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Oil prices soar as western allies discuss Russian import ban

Oil prices soar as western allies discuss Russian import ban

Oil rates soared on Monday to more than $139 a barrel soon after the US mentioned it was in “active discussions” to ban Russian crude imports, shaking marketplaces as Moscow claimed it would pause bombing in Ukraine to allow civilians to escape four frontline cities.

The worldwide benchmark Brent surged to $139.13 a barrel on Monday early morning, pretty much 20 per cent above its settlement selling price on Friday, hitting its best level considering that the 2008 economical crisis.

The bounce came just after US secretary of point out Antony Blinken reported on Sunday he was talking about an oil ban with allies and US president Joe Biden. The White Residence had previously been reluctant to take into consideration the transfer, warning it would drive up rates for individuals.

Markets reacted sharply, with stocks tumbling and the euro falling in early investing as traders calculated the effects of a protracted increase in electrical power price ranges. Hong Kong’s Cling Seng index fell 3.9 for every cent, closing at the most affordable degree considering the fact that 2016.

European wholesale organic gas price ranges also soared, with futures jumping to a new report superior of €335 a megawatt hour from about €193 on Friday — a soar of 74 for each cent. A year in the past, the rate was about €16.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 share index dropped 3 for every cent on Monday, leaving it down 10 for each cent considering the fact that Russia released a complete-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Futures monitoring Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 index fell just about 2 per cent.

Any limitations on the oil trade would pile stress on Russia’s increasingly isolated economic system, which has been strike challenging by sanctions, and a expanding company boycott that this weekend was joined by payments giants Mastercard, Visa and American Express.

Asked about Blinken’s feedback, a senior French official mentioned further sanctions had been remaining examined by European and “other” partners, devoid of detailing how superior the conversations had been.

“The concern right now is to see how we can resort to strategic reserves to halt prices from spiralling even more on oil and fuel marketplaces, and also, in the longer expression, how we manage our shares and our provides,” the formal said.

British officers are not ruling out a full ban on Russian oil imports but a single described the notion as “a drastic move”. Liz Truss, United kingdom foreign secretary, has asked officials to investigate a “ceiling” on Russian electrical power imports that would drop over time, mitigating the likely economic shock.

The turmoil in commodity marketplaces arrived as Russia available to suspend assaults on Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy and Mariupol on Monday morning and create humanitarian corridors out of the towns, amid increasing intercontinental alarm around the civilian toll of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Russia declared its momentary ceasefire would start off at 10am Moscow time, but it is unclear how lots of Ukrainian civilians would want to take up the Russian provide. Most of the humanitarian corridors Moscow is producing conclusion up in Russia by itself.

“Of people who are still left in Kharkiv, no just one is going to want to go to Russia,” mentioned Andriy Kluchko, a resident of the metropolis. He also questioned the need to have for a corridor out of Kharkiv, due to the fact it was not thoroughly encircled and the highway major west to Poltava was still open up.

In the meantime, Russia received sturdy backing from China, which has bucked global calls to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, defended China’s “everlasting friendship” with Russia and slammed the US for striving to create an “Indo-Pacific version of Nato”.

He reaffirmed an “unequivocal message to the environment that China and Russia jointly oppose makes an attempt to revive the cold war mindset”.

“No make a difference how precarious and hard the intercontinental problem may possibly be, China and Russia will retain strategic focus and steadily progress our comprehensive strategic partnership co-ordination for a new era,” he explained.

Through 12 days of war, Russian forces have used heavy weapons to bombard civilian infrastructure in crowded metropolitan areas, hitting universities, hospitals and household properties.

Shelling ongoing at a substantial depth over the weekend, in accordance to western officers, whilst Russia resupplied its armoured forces positioned all over Kharkiv and Kyiv, potentially planning for a renewed offensive.

An intelligence update from the Uk Ministry of Defence accused Russia of targeting Ukraine’s communication infrastructure to “reduce Ukrainian citizens’ access to trusted new and information”.

It said Russia reportedly struck a television tower in Kharkiv on Sunday, suspending broadcasting output.

So much, additional than 1.5mn Ukrainians have fled the country, with close to 1mn crossing the border into Poland. The refugee crisis is the swiftest rising in Europe due to the fact 1945, in accordance to the UN.

