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Good morning.
We cover the coronavirus school closings, the state of Democratic primary breed and European plans for cutting carbon emissions.
The coronavirus epidemic puts life on hold
Like the number of Coronavirus deaths in Italy rose to 107 on Wednesday, the government closed schools nationwide at least until March 15.
The governor of California has declared a state of emergency as the number of cases there has risen to 54, the most in the United States, and Facebook said that a worker in his Seattle offices had proven positive. we have real-time updates and a video on how the impact of the virus looks from space.
Nearly 300 million students are now out of class worldwide and the epidemic – which has killed over 3,200 people and infected over 95,000 in dozens of countries – is increasingly interrupting work, travel and leisure on multiple continents .
Here is a sample:
China: Local governments across the country are erecting neighborhood barriers in an attempt to stop people from spreading the virus. Officials in the northern city of Tianjin call the sheet metal the “Great Blue Wall”.
events: The London Book Fair and the Geneva International Auto Show are among the events that have been canceled due to fears of the coronavirus. (The Tokyo Summer Olympics are still underway, at least for now.)
The arts: The Louvre in Paris has reopened, with warnings, after closing for three days, and some wonder if a long-awaited exhibition of Raphael’s paintings which will open today in Rome will continue as planned.
Biden leads the main race and Bloomberg retires
Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, he quit the Democratic primary race and approved former vice president Joe Biden on Wednesday, a day after voters from 14 states made Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders the first.
Biden has won 10 of these states and now has a delegated advantage over Mr. Sanders which is small but can be difficult to beat. This is partly due to the fact that black voters – a crucial basis for Biden’s support – represent an average share or above the population average in many of the remaining nomination contests.
However, Sanders, who won the delegate-rich California state, promised to lead a long battle for the nomination that would lead to the Democratic convention in July.
To reach: Here are the full results and five takeaways from the night.
Looking forward: The next competitions – in Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington State – will be held on March 10th. Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold primaries a week later.
Analysis: The former vice president is certainly not a risk-free candidate, writes our reporter Matt Flegenheimer, but has been relieved of a “hasty unity” among the Democratic Party moderates who are wary of Sanders’ progressive agenda.
Another angle: Wall Street executives are opening their checkbooks for Mr. Biden, but their support could have disadvantages for the candidate, who presents himself as anti-elitist.
Europe’s “moral confrontation” over migration
Turkey’s recent decision to open its borders for migrants to cross Europe has highlighted Europe’s inability to create coherent migration or asylum policies following a migration crisis five years ago, one that produced images horrible children who died and fueled the far-right populism of the continent.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited Greece this week, stating that the first priority of the blockade would be “to ensure that order is maintained at the external border of Greece, which is also the border of Europe”.
But showing solidarity with Greece’s sometimes tough efforts to keep migrants and refugees out is an “embarrassing moral confrontation” for a blockade that professes to take care of the protection of human rights, individual dignity and the right to seek asylum under the international law, writes our main diplomatic correspondent in Europe.
Context: Some analysts see the latest crisis as the inevitable result of Europe’s inability to deal with a long-term crisis in Idlib province, which borders Turkey in northwestern Syria. Syrian and Russian forces are trying to crack down on the latest reduction of the revolution there. Turkey entered the conflict after accusing European leaders of not keeping their promises to help them cope with millions of Syrian refugees.
If you have 5 minutes, it’s worth it
Dark web noir
When the first sites selling assassination services were discovered, some people assumed that the dark net was full of assassins waiting to kill on command.
Experts say that the sites, which charge roughly the same as the current price for real-life killers, are scams. There has been no known murder attributed to any of them.
Here’s what else is going on
Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his cabinet on Wednesday, accusing his ministers of poor performance and suggesting that western nations had been allowed to appoint too many foreigners on the boards of state-owned companies in the country.
Israel: Forces from both sides of the country’s yawning political divide were maneuvering for an advantage, two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won another election but fell to three short-majority parliamentary seats. That’s why Mr. Netanyahu seems unsinkable, even though he’s facing a bribery trial and other corruption charges.
Climate change: Greta Thunberg and other activists denounced the EU plans for a climate law that would be “empty words” set a zero net carbon emissions target across the block by 2050. But some climate experts have praised the plan, which would require the European Commission to take climate targets into account in every legislative act.
snapshots: Above, the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru. Its Dublin-based designers, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, have he won the Pritzker Prize of his year, the highest honor of architecture.
What are we reading: Health journalist Anahad O’Connor highlights a fascinating new, somewhat frightening, study of coral species that suggests that Earth’s “sixth extinction” may already be underway. Scientific journalist Emily Laber-Warren tells the story on Newsweek.
Now, a break from the news
To read: Our critic calls “The Mirror and the Light”, the latest novel by Hilary Mantel, the “triumphant capstone” of her trilogy on Thomas Cromwell.
Listen: For Hayley Williams, the frontwoman of the rock band Paramore, a solo project was a way to exorcise demons and increase her creative powers. Our reporter met you in Nashville.
Smarter life: Micro-aggression, the daily insults experienced by members of marginalized groups, can adversely affect health or cause symptoms of trauma. Here’s how to decide which to fight and what to say.
And now for Back Story on …
Stay impartial
In 1896, the New York Times adopted its now famous mission: “to impart the news impartially, without fear or favor.” But what does this mean in practice? Some of our journalists and editors recently told us what they do to stay objective.
Peter Baker, our principal White House correspondent, says:
“As journalists, our job is to observe, not to participate, and therefore I don’t belong to any political party, I don’t belong to any non-journalistic organization, I don’t support any candidate, I don’t give money to interest groups and I don’t vote.
“I try not to take strong positions on public matters even in private, to the great frustration of friends and family. For me, it’s easier to stay out of the fray if I never decide, even in the privacy of the kitchen or the polling booth, that one candidate is better than another, that one side is right and the other wrong. “
Elizabeth Dias, national correspondent covering religion and politics, says:
“I am not going to marches, even if this is the hobby du jour in Washington right now. When my friends point out that Americans have the right to a free assembly, I agree. I am just thinking of another first amendment, press freedom, and that’s my goal.
“Impartiality, for me, is not about hiding something that I really think, or trying to prevent my true opinions from being exposed. It’s about trust. I think a lot about my readers. I want them to trust me. “
Read more about our journalists’ replies.
That’s all for this briefing. See you next time.
– Mike
Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Lara Takenaga wrote today’s Back Story. You can contact the team at [email protected]
Post Scriptum
• We are listening to “The Daily”. Our latest episode is about the Super Tuesday results.
Here is today’s mini crossword puzzle and a clue: two-dimensional (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
Clinton Cargill joined our national office as an assistant editor to help build momentum towards a more visual and native digital relationship.