden, 33, was discovered in Lincoln County, north of Las Vegas.

Central Park Five's Kevin Richardson slams Bloomberg campaign

Kevin Richardson, a member of the Central Park Five, has hit out at Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential run and his blocking of a multimillion-dollar settlement over the group’s wrongful persecution.Mr Richardson, one of the five teenagers wrongfully convicted for the shocking assault of Trishia Meili in 1989, was reported to have criticised Mr Bloomberg at an event outside his campaign office in Manhattan.

Shocking: China and the CIA Both Helped Saudi Arabia Get Their Own Ballistic Missiles

Well that was a bad idea.

Montenegro's president accuses Serbia and Russia of undermining independence

Montenegro's president accused Serbia and Russia on Friday of using the Serbian Orthodox Church to undermine his country's pro-Western government as it seeks European Union membership. Milo Djukanovic, who has ruled for over three decades, said that a series of rallies against a religion law which have been led by Serbian Orthodox clerics in the tiny Balkan country were intended "to question Montenegro's independence." Metropolitan Ilarion, a Russian Orthodox Church cleric, has voiced support for the interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.

Americans Are Stockpiling Cleaning Products Due to COVID-19 Fears. Do They Actually Prevent Coronavirus?

Stores are preparing for shortages of cleaning products and sanitizers due to COVID-19. But do they actually kill coronavirus germs?

Turkey moves ahead with its threats to send refugees to EU

Hundreds of refugees and migrants in Turkey have begun heading for the country’s land and sea borders with Greece, buoyed by Turkish officials’ statements indicating they will not be hindered from crossing the frontier to head into Europe. The move comes a day after a deadly Syrian airstrike that killed more than 30 Turkish troops in Idlib, Syria, where Turkey has been engaged since 2016. WHO ARE THE REFUGEES OR MIGRANTS IN TURKEY?

Trump 'could suck coronavirus out of 60,000 people' and he'd still be criticized – Huckabee

* Top Republican on Fox News defends Trump and Mike Pence * Vice-president leading coronavirus containment effort in US * Whistleblower: US coronavirus staff were untrained and unprotectedDonald Trump could “personally suck” the coronavirus “out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean”, a top Republican has claimed.Former Republican Arkansas governor and ex-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made the outlandish statement on Twitter on Thursday night and on Fox News’ Fox & Friends show on Friday morning.> Mike Huckabee says Trump "could personally sick the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean." pic.twitter.com/X7xbC5ebDz> > — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 28, 2020According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 82,000 cases of the coronavirus have in fact been confirmed worldwide, with about 2,800 deaths. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 60 confirmed cases in the US.In the US, Huckabee’s widely ridiculed comment followed the publication of a column for Fox News in which he took aim at criticism of Trump’s choice of Vice-President Mike Pence to lead US containment efforts.Critics have said Pence’s religious faith, plus the decisions he took as governor of Indiana on scientific and public health matters, make him a poor choice to lead efforts undermined by budget cuts and poor organization.Huckabee said Pence was “a proven leader who knows how to get people with different perspectives working together effectively” on public health matters including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) outbreak of 2014.“Instead of calling for bipartisan cooperation in this life-or-death effort,” he wrote, “liberals reacted with collective outrage, even going so far as to ridicule the vice-president’s Christian faith as a way of suggesting that he’s not qualified for the role.“Numerous media outlets have also published and broadcast one-sided reports trashing Pence’s handling of an HIV outbreak as governor of Indiana, but such criticisms are both inaccurate and irrelevant.”The outbreak in question happened in 2015. Pence declared a public health emergency but many said faith-driven cuts to sexual health programs made the situation worse.Huckabee, the father of the former Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders, is not the first rightwing commentator to claim Democrats and the media are using concerns over the coronavirus outbreak to attack and undermine the president.Earlier this week, the conservative shock jock and presidential medal of freedom honoree Rush Limbaugh claimed “the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump” and said “the coronavirus is the common cold”.Some experts have criticised media coverage of the outbreak as inaccurate and potentially alarmist.According to the Guardian’s guide to the coronavirus, sufferers report “coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use … Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Many of those who have died were already in poor health.”The outbreak began in China. The WHO has not yet declared it a pandemic but international markets, trade, travel and sporting events have been severely affected. In the US on Friday the Dow Jones Index plunged again, at the end of the markets’ worst week since the financial crisis of 2008.In Geneva, a WHO spokesman said: “The outbreak is getting bigger. The scenario of the coronavirus reaching multiple countries, if not all countries around the world, is something we have been looking at and warning against since quite a while.”