Russia stated its offer of a ceasefire followed “a personalized request” from French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

But there was prevalent scepticism in Ukraine about the Russian transfer. More than the weekend Russia experienced declared a momentary halt to shelling in the besieged port metropolis of Mariupol, but the planned evacuation of civilians was suspended following several violations of the ceasefire.

Citizens of the frontline town, which is totally surrounded by Russian troops, have confronted shortages of food items, h2o, electrical energy and heating in freezing climate.

The official Russian statement on the ceasefire claimed the humanitarian corridor out of Kyiv would direct north to the Belarusian metropolis of Gomel and from there by air to Russia. From Kharkiv the route is to the Russian metropolis of Belgorod. From Mariupol there will be two corridors — a person going to the Russian town of Rostov, and the other west to Zaporizhzhia. From Sumy there are two routes — to Belgorod in Russia and to Poltava in Ukraine.

But early indications on Monday early morning were being that the ceasefire was not keeping. “Sporadic shelling is continuing in Mariupol,” stated Vitaly Falkovsky, an official in the metropolis.

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Biden discusses crisis with Trudeau after Ontario declares emergency; court approves injunction on protesters

Biden discusses crisis with Trudeau after Ontario declares emergency; court approves injunction on protesters

Typical Motors, which halted function at a Michigan car plant on Thursday due to the fact of the border issues, stated it trimmed manufacturing at auto vegetation in Michigan and Ontario Friday.

GM explained generation was reduce for the duration of the 1st change at its Flint Assembly plant exactly where it builds pickup trucks and its CAMI Assembly in Ontario where it builds the Chevrolet Equinox. Creation was scheduled to resume usually in the course of the next shift.

4 vehicles made up of parts for GM’s Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee crossed the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, according to a human being acquainted with generation plans. The parts will support creation at the plant Friday.

“We’re in good shape,” the person said.

Personnel at Spring Hill worked an 8-hour shift Thursday compared with their regular 10-12 hour shift.
The plant, which builds the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 and the GMC Acadia crossovers, will get doorway handles and other modest parts from suppliers in Canada, the human being mentioned.

Honda Motor Co. said it will suspend output from a person production line on Friday at its plant in Alliston, Ontario, signing up for Toyota Motor Corp. and the Detroit 3 automakers in saying different output losses stemming from the weeklong bridge blockade by protesters at the U.S.-Canada border.

The Japanese automaker mentioned late Thursday that the non permanent halt arrives as it monitors “the disruption of transportation in between Canada and the U.S.”

Honda described the predicament as “fluid” but that it has no options to curtail output at any of its U.S. car plants.

The enterprise builds its Civic compact sedan and CR-V compact crossover at its plant in Alliston, Ontario. Honda previously verified the plant also quickly suspended production on Wednesday evening because of to border delays.

Ford Motor Co. mentioned its Canadian crops in Oakville and Windsor are working at diminished ability. The company’s Ohio Assembly Plant is “down as a final result of a section lack related with this scenario.”

“This interruption on the Detroit/Windsor bridge hurts buyers, auto employees, suppliers, communities and companies on both equally sides of the border that are by now two decades into pieces shortages ensuing from the world wide semiconductor issue, COVID and far more,” the firm claimed in a assertion. “We hope this scenario is settled immediately since it could have prevalent impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Toyota on Friday stated its North American crops proceed to confront “shortages impacting production.”

“Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia have recently been impacted by concerns similar to the Ambassador Bridge blockade. We count on disruptions by means of the weekend, and we’ll keep on to make adjustments as desired. Although the situation is fluid and adjustments commonly, we do not anticipate any effects to work at this time.”

The automaker mentioned its teams are “carefully checking the scenario and doing work diligently to limit the impression on creation.”

On Thursday, a Toyota spokesman informed Reuters the automaker was suspending manufacturing as a result of Saturday at plants on the two sides of the border, in Ontario and Kentucky. The major Japanese automaker claimed it was “suffering from multiple dropped logistics routes” and it is “not isolated to only just one or two sections at this place.”

The shortages affected Toyota’s output of the RAV4 — the finest-advertising non-truck motor vehicle in the U.S., Camry, Avalon, Lexus RX and Lexus ES, the automaker said.

Chrysler mother or father Stellantis, in a Friday statement, explained all its North The united states plants begun output Friday early morning, “but this continues to be an exceptionally fluid problem. We carry on to do the job intently with our carriers to get parts into the crops to mitigate more disruptions.”

