Ravenna

Nearly two-thirds of voters expect Trump to win reelection in November, poll finds

Opinions on the race appear to be firmly set for most voters, with 63% saying they know how they will vote no matter who is the Democratic nominee.

10,000 mourn victims of racist shooting rampage in Germany

Around 10,000 protesters marched through the central German town of Hanau on Sunday to mourn the nine people who were killed by an immigrant-hating gunman four days ago. “These days and hours are the blackest and darkest our town has ever experienced during peace times,” Hanau mayor Claus Kaminsky told the somber crowds, according to the German news agency dpa. Five of the victims were reported to be Turkish citizens.

Coronavirus challenges $45 billion cruise industry

'Business is soft, people are scared to travel,' said Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line.

Here Comes 1984: China's Regime Is An Existential Threat to the World

One expert tells you why.

Three Weinstein Accusers Could Send Producer to Prison for Life

(Bloomberg) -- As the jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial wrestle with a pair of charges that could send the fallen movie mogul to prison for life, the testimony of three women who don’t even appear in his indictment could help seal his fate.They’re known as Molineux witnesses in New York, where Weinstein is being tried, and they testified to their own encounters with him as prosecutors sought to persuade the jury that the two women he is charged with attacking never gave their consent to sex. Such witnesses testified in the retrial of Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania, which ended in his conviction.On Friday the jury sent a note to the judge referring to two counts of predatory sexual assault -- counts one and three on the verdict sheet it’s working from -- and suggesting it might be deadlocked.“We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on one and/or three and unanimous on the other charges. Thank you,” the jurors told the judge. He told them to keep trying.The other charges are a criminal sexual act and rape. Weinstein is accused of forcing oral sex on “Project Runway” assistant Miriam Haley in his SoHo loft in 2006 and raping aspiring actor Jessica Mann in a midtown Manhattan hotel in 2013.In a category by herself is the actor Annabella Sciorra, who told the jury that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s. Her allegations are a linchpin for the two predatory sexual assault counts, the gravest charges facing the former Hollywood power broker.Predatory sexual assault requires a serious attack on at least two people. To find Weinstein guilty on count one, the jury would need to be persuaded by the evidence for the alleged attacks on both Haley and Sciorra. To convict him on count three, it would need to find that he assaulted both Mann and Sciorra.Read More: Weinstein Jury Stuck on Most Serious Charges, Told to Keep at ItThe testimony of the Molineux witnesses may come into play as well. Weinstein’s lawyers argue that any encounters their client had were consensual. If the jury finds the allegations of assault from these three women credible, it may decide Haley and Mann never gave Weinstein their consent either, and convict him of rape and a criminal sexual act.And if the jurors believe Sciorra, too, that will meet the requirements of predatory sexual assault -- the two counts they seem to be stuck on -- and Weinstein, 67, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.Weinstein’s lawyers have told the jury that the women had consensual, and even transactional, sex with their client, and that they “re-labeled” the encounters as assaults years after the fact in the wake of the MeToo movement.The first of the three witnesses, Dawn Dunning, testified that in 2004, when she was an aspiring actor waiting tables, Weinstein lured her to a business meeting in a hotel room and digitally penetrated her. The second, Tarale Wulff, told the court that minutes after meeting the producer in 2005, when she was working as a cocktail waitress, he dragged her up a secluded stairwell and masturbated, and later raped her in his SoHo apartment. The third, Lauren Young, said she was a model trying to make it as a screenwriter in 2013 when Weinstein trapped her in his hotel suite’s bathroom, where he stripped off the top of her dress and groped her.Such testimony about uncharged crimes is typically considered too prejudicial to allow, but it’s permitted under limited circumstances. While it can’t be used to suggest a defendant has a propensity to commit a crime, it can explore the defendant’s intent or a common theme. In New York it dates back to a landmark 1901 decision involving a chemist named Roland Molineux who was accused in a fatal cyanide poisoning.Read More: Weinstein’s ‘Trial of the Century’ Gets Its Own PodcastNew York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke ruled in December, over the objections of the defense, that the three accusers could be called to rebut Weinstein’s argument that the encounters were consensual and to show his “intent to use forcible compulsion” on Haley and Mann. The decision was unsealed on Feb. 7, revealing that prosecutors sought to call a total of five such witnesses, the same number as at the Cosby trial.In the end, Burke allowed three.“The consistent theme is that the defendant used his business stature in the movie industry to lure women to believe that he would connect them to careers in the entertainment industry,” Burke wrote, adding that the testimony could help the jury of seven men and five women understand why Haley and Mann feared reprisals if they went to the police.He said it could help the jurors decide whether Weinstein “created an engineered situation where he could be alone” with Mann and Haley “and then sexually assault them.”Weinstein’s lawyers have cited Burke’s Molineux ruling, as well as other decisions that went against them, in calling for a mistrial. Burke has denied the requests.The case is People v. Weinstein, 450293/2018, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).Read MoreJurors Focus on Predatory Assault, Most Serious ChargeSciorra Describes Gift of Popcorn, Then RapeWeinstein Was Jekyll and Hyde, Witness Testifies‘I Think I Was Raped’: Jury Hears Rosie Perez Back Up SciorraJessica Mann Is Grilled on Contact After Alleged Assault Accuser Called Weinstein a ‘Soul Mate,’ Friend TestifiesWeinstein’s Dream Jury Is Conservative, Traditional, SkepticalA MeToo Moment Two Years in the MakingTo contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor 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.

