Big Time News Blog: 02/03/20

Monday, February 3, 2020

Are You in a Gang Database?

By BY STEFANO BLOCH from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2OlvD7a

Senator Lisa Murkowski says she will vote to acquit President Trump.

By BY EMILY COCHRANE AND CATIE EDMONDSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2OpjgXY

‘I Feel Abandoned’: How Residents in Wuhan Are Coping With Coronavirus

By BY MUYI XIAO, BARBARA MARCOLINI AND NATALIE RENEAU from NYT World https://ift.tt/37YmhpU

Catch up on today.

By BY EILEEN SULLIVAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2RSFQu2

He Worked for Obama and Bloomberg. Could He Be N.Y.C.’s Next Mayor?

By BY AZI PAYBARAH from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2RXsQ6y

Beijing Sees ‘Major Test’ as Doors to China Close and Coronavirus Deaths Surpass SARS

By BY SUI-LEE WEE from NYT World https://ift.tt/2RYmQdL

Australian Wuhan evacuees arrive on Christmas Island: media

A plane load of Australians evacuated from China's Wuhan city arrived in the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island, where they will be quarantined to prevent the spread of a new flu-like coronavirus, media reported on Tuesday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/398tMuC

Fire contained at Syria's Homs refinery after gas compressor explodes: state TV

A fire in Syria's Homs refinery was put out by civil defense and the refinery firefighting unit on Tuesday, shortly after a gas compressor in the 6th project exploded, state TV reported.

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

Major summit on eve of Singapore Airshow canceled on coronavirus fears

A meeting of international aviation officials due to be held in Singapore on the eve of Asia's largest annual aerospace event has been canceled because of coronavirus fears, participants said, raising doubts that the broader event will go ahead.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2u7DoXH

U.S. announces more coronavirus cases, details quarantine plans for returning travelers

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday announced a second case of transmission of the new coronavirus within the United States and provided more detailed plans on how it will handle travelers returning from China as the country works to limit the outbreak.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/36WDaQl

China reports 64 new coronavirus deaths, total at 425

The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China rose to 425 as of the end of Monday, up by 64 from the previous day, the country's National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/36S7POz

Senator Rubio bringing Uighur activist as State of the Union guest

Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said on Monday he was bringing Rushan Abbas, an advocate for the rights of China's Uighur Muslim minority, as his guest for President Donald Trump's annual State of the Union address on Tuesday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2SdAVD2

Australian deputy prime minister survives leadership challenge

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Tuesday survived a leadership challenge in a party room vote of the National Party – the junior partner in Australia's coalition government.

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

China seeks to boost economy as first virus death reported outside its borders

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/393o2SS

Protesters outside US Embassy in Lebanon decry Trump plan

More than 200 Lebanese and Palestinians held a protest Sunday near the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon against a White House plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The U.S. plan heavily favored Israel, granting the Palestinians limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank while allowing Israel to annex all its settlements there and keep nearly all of east Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2OjYFnO

Republican senator suggests 'worse than Chernobyl' coronavirus could've come from Chinese 'super-laboratory'

The US senator described the novel coronavirus as currently the "biggest and most important story in the world" and "worse than Chernobyl."

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3b7Rado

Biden Advisers Say He’s ‘Anything But Doomed’ Ahead of Iowa Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Top advisers to Joe Biden sought to temper expectations for his performance in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, projecting a close result and insisting that any outcome won’t doom the former vice president’s campaign.“Joe Biden is anything but doomed,” former Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a longtime Biden friend who has endorsed his former colleague, said Sunday at a Bloomberg News reporter roundtable in Des Moines.Biden’s team has long played down the importance of Iowa to its strategy, arguing that contests later in February in Nevada and South Carolina, followed quickly by Super Tuesday on March 3, are critical to demonstrate that a candidate is capable of defeating President Donald Trump.“We have been taking incoming since before Vice President Biden got into this race, since before April 25, people have been writing our campaign’s obituary. Tuesday morning will be no different,” Biden senior adviser Symone Sanders said at the roundtable.It’s in the states after Iowa that Biden’s advisers say he’ll be able to show his true electoral strength because of their higher concentrations of non-white voters and because their Democratic primary electorates are more moderate than Iowa’s.‘Not the End’“I think it’s important to know that we view Iowa as the beginning, not the end” of the nominating process, Sanders, the Biden adviser, said. “I think it will be a gross mistake on the part of reporters, voters or anyone else to view whatever happens on Monday – we think it’s going to be close – but view whatever happens as the end and not give credence and space for New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.”Senator Bernie Sanders leads Biden by 3.6 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa caucus polls, but one key data point that typically helps set expectations in the final 48 hours before Iowans go to their caucuses is missing: The Des Moines Register/CNN poll’s Saturday night release was canceled because of problems with its questioning, leaving journalists, analysts and voters grasping for data to anticipate Monday’s results.“I certainly will concede that the poll, the Register poll, could add or detract energy from a campaign,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has endorsed Biden. “It’s important for the expectations-setting. But I sort of think Democrats don’t just go to someone because they’re ahead.”A central tenet of Biden’s Democratic primary argument is that he’s the candidate perceived as most electable, a contention opponents have argued would be diminished by a poor showing in Iowa. But Miller insisted that a disappointing finish for Biden in his state doesn’t change the overall picture for Biden.“When we say he’s electable in the general election, we’re not saying he’s going to win every state in the caucus and primary system. That only happens with an incumbent president running for re-election,” Miller said. “I think that’s a false standard that he should win every state.”(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Des Moines, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36Rcfp4

Germany, Austria at odds on European financial trade tax

Germany and Austria are at odds over plans for a new tax on financial transactions, raising more questions about the chances of the levy becoming reality after years of talks. The two countries are among 10 in the European Union that have been working on a financial transaction tax after a wider agreement proved elusive. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has proposed a levy of 0.2% on share purchases and wants to use the proceeds at home to help top up the pensions of low-paid people.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37S8GAo

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