Also Thursday, Common Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis explained they experienced been pressured to terminate or scale back again some creation at North American vegetation mainly because of areas shortages stemming from Canadian trucker protests towards pandemic mandates.

The demonstrators, who oppose, amid other matters, a vaccinate-or-quarantine need for cross-border truck motorists, have made use of huge rigs and other autos to snarl traffic at the entrance of the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor — which accounts for about 25 percent of U.S.-Canadian trade.

Ford claimed it was running its plants in Windsor and Oakville, an additional Canadian metropolis, at lowered ability. It added that it hoped for a speedy resolution “for the reason that it could have prevalent affect on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Stellantis claimed some U.S. and Canadian vegetation reduce short shifts on Thursday following lots of shortened shifts Wednesday night “owing to pieces shortages triggered by the closure of the Detroit/Windsor bridge.”

GM mentioned it was pressured to halt creation Thursday at a Michigan plant where by it builds crossovers immediately after the protests. The automaker claimed it experienced canceled a change on Wednesday and two shifts Thursday at its Lansing Delta Township plant.

Shilpan Amin, GM’s vice president for worldwide getting and provide chain, told suppliers on Thursday in a concept witnessed by Reuters that “whilst we may well have intermittent stoppages, we intend to continue to keep generation working and fulfill current schedules at all of our production functions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.”

The corporation extra it was “encouraging suppliers to assess option options in order to sustain your operations to fulfill our production schedules.”

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Coronavirus daily news updates, March 4: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world

Coronavirus daily news updates, March 4: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world

Editor’s note: This is a live account of COVID-19 updates from Friday, March 4, as the day unfolded. It is no longer being updated. Click here to see all the most recent news about the pandemic, and click here to find additional resources.

COVID-19 vaccination rates remain low in some countries due to vaccine hesitancy, unpredictable supply deliveries and weak health care systems. Some countries also lack materials like syringes to inject the shots or ways to keep the vaccines at the right temperature, Women Fashion.

Thirteen African countries reported having vaccinated less than 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of their total population as of late February.

Meanwhile, several states in the U.S. are scrambling to use stockpiled COVID-19 vaccines before they expire. Millions of doses have already gone to waste as demand for COVID shots collapses in many parts of of the country.

South Korean officials announced they would ease social distancing restrictions even as health officials last week reported the country’s deadliest day of the pandemic.

We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world. Click here to see the rest of our coronavirus coverage and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington, Women Fashion

Navigating the pandemic

Yes, your pets can also put on pandemic pounds

It had been a year since Henry’s last haircut, and Michelle Holbrook did not realize that her 7-pound, goofy toy poodle was now almost 9 pounds. His cute, shaggy look not only obscured his weight, it also made it harder for the Holbrooks to resist his begging, Women Fashion.

“He’s a little rascal,” said Holbrook, a medical researcher in Chicago. “He’ll hear me when I open the cheese drawer in the fridge, and he comes running.”

Henry, 7, is one of many food-motivated pets who have surprised their owners with their weight gain in the past two years. While veterinarians and pet owners mostly attribute the added pounds to an increasing urge to give into bad habits during the coronavirus pandemic, pet obesity has long been an issue in the United States.

Banfield Pet Hospital, which runs more than 1,000 veterinary clinics in the country, found that nearly 40{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of cats and almost 35{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of dogs were diagnosed as overweight in 2020, up from less than 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} a decade ago. Banfield also saw a slight rise — about 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} — of dogs being diagnosed as overweight from March 2020 to December of that year, at the beginning of the pandemic.

Read the full story here.

—Aishvarya Kavi, The New York Times

White House: Congress must act soon to replenish COVID funds

The U.S. will soon begin to run out of money to bolster COVID-19 testing supplies and to guarantee that uninsured Americans keep getting free treatment for the virus unless Congress swiftly approves more funding, the White House warned Friday.

Nearly a year after passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the administration says the federal government has nearly used up the money dedicated directly to COVID-19 response. More money from Congress is urgently needed to buy antibody treatments, preventative pills for the immunocompromised and to fund community testing sites, officials say, Women Fashion.

“From the COVID side, the bank account is empty,” said COVID-19 deputy coordinator Natalie Quillian. “We’re in conversations with lawmakers about how to secure the funding, but it’s urgently needed.” Some of the consequences could be felt later this month.