Billionaire Tom Steyer shakes up primary with slavery reparations plan

For centuries, South Carolina’s Charleston was the largest port of entry for the transatlantic slave trade. Now, billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer is shaking up the state’s Democratic primary by advocating slavery reparations for African-Americans.

Kim warns of 'serious consequences' if virus reaches North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of the "serious consequences" of failing to prevent an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media reported Saturday. Kim told a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea that the fight against the virus was a "crucial state affair for the defence of the people" that required maximum discipline, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Iran Can’t Hide Its Coronavirus Explosion, But It’s Trying Hard—and Putting the World in Danger

Iran’s deputy health minister was drenched in sweat at the press conference on Monday where he vehemently denied Tehran was covering up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak. He kept wiping his brow with his handkerchief and was in visible distress as he said quarantines were a “Stone Age” way to address the problem, and Iran doesn’t need them. Then, sure enough, that night he tested positive for the virus himself and put himself in quarantine. The irony of Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi’s case would be funny almost, were Iran’s conspicuous bungling of the coronavirus threat not a menace to the whole region and, indeed, to the world. As The Daily Beast’s partner publication, IranWire, revealed in an exclusive report Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has tried to address the epidemic by telling doctors to shut up about it, much as Chinese authorities in Wuhan did, disastrously, when the disease was just starting to spread last December.The “official figures” from Iran give the game away. At last count, 16 people have died from COVID-19, but only 95 cases had been confirmed. As Wired UK points out, that would be a death rate of about 17 percent, when the data available from China, where there are huge numbers to work with, suggests the death rate is closer to 2 percent. The statistics don’t add up. Canadian researchers cited by Wired suggest the Iran outbreak probably involves more than 18,000 people, and counting.* * *SILENCING THE DOCTORS* * *Following is the full IranWire article written by Aida Ghajar:IranWire can exclusively report that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened Iranian medical specialists with reprisals if any of them were to disclose information regarding the spread of coronavirus in Iran.A group of specialist doctors met with Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi on Feb. 22, during which they reported on the latest findings regarding the spread of coronavirus in Tehran and other Iranian cities. But soon after the meeting, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) approached the doctors through the health ministry’s security office and warned the doctors not to leak any information from their discussions. The doctors were told that, if any details did leak, they would be held responsible and would suffer the consequences.Despite these threats, the information received by IranWire shows the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, especially in Tehran. The doctors who were present at the meeting offered Harirchi their assessment of the official news and figures and told him that the figures published by the government do not match the reality of the situation.As one of these doctors—whose name is withheld because of the threats from the Revolutionary Guards—told IranWire: “The statistics published by the government have nothing to do with reality of the situation and the number of infections is much higher than what the media reports. If things go on like this and if the Islamic Republic does not cooperate with the World Health Organization, we must expect a great disaster in the coming months and, only in Tehran, tens of thousands will be infected by coronavirus. This scientific estimate does not even include other epicenters like Qom. If we cannot come up with a framework to cooperate with the World Health Organization, our situation will become many times worse than in China.”This doctor pointed out that, right now, a number of clinics in Tehran have been quarantined and the government’s attempts to keep the reality of the situation a secret is a “crime” in the legal sense of the word.“Refusing to divulge real information to Iranians and to the international community is officially a crime because it endangers the lives of people not only in Iran but in other countries as well.”Donald Trump Takes Coronavirus So Seriously He Just Put Mike Pence in ChargeIn many countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Canada, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, the first cases of coronavirus infections were brought in by Iranian citizens or by travelers who had visited Iran. This has led many countries to close their borders with Iran, in the air and on the ground.According to this doctor, the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran occurred just after the outbreak in China. “But the problem started when we did not recognize that this virus is the same as China’s coronavirus,” the doctor said. “We made a mistake when we identified it as a variant of influenza viruses.… But, after it became known that it had been a mistake, [officials] continued as before and did not disclose the facts.”* * *THE GOVERNMENT IS CLUELESS* * *The doctor said Iran’s government has no plans for containing the crisis. Officials have “no other choice except secrecy,” he added. “This will disgrace the Islamic Republic, if it becomes known that its government is clueless. But this can lead to a humanitarian disaster.”According to this doctor, after the meeting with the health minister was over, the Revolutionary Guards contacted each doctor who had been at the meeting. “They told us that we will be held responsible for even the smallest leak. But I could not keep silent anymore,” he said.On Monday, two days after the meeting and after the doctors were threatened, Gen. Hossein Salami, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, called Health Minister Saeed Namaki and announced that the Guards were ready to provide any and all assistance in fighting coronavirus and preventing its spread.On Feb. 25, in a televised speech, President Hassan Rouhani asked people to trust only statements by the health ministry for information about coronavirus.The Iranian Cyber Police have meanwhile reported that they have arrested a number of “rumor-mongers” about coronavirus since Feb. 21. Gen. Hossein Rahimi, commander of Tehran’s Cyber Police, announced the arrests.“Persons who want to create trouble for the people by spreading rumors and lying in cyberspace must know that the police surveils their behavior and will act against them decisively,” he said.Earlier on Feb. 21, Gholamreza Jalali, commander of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, accused foreign media of “creating panic” by publishing inaccurate or misleading figures about coronavirus infections. He emphasized that coronavirus must not be turned into a “political crisis.”Jalali is the same official who, after floods had inundated many parts of Iran in early 2019, made strange statements about extreme weather, accusing Israel of “cloud stealing.” He claimed that “joint committees of Turkey and Israel” had stolen moisture and snow from the clouds over Iran.With the Islamic Republic and the Revolutionary Guards turning the coronavirus outbreak into a security issue, by treating infection figures as state secrets, by arresting people for “rumor mongering” and, now by threatening doctors whose duty is to tell the truth about infectious diseases, it seems the experts may be proved right about the likelihood of a humanitarian disaster. If the Islamic Republic continues in this way, we must expect a much bigger disaster than what is happening in China—not only for Iranians but for the world.The Russian Models Instagramming From China's Coronavirus CapitalRead 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.