US accuses Russia of huge coronavirus disinformation campaign

US officials say thousands of social media accounts linked to Russia are part of a coordinated effort to spread disinformation about the new coronavirus.The campaign allegedly aims to damage the US’s image and spread unfounded conspiracy theories that it is behind the outbreak which has infected nearly 78,000 globally and killed over 2,500 people.

Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy is under fire as Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation

A Twitter spokesman said the identical posts violated its policy against manipulation and spam that was created in response to the 2016 election.

Malaysia in turmoil as Anwar denounces bid to bring down govt

Malaysian politics was in turmoil Monday after leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim denounced a "betrayal" by coalition partners he said were trying to bring down the government, two years after it stormed to victory. Anwar's "Pact of Hope" alliance was thrown into crisis after his rivals within the coalition and opposition politicians met at the weekend reportedly to try to form a new government. Speculation is mounting that Anwar, who had been the presumptive successor to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, and his lawmakers would be left out of any new coalition, ending his hopes of becoming premier any time soon.

Countdown Begins to Possible End of U.S. War in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United States and the Taliban started the clock early Saturday on a plan to end America's longest war after more than 18 years, beginning with what they hope will be seven days of greatly reduced violence in Afghanistan.If the weeklong, partial truce holds, the two sides have agreed, they will meet on Feb. 29 to sign an agreement laying out a timetable for the U.S. to withdraw its troops.The pact is also meant to clear the way for peace talks involving the Taliban and the government in Kabul, and U.S. officials point to the reduction in hostilities as the first link in a fragile chain of events that could deliver peace in Afghanistan after more than four decades of conflict.But the Afghan government is deep in a political crisis after a bitterly disputed presidential election in which the opposition candidate claimed victory despite President Ashraf Ghani having been declared the winner. With rival claimants to legitimacy, it is unclear who would negotiate with the Taliban, whether they would be prepared to enter talks while struggling to control the government, or what kind of mandate they would have.U.S. negotiators demanded the seven-day reduction in violence, which went into effect after midnight Saturday, as a public show of the Taliban's good faith and its ability to control its fractious and scattered forces. Now it is the government in Kabul whose cohesion and command are more in doubt."I call on all Afghans to seize this opportunity," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter on Friday.A previous attempt at finalizing a deal between the Taliban and the U.S. fell apart on the verge of completion in September, with President Donald Trump citing a new outbreak of violence, and the same risk hangs over the latest try.And even if the carefully choreographed rollout of the agreement does presage the end of the American phase of the war, the plan might not spell the end of the war itself. Trump is determined, one way or another, to reduce U.S. involvement in Afghanistan to a minimum, and the Taliban's long-term commitment to compromise and power-sharing remains open to question.Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. negotiator, recently arrived in Kabul to prepare for the announcement of an agreement, to find a government that was threatening to split apart. He has been shuttling in a convoy of armed vehicles between the heavily guarded homes of the divided elite in Kabul, trying to keep the peace.In September, Afghanistan held a presidential election marred by Taliban attacks and allegations of fraud and mismanagement. It was not until Tuesday -- after nearly five months of delays, acrimonious disputes and a partial audit of the results -- that the election commission declared that Ghani had won another five-year term.His main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, also declared victory, accusing the election body of favoring the incumbent, and called on his supporters to form their own government.The U.S. government still has not acknowledged Ghani's victory. The only public comment it has made on the results hinted at concern that the electoral mess might make matters worse."It is likely that these developments could add to the challenges Afghanistan faces, including the challenges of the peace process," Molly Phee, Khalilzad's deputy in negotiations, said Tuesday at the United States Institute of Peace, a government-funded policy group in Washington. "Our priority, and what we believe to be the priority of most Afghans, remains peace and the peace process."Since U.S. officials couldn't persuade Ghani to postpone the election, the yearlong talks with the Taliban, primarily in Doha, Qatar, became a race against Afghanistan's political calendar. Election after election has been so tainted that U.S. diplomats were essentially trying to rush through a peace deal with the Taliban before Afghanistan's latest political crisis could complicate the equation.They almost finalized a deal with the insurgents last summer that would have pushed back the election, but Trump called off the talks on the eve of the signing, and the vote went ahead.The political showdown pits technocratic Ghani and his circle of young advisers against some of the most hardened figures of recent Afghan history, survivors of years of battle and deal-making. One of Abdullah's key supporters is Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of an array of violent acts, and until recently served as Ghani's vice president.Dostum, who has one of the most unified bases of support in the north, was the first to call for a parallel government, and to urge protests and the announcement of governors in northern provinces. Abdullah's fate could turn on how willing the general is to push the crisis, and how receptive he is to a deal with Ghani.Khalilzad, who was expected to return to Doha to prepare for the signing ceremony, has extended his stay in Afghanistan to manage the political tensions, meeting repeatedly with Ghani, Abdullah and other key political players.Late Thursday, Khalilzad told a meeting of Dostum's party that the announcement of election results had caught him by surprise, according to one participant. He and Gen. Austin S. Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, urged the participants to make sure that political rallies don't turn to violence.Analysts said the conflict was unlikely to affect the first steps of the peace process, as U.S. officials had made it clear to everyone that their priority was starting the violence reduction. But the high-stakes political showdown would make it difficult to move on to the next phase, when a unified negotiating team that includes the Afghan government is expected to sit across from the Taliban."The U.S. has clearly put its weight on the peace issue, and that message is clear to all sides -- with President Ghani agreeing to reduction of violence -- there is a consensus among the parties," said Omar Sadr, an assistant professor of political science at the American University of Afghanistan."But the election issue has created a huge gap between the political sides and that needs to be bridged in a very short time for this process to move forward," he added. "And I don't know how that can happen without Khalilzad and the U.S. stepping in."Sadr said the Americans remaining quiet on the election results gives them "maneuver room" to broker a settlement to the political crisis -- which could provide leverage to make sure the peace process doesn't fall apart.The seven-day violence reduction being rolled out closely resembles a cease-fire, barring some exceptions, officials said.The Taliban has agreed to hold back attacks on cities, highways, and major security outposts throughout the country. In return, Afghan government forces and the U.S. military, which has stepped up airstrikes in the last year, have agreed to hold back their operations.In preparation for the start of the violence reduction, Ghani has been meeting all provincial security and political leaders in recent days. He told one group that the Taliban currently carry out about 80 attacks a day, and that a reduction to about 10 attacks would be seen as a successful implementation."Our brave security and defense forces will only act in defense of themselves and the honorable people of Afghanistan," he said in a televised address late Friday.Taliban leaders scrambled to get their message of minimizing violence to the lowest units of what has increasingly been a decentralized force.In private WhatsApp messages, Taliban commanders can be heard taking pains to strike a nuance: they want fighters to hold fire and not attack, but to stay vigilant in their positions and not venture into cities and government territory.The group has long feared that a full cease-fire could divide its ranks and make remobilizing difficult if the peace process crumbled and all-out fighting resumed.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

A California man drove his Jeep off the roof of a six-level parking garage and crashed into a McDonald's, police say

Police say a California man drove a Jeep off a parking garage and into a McDonald's. Two people dove out of the car before it crashed.