The White House last month told Congress it was preparing to seek $30 billion for the virus response, but cut that to $22.5 billion in a formal request earlier this week that officials said includes only the most critical needs. It’s being coupled with a $10 billion request to provide support to Ukraine and its people after Russia’s invasion.

Read the full story here.

—Zeke Miller, The Associated Press

D.C. appeals court rules Biden administration may expel migrant families — but not to places where they could face persecution

A federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the Biden administration may continue expelling migrant families from the United States under a pandemic public health order, but not into countries where they may face persecution — citing “stomach-churning evidence” that the U.S. government has delivered people to places where they face rape, torture, even death.

The 32-page ruling by the three-judge panel — two appointed by President Barack Obama and one by President Donald Trump — said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had provided no evidence that the order blocked the coronavirus and emphasized that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials could protect themselves from infections with masks, testing and vaccines.

Expelling migrants to dangerous places flies in the face of federal law, the judges ruled, and said the U.S. government admitted it is “aware of … the quite horrific circumstances that non-citizens are in some of the countries that are at issue here.”

“To be sure, as with most things in life, no approach to COVID-19 can eliminate every risk,” wrote Judge Justin Walker, joined by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Robert Wilkins, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “But from a public-health perspective, based on the limited record before us, it’s far from clear that the CDC’s order serves any purpose. For now, the Executive may expel the Plaintiffs, but only to places where they will not be persecuted or tortured.”

Read the full story here.

—Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post

Mystery of the missing workers? Long COVID may hold a clue

The coronavirus that nearly killed Stephanie Schroeder in 2020 is still keeping her from working.

She suffered cardiac arrest twice and was in the hospital for three months, then came home to more than a year of kidney problems and intermittent “brain fog,” tingling in her hands, numbness in her right foot and a need for oxygen after even modest exertion.

“Some days, I’m all right, but I can’t tell you which days I will feel good,” she said. “It’s all very frustrating because you know what you were capable of doing before.”

She is among many people with lingering COVID-19 aftereffects who cannot work or can only work part-time. The condition has been given a name: post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC. But it is commonly called long COVID.

Read the full story here.

— Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Director of nonprofit aiding D.C.-bound truck convoy pleaded guilty to fraud

At a rally point near the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Tex., as the wind whipped American flags atop an 18-wheeler behind her, a Southern California lawyer and anti-vaccine activist named Leigh Dundas exhorted a crowd to make donations.

“We’re going to be doing a little altar call up here. A hundred percent of that cash is going back into the boys’ pockets for the next fuel stop,” Dundas told onlookers and livestream viewers, encouraging them to give online to the “People’s Convoy,” a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates and inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied Canada’s capital for weeks.

The group set a goal of $5 million to fuel its fight and claimed to have collected $1.5 million by Monday, eliciting growing support across the country from people who’ve cheered at rallies, demonstrated from chilly highway overpasses, and taken to social media to profess a loss of faith in government, politicians, media and other institutions they paint as corrupt and out of touch.

They want to do something, so they give. In this case, to the AFCLF Foundation, which launched last year and names as its executive director a Texas woman named Pamela Milacek, whose arrest is sought, records show, by authorities who allege she violated the terms of her community supervision after pleading guilty to felony fraud and exploitation charges in 2020.

Read the full story here.

— Eric Berger, Ellie Silverman and Steve Thompson The Washington Post

State health officials confirm new coronavirus cases, deaths

The state Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,739 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 1,647 on Thursday. It also reported 71 more deaths over those days.

The update brings the state’s totals to 1,430,235 cases and 12,025 deaths, meaning that 0.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of people diagnosed in Washington have died, according to the DOH. The data is as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. New state data is reported on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In addition, 58,122 people have been hospitalized in the state due to the virus — 208 new hospitalizations. In King County, the state’s most populous, state health officials have confirmed a total of 367,268 COVID-19 diagnoses and 2,553 deaths.

Since vaccinations began in late 2020, the state and health care providers have administered 13,073,597 doses and 67{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Washingtonians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to vaccination data, which the state updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Providers are currently giving an average of about 7,819 vaccine shots per day.