'No fear': Pilgrims in Saudi defy coronavirus risks

Cleaners scrub and sterilise the floors of Mecca's Grand Mosque after fears of coronavirus led Saudi Arabia to suspend pilgrim visas, but worshippers appear unfazed -- confident of God's protection. Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites, on Thursday suspended entry by foreigners for the year-round "umrah" pilgrimage, an unprecedented move that has left tens of thousands in limbo. Saudi Arabia has so far reported no coronavirus cases but there are mounting concerns over a spike in infections across the Middle East.

Christian woman in Pakistan blasphemy row: I've been invited to live in France

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, said on Friday after meeting President Emmanuel Macron that she had been invited her to live in France. Bibi was acquitted of the blasphemy conviction last year and has since been living with her family in Canada.

The Strange Tale of How British Commandos Attacked Hitler's Fish Oil Production

More important than you know.

Many Venezuelans struggle to put food on the table in crisis

For Yeri Guerra, getting by during hard times in Venezuela means sometimes skipping meals so her two young boys still at home can eat before heading to school. According to a survey recently published by the U.N. World Food Program, one of every three Venezuelans cope with food insecurity, unable to get enough to meet their basic dietary needs. In an apparent shift for Venezuela, people surveyed said food is now available in a country once riddled by shortages, but it's more difficult to afford because they've lost their jobs as Venezuela's crisis deepens.

Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisis

The end of a very rough week for U.S. markets brought a worrying prediction.While one expert warned fallout from the global coronavirus outbreak could be "worse than the financial crisis" of 2008, the economist who correctly predicted that very crisis is now saying the idea of a major global recession "doesn't sound too farfetched."Nouriel Roubini, a New York University business professor and market prognosticator who foretold the housing bubble burst, told Yahoo Finance on Friday to expect "severe" consequences as the coronavirus continues to rattle markets. How severe? He told Der Spiegel it could be worse than investors even believe at this point, predicting "global equities to tank by 30 to 40 percent this year."He said people "prefer to believe in miracles," (not necessarily referencing President Trump's prediction the coronavirus will "disappear ... like a miracle,") and don't realize the "simple math" tells us that realistically, a squeezed Chinese economy will mean downturns around the globe. "This crisis will spill over and result in a disaster," said Roubini.Roubini, who is often nicknamed Dr. Doom for his frequent pessimistic predictions, also saw doom and gloom for Trump's future as president as a result of any economic strife. Asked by Der Spiegel, Roubini said Trump would likely try to benefit politically from the outbreak, but "will lose the election, that's for sure." Pointing to past incumbent presidents getting ousted amid geopolitical tensions that damaged the economy, he said "The Democratic field is poor, but Trump is dead. Quote me on that!"Though the week just saw a 3,500-point drop for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Roubini warned: "It is far from being over." Read more at Der Spiegel.More stories from theweek.com A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump's presidency Court: Don McGahn can defy congressional subpoena Democrats ponder a coup d'Bernie

Turkey loses 33 soldiers in attack, Russia deploys warships to Syria coast

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is looking West for support, and at his country's request NATO will be holding a meeting on the situation.

A former Microsoft engineer stole more than $10 million from the company and used it to buy a $1.6 million lakefront home and a Tesla

He stole $10 million-worth of "currency stored value," like online gift cards, and resold them online in exchange for bitcoin, a court ruled.

Malaysian king hits back at Mahathir amid crisis

Malaysia's king struck down Friday a power play by 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad aimed at seizing momentum in a political crisis, capping a week of turmoil that has left the country effectively leaderless. Old foes Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim are locked in a power struggle sparked by the elderly leader's resignation and their ruling coalition's collapse, following a failed bid to push out leader-in-waiting Anwar. Mahathir, currently interim leader, earlier announced the parliament session would take place Monday and the monarch, who appoints the premier, agreed with the decision.

Black Lives Matter activist Hawk Newsome on the current state of America

Newsome is chairman of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, and has spent his adult life advancing the cause of what he calls the "Second Civil Rights Movement."

Police identify victims, shooter in Milwaukee brewery shooting rampage

Police in Milwaukee on Thursday identified the five brewery employees shot and killed by a co-worker who later took his own life in the latest spasm of gun violence plaguing U.S. workplaces and schools. The motive for the carnage was unclear a day after the shooting at the landmark Molson Coors Beverage Co complex shook Wisconsin's largest city. "Reasons for this are still under investigation," Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said.

Crime Against Humanity: China Has Never Forgotten Japan's Bloody Assault On Nanking

A combination of factors led to some of the worst atrocities in history.

Police rescue 24 babies, pregnant teens from Nigerian 'baby factory'

Nigerian police have rescued 24 babies and four expectant mothers from an illegal maternity home in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, a spokesman said Thursday.

L.A. County Sheriff's Department looking into reports deputies shared photos of Kobe Bryant crash

Two public safety officials told the Los Angeles Times that Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shared graphic photos from the scene of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others last month.The Times says it's unclear how many people saw the pictures, which allegedly showed the victims' remains, and whether deputies took the photos themselves or received them from someone else. One of the officials told the Times he saw a picture on someone else's cell phone, while not working on the case. He also said that two days after the crash, first responders were discussing pictures that had been taken showing the aftermath.The L.A. County Sheriff's Department on Thursday said "the matter is being looked into." This could be a significant breach, as sharing such photos with people who are not authorized to view them is "a cardinal sin in law enforcement," Joseph Giacalone, an instructor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Times.More stories from theweek.com Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisis A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump's presidency Court: Don McGahn can defy congressional subpoena

'He fought us every single step of the way': How Bloomberg embraced stop-and-frisk as mayor

"He dug in and fought us all the way to his last day in office," an activist who opposed stop-and-frisk recalled.

Trump wears a surgical mask over his eyes in next week's coronavirus-themed New Yorker cover

The illustration is titled "Under Control," and references some comments that the president made at a coronavirus press conference this week.