Bernie and Jane Sanders hire lawyers in response to FBI probe

FBI is probing whether Jane Sanders improperly acquired bank loans to expand Burlington College, which was forced to close because of heavy debt

Indian authorities scramble to give Trump mega-rally

The city of Ahmedabad in India was jostling with activity on Sunday as workers cleaned roads, planted flowers and hoisted billboards featuring President Trump, a day ahead of his maiden two-day visit to India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised him a lively public reception.

Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother

The 17-year-old boy told police he had sex with his sister about 100 times but did not know she was pregnant, according to charging documents.

Haiti police exchange fire with troops near national palace

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian police officers exchanged gunfire for hours Sunday with soldiers of the newly reconstituted army outside the national palace, in a dangerous escalation of protests over police pay and working conditions. At least three police officers were wounded, fellow officers told The Associated Press. Haiti's raucous three-day Carnival celebration was to have started Sunday afternoon in Port-au-Prince and other major cities but the government announced Sunday night that Carnival was cancelled in the capital “to avoid a bloodbath.” Police protesters and their backers had burned dozens of Carnival floats and stands at recent protests, saying they did not believe the country should be celebrating during a crisis.

China eases restrictions as other countries report surge in cases

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - Fears of a coronavirus pandemic grew on Monday after sharp rises in new cases reported in Iran, Italy and South Korea but China relaxed restrictions on movements in several places including Beijing as its rates of new infections dropped. The surge of infections outside mainland China triggered steep falls in Asian shares and Wall Street stock futures as investors fled to safe havens such as gold. South Korea's fourth-largest city Daegu grew increasingly isolated as the number of infections there increased rapidly, with Asiana Airlines and Korean Air suspending flights to the city until March 9 and March 28 respectively.

Joe Biden says he was arrested in South Africa on a visit to see Nelson Mandela. He has never mentioned the arrest before.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, has mentioned at three campaign events about being arrested while trying to visit Nelson Mandela in the 1970s.

Grave of slain Iraq commander, a new anti-US magnet

Clad in black, they joined wailing women and men beating their chests in grief at Wadi al-Salam (valley of peace), an ever expanding cemetery. All eyes were on the grave of Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Killed alongside top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, Muhandis is now revered as a martyred icon of anti-American resistance.

Nevada caucus results delayed for hours, Buttigieg camp claims 'irregularities'

Buttigieg's campaign raised questions about the results of Saturday's contest.

Wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Georgia kills 6 people, including Virginia parents and their 3 children

Six people, including three children, were killed early Sunday in a head-on crash on Interstate 95, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

Outcry after MSNBC host compares Sanders’ Nevada win to Nazi invasion

* Calls for firing of Chris Matthews after widespread anger * Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist is JewishMSNBC host Chris Matthews compared Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday to the Nazi invasion of France, spurring calls for his firing.“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940 and the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over,’” Matthews said on air on Saturday night.“And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.’”“So I had that suppressed feeling,” Matthews also said.Sanders, a senator from Vermont and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is Jewish.He won the Nevada caucuses easily, helping solidify his status as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in a primary split between moderates and progressives. Sanders’ win came in the wake of a strong showing in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire.> MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likens Sanders victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany overrunning France in 1940: “It’s too late to stop him … it’s over” pic.twitter.com/6GJetLoDkq> > — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2020Matthews’ words prompted widespread anger.“Bernie is Jewish and his family was killed by the Nazis,” tweeted David Sirota, a Sanders speechwriter and former Guardian contributor. “None of this is OK.”“This is absolutely disgusting on [Matthews’] part,” tweeted Parker Molloy, editor-at-large at Media Matters for America. “Retire, get fired, whatever. Bottom line is that Matthews needs to be out of a job.”On air, Matthews said Republicans would disclose opposition research on Sanders that would “kill him” in the general election against Donald Trump.“It looks like Bernie Sanders is hard to beat,” Matthews said of the primary, adding: “I think it’s a little late to stop him, and I think that’s the problem.”MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

N.Y. Gov. Cuomo compares the 'virus of hate' to the coronavirus after bomb threats were emailed to 19 Jewish community centers in one single morning

"People are worried about the Coronavirus, which we're watching in this state – there's also a virus of hate, and it's spreading," Cuomo said.