The DOH says its daily case reports may also include duplicate test results, results assigned to the wrong county, results that are reported for today but are actually from a previous day, occasional false positive tests and other data discrepancies. Because of this, the previous day’s total number of cases plus the number of new daily cases does not add up to the new day’s total number of cases. State health officials recommend reviewing the dashboard’s epidemiologic curves tab for the most accurate representation of the state’s COVID-19 spread.

—Amanda Zhou

Big cities drop more COVID-19 measures in push for normalcy

New York City and Los Angeles are lifting some of their strictest COVID-19 prevention measures as officials in big cities around the U.S. push for a return to normalcy after two grueling years of the pandemic.

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

On the other side of the country, residents in Los Angeles County were no longer required as of Friday to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses, though the city of Los Angeles is still requiring many indoor businesses to verify that their patrons are fully vaccinated, Women Fashion.

The moves to ease the mandates comes as government officials around the U.S. have been easing COVID-19 guidelines and signaling that the risk of virus spread is retreating — at least for now.

Read the full story here.

— Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press

Doctors praise Biden’s ‘test to treat’ COVID plan but worry about the details

Consumers will be able to walk into a clinic at a CVS or Walgreens, get tested for coronavirus and, if the results come back positive, go home with a free course of antiviral medicine under a new “test to treat” program announced by President Joe Biden this week as part of his new pandemic road map.

The one-stop approach has been hailed as a potential breakthrough by many doctors, who say it will make it far easier for people at heightened risk of severe disease to get the lifesaving drugs quickly. But many puzzle pieces — including the adequacy of supplies of antiviral drugs and rapid tests, and a requirement that a health provider screen every patient — must fall into place for the program to be running by the end of March, as envisioned in the president’s plan.

“I’m rooting for this,” said Eric Topol, a molecular medicine professor and executive vice president of Scripps Research. “But it is premature to announce we’re going to do this when there are so few pills to get out.”

“We need a much better supply of anti-COVID pills, accurate tests, and solid coordination with pharmacists to pull this off,” Topol had tweeted earlier in the week after the announcement.

Read the full story here.

— Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post

Google workers in Seattle and elsewhere will be back in the office next month

Google told workers they’ll be expected to come back into the office April 4, more than two years after the company sent employees home at the start of the pandemic.

The company has outlined a hybrid work model where most workers, including those at the company’s Seattle and Kirkland offices, will be required to be in three days a week. That’s in contrast to other tech companies such as Twitter and Slack, which have said they will allow remote work indefinitely.

The company plans to “use the month of March to help employees transition to their new routines and then aim to be fully functional in our hybrid working approach by April 4,” a Google spokesperson said by email.

About 6,000 people work for Google in Washington. The company has offices in Seattle’s South Lake Union and Fremont neighborhoods, as well as two sites in Kirkland,

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Read the story here.

—Seattle Times staff and wire services

NYC to lift school mask rules, vaccine mandates for dining

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of them next week, including mandatory masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

Standing in Times Square, Mayor Eric Adams said that while the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, he was confident it is now safe to send children and teachers to school unmasked, starting Monday.

“We want to see the faces of our children. We want to see their smiles,” the mayor said, adding that parents could continue to send their kids to school with face coverings if they wished.

Individual businesses can still decide to keep mandates in place if they choose, but as of Monday the city will no longer require they check guests’ vaccine cards.

The Broadway League has said it will maintain mask and vaccination requirements in all its theaters at least through April 30.

Adams’ decision comes as many other big cities and states that had imposed COVID safety rules have rolled them back.

Read the story here.

—The Associated Press

Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week reflecting a low number of layoffs across the economy.

Jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 215,000 for the week ending February 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 6,000 to 230,500.

In total, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 12, a small uptick of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised number, which was its lowest level since March 14, 1970.

First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs, which are back down to fairly healthy pre-pandemic levels.

Read the story here.

—Matt Ott, The Associated Press

‘Freedom Convoy’ spinoff headed to D.C. region arrives this weekend

The U.S. protesters inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks headed out from Southern California last week for a cross-country trip to the D.C. region. They plan to arrive this weekend, and Virginia State Police describes the convoy as a “still-fluid situation.”

The People’s Convoy, a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates, is on a cross-country trip aiming to arrive in Hagerstown, Md., on Friday before targeting the D.C. Beltway area on Saturday. Washington County Public Schools in Hagerstown announced that students would be dismissed 2½ hours early on Friday because of expected traffic congestion caused by the convoy.