The Coronavirus Epidemic Is Xi Jinping’s Epic Fail

HONG KONG—China’s President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has been eager to cast himself as the driving force behind the country’s efforts to contain the the spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it brings. And the World Health Organization has heaped praise on Xi. Yet it’s clear, as new epicenters have emerged in South Korea, Iran, Italy, and Japan, that China has failed to contain the disease whose existence it was reluctant to acknowledge in the first place.Iran Can’t Hide Its Coronavirus Explosion, But It’s Trying Hard—and Putting the World in DangerEarlier this month, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Xi embodies the “political commitment” and “political leadership” required to weather this crisis. (Note that China's financial contributions to the WHO are second only to the United States.) In the same obsequious vein, the WHO has refused to define the outbreak with the scary word “pandemic.” Instead, the health organization’s officials say the world should be “in a phase of preparedness” for such a thing.But the Chinese Communist Party has not been prepared, and its command structure is in disarray. To project the image of centralized order, Xi spoke to 170,000 officials via teleconference on Sunday, outlining a grand plan in China’s “war” to combat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.Repeatedly, Chinese officials have made hash out of critical steps to prevent the sickness’ spread, because by the time they realize people are falling ill, it’s often on a scale that reflects their lack of preparedness, and party cadres fear that this may lead to reprisals from their superiors. CCP administrators are trained to enforce party diktats, not to handle rapidly evolving emergencies.Meanwhile the coronavirus has paralyzed the Chinese economy, sending shockwaves around the world. Markets are tanking. Workers in many countries are being placed on unpaid leave or even losing their jobs.Although China’s top epidemiologist, Zhong Nanshan, says that the outbreak will be brought under control by the end of April, experts on the other side of the globe have offered a very different view: the virus may infect 40 to 70 percent of people around the world in the next 12 months, according to Harvard epidemiology professor Marc Lipsitch, quoted in The Atlantic. And while most people will recover or may not even exhibit symptoms, the elderly or individuals with existing health problems may face life-threatening situations.That's particularly worrisome in China, where a sense of self-preservation within the party structure overrides preventive measures, emergency responses, and common sense. A group of officials in Wuhan—the city that is the heart of the COVID-19 epidemic—said that visitors trapped in the city would be able to leave last Monday, Feb. 24, only to have their notice revoked three hours later. The Russian Models Instagramming From China’s Coronavirus CapitalPeople in Wuhan, mostly confined to their homes for more than a month now, asked: Who’s calling the shots? Why aren’t officials communicating with each other? And if the party and the government can’t figure out what to do next, where does that leave everyone?The retraction included statements like “Wuhan resolutely adheres to the spirit of Chinese President Xi” and the city “strictly controls every exit from Wuhan and the management of personnel.”So when a woman from the locked-down city somehow made her way to Beijing on Feb. 22, only to be diagnosed with COVID-19, there was confusion in the capital. (The woman is considered to be a mild case and has been placed under isolation and observation for 14 days.)Party cadres have been overwhelmingly concerned about managing the Chinese government’s image, prioritizing propaganda over public well-being at critical junctures.On Wednesday, Caixin, a Chinese publication that has been conducting deep investigations about the outbreak’s early days in Wuhan, revealed new information about how CCP gag work played a part in the virus’ spread by limiting public knowledge.Caixin reported that on Dec. 24, a virus sample taken from one of the first wave of patients was sent to a lab for genome sequencing. Results were ready three days later, but then health officials in Hubei ordered the samples destroyed on Jan. 1. Soon after, on Jan. 3, the National Health Commission centralized all tests related to the coronavirus, in turn limiting the number of confirmations that were reported each day.Unsurprisingly, that article has been taken off line, although screenshots of the text have been uploaded to Github.There have been more cover-ups by public officials in China. The warden of a prison in Jining, a city in northeastern China, is responsible for the virus spreading under his jurisdiction. The warden’s son traveled from Wuhan to Jining and infected him. He then carried the virus into the prison that he oversees. Soon after, at least seven guards and 207 prisoners became ill. The warden attempted to keep things quiet, so he hired 50 villagers to build an isolation ward. But news spread, and only then did he report the matter to his superiors and seek proper medical assistance for the prisoners.Elsewhere in the country, clustered infections emerged in other prisons—230 in a women’s prison in Wuhan, 41 at another facility within the same province, and 34 at a penitentiary in Zhejiang province on the eastern coast.Just two weeks ago, China’s National Health Commission was confirming thousands of new infections each day, but these were figures that health professionals around the world and doctors in China believe to be significantly lower than reality. Now, the daily addition is down to a few hundred, with dozens added to the official death toll each morning.The commission said that more than 3,000 doctors, nurses, and medical technicians have been infected with the virus, and at least nine have died.Globally, the coronavirus has killed more than 2,800 people.For now, little is known about the physical nature of the virus—exactly how it spreads, how quickly, and which conditions are ideal for cross-infection. People in China are referencing the timeline for the SARS outbreak in 2002 to 2003, when infection numbers in East Asia took a nosedive as soon as the weather warmed.But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is less certain that spring and summer climates are a mitigating factor: “At this time, it is not known whether the spread of COVID-19 will decrease when weather becomes warmer. There is much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with COVID-19 and investigations are ongoing.”Previously, the virus’ incubation period was thought to be two weeks, but new cases suggest that it may be up to a month. What is known is that the virus is highly transmissible. As it finds new hosts outside of China, we’re increasingly seeing cases where patients have no direct link to China or other infected individuals.As we teeter toward a global pandemic, the coronavirus outbreak has shown us that no country in the world is prepared for a health crisis of this scale. Medical experts in the U.S. have warned that Americans should be ready to see a swell in the virus’ footprint in the country, where thousands already are being monitored for possible infection. Testing kits are in short supply, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said any vaccine for the coronavirus should be “affordable”—not free for the public.President Donald Trump’s reactions to the situation have been even more discouraging. He offered assurance—if it can be called such—that “there’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.” He appointed science rejector Mike Pence to oversee the government’s response, and is ignoring warnings from the CDC, much as the the Chinese Communist Party scorned early warnings by doctors in China.New infection numbers may be tapering in the People’s Republic, but there are still more than 40,000 patients in hospitals receiving treatment for COVID-19. Many more are stuck at home, toughing it out on their own. The virus is only beginning to pick up speed as it spreads around the globe. This outbreak is far from over, and we’re still weeks or months away from life returning to normal.Take Hong Kong as an example, where there are only 93 confirmed infections, and where two people have died from COVID-19. Many businesses have rotating work-from-home arrangements to limit the number of people who are in offices at the same time. Schools are closed until April 20, with possible extensions. Apartments in nearly 5,900 residential buildings are undergoing two-week quarantines because of residents or visitors who have arrived from mainland China, including the building I am in as I write this.While Xi issues decrees in Beijing, officials around China are scrambling to keep up with the disease, at times in ways that are jeopardizing public safety. Chinese state-run media has said the party’s “sacrifices” are keeping the world safe, but the spin is convincing no one.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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Betsy DeVos orders probe after USA TODAY finds college evidently without faculty, students