'Frankly it's bulls***': CNN anchor boils over in interview with corrupt politician pardoned by Trump

In a fiery CNN segment, host Anderson Cooper called out an unrepentant Rod Blagojevich, on his third day out of prison following the commutation of his sentence by Donald Trump.Mr Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois, imprisoned in late 2011 following convictions in 17 out of 20 corruption charges, claimed that he was a “political prisoner” not dissimilar to Nelson Mandela and made excuses as to why he should not have been in prison.

Exit polls: Social Democrats win, far-right loses in Hamburg

The center-left Social Democrats won the most votes in the Hamburg state election Sunday, according to exit polls, followed by the environmentalist Green party in a vote that was overshadowed by a racist massacre and political turmoil in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats appeared to lose badly, receiving the weakest results in Hamburg, which is Germany's second-biggest city and its own state, in the last seven decades. In what would be a large upset, the far-right Alternative for Germany — which has been especially successful in state elections in eastern Germany where it got up to about a quarter of the vote — appears to not have received the 5% of the vote needed to get into the state assembly.

Greyhound will stop allowing immigration checks on buses

Greyhound, the U.S.’s largest bus company, said on Friday that it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks.

I Live in South Korea Where Coronavirus Cases are Rising. Not Much Has Changed

It is important to keep perspective. There are fifty-three million people in South Korea. Only four hundred thirty or so of them have corona, and only two have died. The sensationalism of disease outbreak coverage does not help. We have all seen too many movies, and overwrought invocations of Contagion or zombie apocalypse movies generate paranoia and unnecessary anxiety. South Korea is safe.

Police at checkpoints, events scrapped as virus fears hit Italy

Police patrolled perimeters of virus-stricken town in northern Italy Sunday as tens of thousands of people were placed under lockdown and public events cancelled to stem Europe's worst outbreak of the new coronavirus. "Virus -- Northern Italy under Siege," read Sunday's headline in the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, as television stations delivered a steady stream of images of masked locals and hospital workers in protective suits. "Virus Paralysis," read La Repubblica.

CDC is preparing for the 'likely' spread of coronavirus in the US, officials say

While coronavirus has not spread in the United States, CDC officials said they're preparing for the coronavirus to become a pandemic.

RESULTS: Bernie Sanders wins the Nevada caucus, follow the full vote count and delegate race here

Sanders has now won the popular vote in the first three primary contests and holds his biggest lead yet in the diverse state of Nevada.

Harry Dunn's family want Julian Assange's extradition blocked

The family of Harry Dunn has called for Julian Assange not to be extradited as long as the US refuses to send the suspect in the teenager's death back to the UK. They have accused the American government of "demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy" in seeking the extradition of the Wikileaks founder, despite rejecting a request for Anne Sacoolas to return to Britain. Mr Dunn, 19, died when his motorbike collided with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27. Ms Sacoolas, 42, the wife of an intelligence official based at the US military base, claimed diplomatic immunity and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy. The US refused an extradition request for Ms Sacoolas last month.

Missing 6-month-old boy found dead in cemetery after mom's arrest

The body of Chi-Liam Cody Brown-Erickson was found hours after his mother was arrested and an Amber Alert was issued on his disappearance.

For Virginia Tech parents, new gun laws a long struggle

When Virginia lawmakers pass sweeping new gun control laws in the coming days, it will mark the culmination of nearly 13 years of often thankless work for two parents whose children were shot in one of the country's worst mass shootings. Lori Haas and Andrew Goddard started pressing lawmakers to enact new gun laws shortly after a gunman killed 32 people and wounded more than a dozen others at Virginia Tech in 2007. Haas and Goddard have been Virginia's most visible gun-control lobbyists for years, but until recently had little to show for their work.

Wave of racist attacks against Asian Americans in wake of coronavirus outbreak

Misinformation and exaggeration about the coronavirus have led to a wave of racist attacks on Asian Americans across the US.The attacks are both physical and verbal, and there are also cases of people either from East Asia, or of East Asian descent, being turned away from businesses.

Russia's Relationship With China Is Growing Despite Setbacks

What are the strategic implications of Moscow and Beijing working closely together in a sensitive domain?

Spread of coronavirus confirms WHO fears, say experts

The sharp rise in cases and the geographical spread of the coronavirus outside China confirm WHO fears over dealing with the crisis, experts warned Sunday as they appealed for ever greater vigilance. "There has been a profound shift in the direction that COVID-19 (new coronavirus) is taking over the past 48 hours," said Professor Devi Sridhar, Director of the Global Health Governance Programme at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. On Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had already sounded the alarm, saying the window to stem the virus was shrinking.