Despite organizers touting numbers in the thousands, Capt. Ron Galaviz, a spokesman for the Indiana State Police, said the convoy consisted of fewer than 300 vehicles when it arrived in Indiana this week – and a majority were passenger vehicles, not large trucks.

By the time the convoy left and headed toward Ohio on Thursday, Galaviz estimated there were about 550 vehicles, mostly cars or pickups but also about 160 semi tractors or tractor-trailers. Those estimates are consistent with what Ohio State Highway Patrol authorities are seeing as the convoy heads to Lore City, Ohio, said Sgt. Brice Nihiser.

Supporters have been joining and leaving throughout the trip, making it difficult for officials to predict the size of the group before it reaches a given region.

Read the story here.

—Peter Hermann and Ellie Silverman, The Washington Post

Life in South Asia returns to normal as COVID cases decline

The markets are crowded again. Traffic is jamming the roads. Migrant workers have returned to the cities. And young people are back at schools and universities — many of them for the first time in years.

It isn’t quite how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic — mask mandates still exist in some places — but with infections steadily declining, life in South Asia is returning to a sense of normalcy.

The mental scars from last year’s delta-driven surge persist — especially in India, where health systems collapsed and millions likely died — but across the region high vaccination rates and hope that the highly contagious omicron variant has helped bolster immunity are giving people reasons to be optimistic.

While experts agree that opening up was the right move amid falling case numbers, they caution that optimism should be tempered with lessons from the past two years.

Read the story here.

—Aniruddha Ghosal, The Associated Press

What health experts say about the ‘natural experiment’ of ditching mask mandates in WA

Most of Washington’s indoor masking requirements will soon come to an end — and the state’s “natural experiment” will begin.

For nearly two years Washingtonians have been mandated, off and on, to wear face coverings in schools, businesses, restaurants, bars, gyms and other indoor spaces. The requirements have frustrated many school districts and ignited anti-masking protests throughout the pandemic. Now as COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates continue to fall, some questions remain about how to best transition back into maskless communities. Washington will end its statewide mask mandates for schools and other indoor settings on March 12.

This week, two local infectious disease experts, Dr. Joshua Schiffer and Dr. Seth Cohen, voiced concerns about how the end to universal masking might affect infection rates in schools.

Schiffer, a clinical research professor of vaccines and infectious diseases at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, called the end of the mandate a “natural experiment.”

Read the story here.

—Elise Takahama

Surgeon general seeks COVID misinformation data

President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Thursday formally requested that the major tech platforms submit information about the scale of COVID-19 misinformation on social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.

A request for information from the surgeon general’s office demanded that tech platforms send data and analysis on the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation on their sites, starting with common examples of vaccine misinformation documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The notice asks the companies to submit “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of COVID-19 misinformation,” as well as aggregate data on demographics that may have been disproportionately exposed to or affected by the misinformation.

The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, also demanded information from the platforms about the major sources of COVID-19 misinformation, including those that engaged in the sale of unproven COVID-19 products, services and treatments.

Read the full story here.

—Davey Alba, The New York Times

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, with long COVID himself, introduces research bill

Nearly two years after getting COVID-19, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine says he still has mild symptoms.

Kaine joined two fellow Democratic senators, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, in introducing a bill Wednesday to fund research aimed at better understanding long COVID-19.

“I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee,” Kaine told The Washington Post in describing a “24/7” tingling sensation.

The Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education (CARE) for Long COVID Act would centralize data about patient experiences and fund research into the effectiveness of treatments. It also would expand resources available to help those with lingering symptoms.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press


Seattle Times staff & news services

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Coach K’s final home game: UNC turns Mike Krzyzewski’s Cameron Indoor Stadium finale into its own celebration

Coach K’s final home game: UNC turns Mike Krzyzewski’s Cameron Indoor Stadium finale into its own celebration

DURHAM, N.C. — This is what can happen when you try to plan a retirement ceremony with 9,000 of your closest friends, with the tricky caveat of including a basketball game. 

This was to be Mike Krzyzewski’s night. Duke staged one of the grandest send-offs college sports had ever seen. It was nostalgic. It was elaborate. It was quintessentially Duke. Which means a lot of people loved it and a lot of people hated it. Which means it was perfectly done. All of this created the biggest buildup, probably ever, to a regular-season college basketball game.