Betsy DeVos has launched an Education Department investigation after a USA TODAY report showed a college apparently had no faculty or students.

California Monitoring 8,400 People for Coronavirus, 33 Have Tested Positive

California is monitoring 8,400 people who arrived in the state on domestic commercial flights for the Wuhan coronavirus, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday.33 individuals have already tested positive for the virus, five of whom have been moved out of the state."We knew this was inevitable," Newsom said at a press conference. State officials remain in "constant contact with federal agencies," the governor stressed, adding that the state's top priority was obtaining more testing kits since current supplies are "inadequate.""We’re not just preparing — we’ve been actively participating in addressing this issue for many months, aggressively," Newsom said.The announcement came after other locales in the U.S. have announced similar monitoring efforts, though none as extensive as in California. 608 people were being monitored under self-quarantine in Massachusetts, with 377 of those released without symptoms. Meanwhile, a Seattle high school announced it would close until Friday after a staffer self-quarantined following an international trip.The CDC on Wednesday confirmed a coronavirus case in central California with unknown origins, days after the agency initially refused to test the patient because they "did not fit the existing CDC criteria.""At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown," the CDC said in a statement. "It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States."

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The president of Belarus said Thursday that his country is "being forced into integration” with Russia and insisted that real integration of the two countries' economies implied “sovereignty and independence” for Belarus. “We remain committed, as always, to real integration without being forced into integration,” President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Mikhail Myasnikovich, chair of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

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Parents of two-year-old boy with cancer face deportation after being denied deferred action grant

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