A dozen towns in northern Italy are locked down after coronavirus deaths

Schools, businesses and restaurant closed in a dozen northern Italian towns Saturday following reports of two deaths tied to the coronavirus outbreak

Despite previous attacks, Medicare for All proved to be a huge winner for Bernie Sanders for the third primary in a row, polls show

Two separate polls showed strong support among Democratic voters for Sanders' plan to insure every American under Medicare for All.

White House reportedly to ask Congress for coronavirus funds but the amount may not be enough

The White House is about to turn to Congress and request emergency funds in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak, four people with knowledge of the request told Politico.So far, the vast majority of cases of the respiratory virus are in China where it originated, but it has been spreading across the globe, and over 30 people are infected in the United States. Because scientists know so little about the virus, including its incubation time, they're worried an outbreak could eventually hit the U.S.But it looks like the amount the White House plans to ask for — $1 billion — might be lower than some public health officials consider necessary, per Politico. If that's all there is, it could reportedly be exhausted swiftly by vaccine development, lab tests, and other investments. For comparison, the Obama administration requested $6 billion to fight Ebola in 2014 and received $5.4 billion.One White House official told Politico the amount is still subject to change, however. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Model and restaurateur B. Smith dies at 70 The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained CNN analyst: Republicans 'may regret' hoping Sanders wins nomination

Coronavirus Spread by a Second Coming ‘Cult’ Has Put South Korea on ‘Maximum Alert’