And then the greatest rivalry in American sports added to its legend with one of the more surprising upsets in its 102-year history. 

Unranked, bubble-team-supreme North Carolina 94, No. 4 Duke 81. A Saturday night stunner at Cameron Indoor Stadium. 

Krzyzewski’s home finale farewell was officially sabotaged by Hubert Davis’ upset-minded Tar Heels. Who were these guys, by the way? Not the same group that got pasted by 20 at home against Duke a month ago. That team scored 67 and was flat embarrassed. Saturday night’s squad averaged a terrific 1.25 points per possession and looked like a top-10 team in the country. North Carolina, an 11.5-point underdog, didn’t just beat Duke, it ran away with the game and ruined Krzyzewski’s valediction in appropriate fashion.

Seldom are the nights when these two undying nemeses come together and either team is overwhelmingly presumed to beat the other. Foolishly, most of us thought just that. 

UNC handed K an L and snatched a W so sweet, it immediately ranks near the top of the Tar Heels’ greatest regular-season victories in the 100-plus year history of this proud program.  

This is how you rivalry. 

“Hate to use the Navy term,” Krzyzewski, the West Point grad, said. “But keep a ship afloat. Our ship was going to sink today, no matter what.”

The postgame festivities at Cameron were to be a celebration of an unparalleled career. And they were, but that fête came with awkwardness. After the loss, Duke players walked out, sullen, and wound up sitting on the bench where UNC was just moments earlier. Krzyzewski reemerged with some understandable disappointment in his face. He held the hand of his beloved wife, Mickie, then leaned into a quick off-script commentary as he walked alone to the microphone staged at center court. 

“This isn’t part of the program,” he said. “This is impromptu by me. I’m sorry about this afternoon.” 

The place wanted to cheer despite the loss. Krzyzewski wasn’t having it.

“Everyone be quiet,” he said. “Let me just say, it’s unacceptable. Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable. And I’ll tell you, the season isn’t over.”

Then the cheers came. He wanted everyone to see that’s the guy who they needed to see in that moment. It’s who they saw most of the night, too, because North Carolina had Duke on its heels and Krzyzewski was vintage in his ire and fire. He rode the referees and looked nothing like a man ready to walk away from competition. This was Carolina, dammit. Afterward, he had nothing but compliments to pay to Davis’ players and program.

“Their program, like ours, is built on a lot of pride and they showed that today in coming here,” Krzyzewski said. 

With Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Silver, Kyler Murray and many more luminaries in the building, it’s fair to guess Cameron Indoor Stadium had never been this filled. The official capacity is 9,314, but it’s likely more than that got into the arena. Cameron Indoor got hot, stayed hot, and that added thickness to an environment that was already heavy as soon as the Cameron Crazies filed onto the rickety bleachers.

At their opposite was esteemed Duke basketball alumni — nearly 100 of them, almost half of Krzyzewski’s former players — packed the bleachers a few rows behind the Duke bench, most of them standing for the entire game. 

“It has been emotional but before the game you’re thinking and you get a little teary-eyed and then you say, ‘Whoa, I can’t do that,’ ” Krzyzewski said. “And so then you go on the court and then you feel it. Actually, when all the players were there, it was just, like, wow, it wasn’t as emotional as it was great.”

Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Jay Williams, JJ Redick, Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Steve Wojciechowski and nearly 90 of their Brotherhood brethren stood the entire game behind the Duke bench. It felt like the varsity team watching the JV early tip. These guys wanted a Carolina crunching. They wanted no drama. A UNC-Duke game without theatrics, without tension. The kind of game they seldom were afforded.

Yeah, right. 

“The last few days has been so really good and it’s been like a celebration of our program and because I’m stopping coaching, it’s kind of like a celebration of me, which I don’t like that,” Krzyzewski said. “So, basically we’re living in a penthouse the last few days with room service and everyone saying nice things and we didn’t play hungry today.” 

North Carolina was laser-focused, and it started within minutes of the Tar Heels’ overtime victory on Monday vs. Syracuse. Davis walked into the locker room and told the team there was no time to celebrate. They had less than five days to prepare for the biggest game of the season. Duke awaited. It was time to get to work and keep focus. Davis played the situation perfectly. North Carolina effectively prepped and practice in obscurity the entire week. It was reduced to a bit player in the buildup to Saturday, the game itself feeling secondary to the Krzyzewski farewell. 

