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AP-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-NORTH-KOREA-
North Korean leader calls for stronger anti-virus efforts
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for stronger anti-virus efforts to guard against COVID-19, saying there will be “serious consequences” if the illness spreads to the country. The North has yet to report its first infection from the new coronavirus, but it has been pushing a tough campaign it has described as a matter of “national existence.” The country has shut down nearly all cross-border traffic, banned tourists, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized tens of thousands of health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. In a separate report, state media said Kim supervised a military drill that simulated an attack on an island target
BC-VIRUS OUTBREAK
Outbreak starts to look more like worldwide economic crisis
NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus outbreak is starting to look more like a worldwide economic crisis. Anxiety about the disease emptied shops and amusement parks, canceled events, cut trade and travel and dragged already slumping financial markets even lower on Friday. The outbreak is infecting economies well beyond the countries touched by the illness. More employers told their workers to stay home, and officials locked down neighborhoods and closed schools. Those steps threatened to take an even greater toll on jobs, paychecks and profits. If the disease known as COVID-19 becomes a global pandemic, economists say the U.S. and other global economies could fall into recession.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CALIFORNIA
Agency: 2nd US case of person who got virus from community
SAN JOSE (AP) — Health officials have confirmed the second case of novel coronavirus in the United States believed to have been transmitted to a person who didn’t travel internationally or come in close contact with anyone who had it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that officials are “aware of a second possible instance of community spread of COVID-19 in California." Santa Clara County health officials said the patient is an older adult woman with chronic health conditions. She is not known to have traveled to an area with many infections or to Solano County where Thursday's case originated.
AP-US-ELECTION-2020-TRUMP
Trump accuses Democrats of 'hoax' for criticizing virus plan
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump is lashing out at Democrats who have questioned his handling of the coronavirus threat, calling their criticism a new “hoax” intended to undermine his leadership. He's accusing Democrats of “politicizing” the threat while he is boasting about preventive steps he's ordered in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading across the United States. Trump held a campaign rally Friday night in South Carolina, attempting to steal some of the spotlight from his Democratic rivals before Saturday's presidential primary. The crowd cheered in agreement when he said he thought Bernie Sanders would be “easier to beat” than Joe Biden.
ELECTION 2020-THE LATEST
The Latest: Steyer: My commitment to S. Carolina will endure
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Billionaire Tom Steyer has made his election-eve appeal to South Carolina voters, pledging that his commitment to them will go beyond the primary election. The Democrat told attendees at a rally Friday night in downtown Columbia that he and his wife had "fallen in love" with the state during their months of campaigning there ahead of Saturday's presidential primary. In the balloting, Steyer said he felt the “people of South Carolina are up for a righteous fight.” He closed out his rally at Allen University, a historically black institution, by referencing an anthem of the civil rights movement, saying, “We shall, in fact, overcome.”
AP-FINANCIAL-MARKETS
Wall Street has worst week since 2008 as S&P 500 drops 11.5%
Stocks sank again after another wild day, extending a rout that left the market with its worst week since October 2008. Major indexes clawed back much of their intraday losses in the last 15 minutes. Bond prices soared as investors sought safety, pushing yields to record lows. The stock swoon is being driven by fear that the coronavirus outbreak will derail the global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 357 points, or 1.4%, to 25,409. It was down 1,085 points earlier. The S&P 500 lost 0.8% and is now down 13% since hitting a record high just 10 days ago.
TRUMP-INTELLIGENCE
Trump picks Ratcliffe as top intelligence official, again
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has picked Rep. John Ratcliffe again to be the nation's top intelligence official. His announcement comes just months after Trump abandoned an earlier attempt to place Ratcliffe in the post in the face of bipartisan criticism that the Texas Republican wasn't qualified for the job. Since then, Ratcliffe played a prominent role as a vocal Trump defender during the House's impeachment proceedings against him late last year. Democrats are already criticizing Ratcliffe and his fate in the Senate seems uncertain.
IMMIGRATION-ASYLUM
Court suspends ruling blocking sending migrants to Mexico
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously Friday to suspend an order it issued earlier in the day to block a central pillar of the Trump administration’s policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. courts. The three-judge panel told the government to file written arguments by the end of Monday and for the plaintiffs to respond by the end of Tuesday. The Justice Department said at least 25,000 asylum seekers subject to the policy are currently waiting in Mexico and expressed “massive and irreparable national-security of public-safety concerns.” Government attorneys said immigration lawyers had begun demanding that asylum seekers be allowed in the United States.
UNITED STATES-AFGHANISTAN-PEACE DEAL
US, Taliban set peace signing for America's longest war
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's longest war may finally be nearing an end. More than 18 years after the Afghanistan conflict began in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, the United States and the Islamists it toppled from power in Afghanistan are poised to sign a peace deal on Saturday. That will set the stage for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, some of whom were not yet born when the World Trade Center collapsed. And it promises the potential end of a tremendous American investment of blood and treasure. Negotiations among Afghan factions are still to come.
CHINA OUTBREAK-QUARANTINED PASSENGERS
Feds won't put quarantined passengers in Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The federal government says it won’t try to move dozens of cruise ship passengers quarantined because of coronavirus fears to a facility in densely populated Southern California. State health officials say they were informed Friday that the government won't be moving people from the Diamond Princess from an Air Force base in California to a facility in Costa Mesa, which had argued they posed a potential health threat in the Orange County area. A judge had temporarily barred the transfer and scheduled a hearing next week to rule on the matter.
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