This article was updated on February 23, 2020, at 11:55 p.m. local time in South Korea.SEOUL—A South Korean church whose founder says, rather mysteriously, that he represents the second coming of Christ on Earth and has unique insights into God’s revelations is getting much of the blame for a major surge in the spread of the deadly coronavirus here.Coronavirus Now a ‘Tremendous Public Health Threat’: CDCFear of the disease now known as COVID-19 actually had been on the decline in South Korea until a fresh outbreak was traced to a 61-year-old woman who belonged to the Shincheonji Church in Daegu, a city of 2.4 million about 170 miles southeast of Seoul. Soon it was clear that more than half the known cases were connected to Shincheonji parishioners.As the number of infections started climbing with disconcerting speed on Sunday, the government here put the country on the highest possible alert, opening the way for it to lock down whole cities if deemed necessary. All told, as of this writing late Sunday night local time, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 602 cases, including six people who have died. Of the total number diagnosed, 329 were members of Shincheonji or had had contact with members.A former member of the church told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that Shincheonji’s practices during worship may heighten the risk of coronavirus contagion, since participants kneel close together and sing songs with their arms on each others’ shoulders during services. There are also concerns about its presence outside South Korea, possibly including Hubei province in China, the epicenter of the growing epidemic. Lee Man-hee, the 88-year-old founder and leader of the church, has called the disease the “devil's deed” and a test of faith meant to stop the growth of Shincheonji, according to Yonhap.Leaders of more traditional churches have been quick to denounce Shincheonji, which means “New Heaven and Earth.” And the spread of COVID-19 from one of the 74 Shincheonji “sanctuaries” strengthens the view among the mainstream that Shincheonji is a dangerous cult that keeps many of its 200,000 members in secret compounds while pressuring them to absorb its teachings and recruit other followers.Christian critics for years have denounced Lee Man-hee as “a heretic” who has exploited thousands of adherents since opening his first congregation 36 years ago. He calls himself “the promised pastor.”“They are not real Christians,” says a member of Korea’s Presbyterian church, the country’s largest Christian organization. “They are fake.”* * *SEWING UP SEOUL* * *Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, has picked up on the hostile sentiment, warning against the evil the church poses in the metropolitan region of the Korean capital. “Shincheonji sect, also known as ‘Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony’ in Daegu, has become a hotbed of the infections in local communities,” he warned in a lengthy media briefing as the extent of the outbreak became known, calling for measures to stop the disease from spreading.Already, he said, confirmed cases elsewhere were “related to the church in Daegu” and “another confirmed patient in Seoul attended the chapel in that church.” It was “to proactively prevent the further spread of the virus,” he said, that “the Shincheonji churches in Seoul will be closed.”That crackdown was not the only severe measure ordered by Park. He also banned street demonstrations, notably by conservatives hostile to his own municipal government and the national government.Park, a left-leaning politician who has long advocated dialogue with North Korea, insisted he had in mind the health of old people who join in such protests waving American and Korean flags. “The symptoms and prognosis of the confirmed cases could be fatal to people with underlying conditions, and the elderly in particular,” he said, ordering the closure of welfare facilities, senior citizen centers and an historic park in central Seoul where old men frequently gather.Conservatives, hoping to defeat ruling party legislators in national assembly elections in April, denounced the ban as “politics” and promised to turn out in defiance of rows of policemen massed on the main avenue running by city hall.* * *MESSIANIC TENDENCIES* * *The role of Shincheonji in spreading the disease, however, seems far more important than political protests in a country where religious groupings often fight one another. About a third of South Korea’s 51 million people identify as Christians, but there are deep divisions among them, and these movements like Shincheonji draw adherents despite social and cultural barriers to proselytizing and preaching. Cults and cult-like groupings have proliferated, seeming to fill some sort of spiritual void in this fast-moving fast-growing country always under threat from its neighbor to the north. If the COVID-19 epidemic is striking down members of Shincheonji its critics “will say God has struck heretics,” says Michael Breen, author of books on Korean culture and a former member of the Unification Church of the late Rev. Moon Sun-myung. “A lot of people will be thinking, they kind of deserve this.”In fact, in the years since Lee Man-hee first mesmerized young Koreans with his claim to embody Jesus Christ, the Shincheonji Church has proven about as controversial as the “Moonie” Unification Church. Lee may not call himself “the messiah” or “true parent” of mankind as did Moon, but he preaches an extremist view of Christianity whose message is essentially that he came to know the meaning of Christ on Earth through the Bible’s Book of Revelation.“More people are upset with Lee than with Moon,” says Breen. “They will go after him. They are very dogmatic and judgmental.”The secrecy of the church adds to the build-up of emotions against its activities. “Health authorities are having difficulties as they could not reach or contact more than 400 followers of the church,” reported Dong A Ilbo, a leading newspaper in Seoul. It was only through GPS tracking, the paper said, that the church member who was first diagnosed was discovered to have visited Cheongdo, where an outbreak was reported in a hospital and the first person in Korea died of the disease.“Since the entire nation is experiencing a national crisis, Shincheonji religious followers should voluntarily report symptoms and self-quarantine at home while fully cooperating with the authorities in quarantine efforts,” the paper editorialized. At the same time, Dong A called on citizens not to attack patients “even for the sake of ensuring the success of quarantine efforts.”Kukmin Ilbo, a Christian newspaper with strong ties to South Korea’s largest congregation, the evangelical Full Gospel Church in Seoul, suggested Shincheonji members are reluctant to cooperate with authorities tracing the course of the disease.North Korea’s Secret Coronavirus Crisis is Crazy Scary“It seems to be the tendency to act in a closed manner without showing much of its beliefs,” said the paper, describing Shincheonji as “a pseudo-religion or cult.” It claimed that “there were even allegations that Shincheonji sent an internal notice to the congregation telling them to say, ‘I didn’t go to church that day’ and ‘I worshipped somewhere other than there.’”Shincheonji says such claims are concocted by its mortal enemies. “There is no such thing as an internal notice,” a church official responded. More to the point, Mayor Park said, “Anyone who attended the chapels of the Shincheonji Church in Daegu must report to an emergency telephone number.” Seoul will quickly get the list of names, he said. “This is an inevitable measure to ensure and protect the health, safety and life of citizens.” Seoul, he promised, “will exert all its administrative effort.”Shin Hyun-wook, a pastor who specializes in deprogramming Shincheonji members, says they are told not to let their families know they belong to the church. “They believe in eternal life,” he says, dying only from “lack of faith.”* * *UPDATES* * *The warning “EMERGENCY ALERT” in capital letters, preceded by loud beeping sounds, flashed simultaneously on the screens of the mobile phones of millions of South Koreans late Sunday as the government elevated the fast-spreading coronavirus, now known as  COVID-19, to the highest level.President Moon Jae-in, who several days earlier had tried to calm fears and warn against panic, came on South Korean TV networks announcing “the  COVID-19 incident has been confronted by a grave watershed.”“A few days from now is a very important moment,” he said.Moon did not say what he believed had to happen in that short time span to stem the crisis other than to call for “unprecedented, powerful measures,”  but never before had the government gone to such extremes as to warn Korea’s 51 million citizens of the danger to health and safety.Armed with the authority to stop public gatherings, including political protests, the government postponed the opening of schools from next Monday, March 2, until the following Monday.Seeking to get on top of a situation about which he had been criticized for acting too slowly, Moon said his government now would “perceive the crisis” in the southeastern city of Daegu and the surrounding province as “a national one.” Henceforth, he said, the government would focus on “riding out the difficulty without sparing any support.”Earlier, the health and welfare minister, Park Neung-hoo, assured the country the virus was “limited within a specific region and group”—a reference to the members of Shincheonji. Four of the six victims of the virus died in the same hospital in Cheongdo, near Daegu. “The nation's health authorities are concerned that more virus cases will be identified at the hospital as most patients have underlying illnesses,” according to the Yonhap news service. “Transmissions taking place in hospitals and clinics are also of grave concern because of the risk of exposing sick people, who are more vulnerable to infections, to the virus.”A sign of concern about the spread of the virus was that Shinsegae, an historic department store featuring luscious displays and popular food courts, shut down the restaurants in a major branch in one of Seoul's most upscale high-rise office and apartment districts. A customer, the store announced, was reported to have come down with the virus after attending a Shincheonji gathering in Daegu.Moon pointedly urged the cooperation of Shincheonji members, noted for standing close together in mass meetings closed to outside observers and refusing to answer questions about what they are doing. “Trust and cooperation are the way to win the fight against the virus,” he said.He coupled that remark with a demand that Koreans in general refrain from mass meetings—a remark that his political foes interpreted as an effort to suppress large-scale mass protests against his policy of reconciliation with North Korea. The protests were expected to climax next Sunday, the anniversary of a short-lived revolt on March 1, 1919, against Japanese rule.The urgency of the need to halt the COVID-19 before it got out of the Daegu region and spread all over the country provided another week of vacation for Korean students of all ages and education levels.Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae postponed the opening of schools from March 2 to March 9 “to prevent the spread of infection and for the safety of students and school faculty.”The frankness with which South Korea announced the numbers of those who had suffered from the disease, including deaths, contrasted with the secrecy imposed by North Korea, which continues to tighten controls but denied any victims.Most recently, North Korea announced a quarantine on all imports, most of which come from China, many in violation of United Nations sanctions. The North’s leading newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said the quarantine for 10 days was needed since "materials being brought from another country could be used as a carrier to spread the virus."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.

Police: Couple forced boys off road, angered by Trump flags

A northwestern Indiana couple allegedly used a car to force two teenage boys off a road, angered that the twin brothers were riding bicycles adorned with flags supporting President Donald Trump, before ripping one of the sibling's flag from his bike, police said Friday. Hobart police said Snapchat videos helped officers secure charges against Kyren Gregory Perry-Jones, 23, and Cailyn Marie Smith, 18, in connection with a July 22 incident. Police Capt. James Gonzales said the Hobart couple are accused of driving in their car, running the 14-year-old boys off of the road, and making threats toward them.

Federal judge blocks effort to transfer coronavirus patients to California city

The plan was to move dozens of patients who tested positive for the coronavirus from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to Costa Mesa.

Coronavirus: Could It Takedown China's Communist Party?

It's up to Xi himself.

Conservatives claim victory in Iran polls after record low turnout

Iran's conservatives claimed victory Sunday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candidates. A conservative resurgence would heap pressure on beleaguered President Hassan Rouhani and signal a shift from four years ago when reformists and moderates won a slender majority in parliament. "Victory for the anti-American candidates, a new slap for Trump," crowed the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper.

Ira Hayes raised the flag on Iwo Jima. 75 years later, he still inspires this Indian community.

75 years ago, Ira Hayes was one of the six Marines captured in the historic photograph raising the American flag on Iwo Jima.

Couple who disappeared during California getaway found alive

A couple who vanished during a getaway in the woods of Northern California was found Saturday by search-and-rescue workers who spent almost a week looking for them.

A charter bus swerved and rolled over on a California highway, killing 3 and injuring 18

Several passengers were thrown from the bus, and one of the dead was trapped under the vehicle after it landed on its roof.