Just what North Carolina wanted. Krzyzewski admitted afterward he could feel it coming, too.

“I was worried about a few things going into the game,” Krzyzewski said. “One: them.”

Intrigue arrived immediately. UNC — which never led in its Feb. 5 loss to Duke — opened the game with a 9-2 lead. Duke didn’t grab the lead until the 11:07 mark. The Heels withstood a 14-0 first-half Blue Devils run, steadying themselves enough to cut the halftime deficit to two. 

It turned out to be the first time this season North Carolina would win a game despite losing at the half. It was also historic in this matter: Never before had UNC played a game that saw four Tar Heels score at least 20 points. On Saturday, it happened: Armando Bacot 23, Caleb Love 22, RJ Davis 21 and Brady Manek 20.

Bacot was brilliant. The player Krzyzewski said was the best in the ACC this season went 10 for 11 from the floor. He also had a big block late that stymied Duke’s bid to keep it close. 

Saturday was also North Carolina’s first victory as an unranked team vs. a top-five-ranked Blue Devils squad at Cameron since 1990.

“They’re a really good team and they played a lot better than we did today,” Krzyzewski said.

This was Davis’ 31st game as North Carolina coach. It was, by far, his best. It was North Carolina’s most impressive performance of the season, without a close second. Amazingly, Davis rode his iron five the entire second half. Bacot, Manek, Love, Davis and Black were never subbed out. Late in the game, when you might’ve suspected one more Duke push was coming, instead it was David and Manek again and again. Trevor Keels’ 3-pointer from the corner with 2:58 remaining cut it to a 79-74 North Carolina lead. It’s the last time Duke would have hope for the win. Manek answered with a 3-pointer from the opposite corner, boosting the lead back to eight and keeping Duke at bay. 

UNC outscored Duke 21-10 over the final 5:12. Duke missed seven of its final 10 shots. Duke bested North Carolina 58.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to 38.9{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} in first-half shooting. The second 20 minutes was a script-flip: UNC hit on 59.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}; Duke withered with 42.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} shooting. Krzyzewski’s moment was melting away. Duke’s shots stopped falling, and all across Cameron faces began to droop, a stark contrast to the maybe-100 UNC fans squeezed behind the Tar Heels’ bench who began to pop with joy.  Outnumbered by 9,000-plus in this Gothic basketball cathedral, their time was coming. This was really going to happen.

After the game, this powerful scene in the locker room. Davis and Bacot embracing for more than a minute. Manek in tears, too. 

“He had some tough times at Oklahoma, and for him to be able to experience this side of it was huge,” UNC assistant Brad Frederick told CBS Sports. 

Making matters even better for UNC, the triumph doubles as a critical one for its NCAA Tournament résumé. Hard to see how the NCAA Tournament selection committee could keep this team out of the field, no matter what happens in the ACC Tournament. This team should be in.

As the clock expired, Carolina’s players convened on the court in blissful celebration. The Crazies were stunned. Love waved them goodbye before curling back into the handshake line. (And then we got a little extra rivalry saltiness, as Duke assistant Chris Carrawell didn’t shake hands with Davis, lighting up message boards and social media in the process.)

It was Krzyzewski’s day, then it was North Carolina’s night. The North Carolina bus pulled up to Franklin Street and stopped short of a police barricade around 9:30 p.m. Thousands were out in celebration. The players got out and joined Carolina students. They earned it. Even Davis was obliged to pop his head out and acknowledge the crowd. He has had a good year, and the fans haven’t always treated him that way. Maybe this night will turn things for the better.

Now the ACC Tournament awaits. Krzyzewski admitted the past three or four days had him a “little bit worn out.”

“I’m glad this is over,” he said. “Let’s just coach and see what the hell happens in the tournament. This has kind of been a surreal few days, and a big part of it occurred, I think, because we had already won (the ACC regular-season title). You don’t feel the pressure of we have to win that game.”

We could come to learn that the best thing for Duke was losing this game. The disappointment of this loss is probably never washing off (if there was one game in the regular season you couldn’t lose, it was this one), but the shock of it soon will. Perhaps that will bring Duke the same kind of urgency and focus that North Carolina deployed in Saturday night, when the best rivalry in American sports twisted the plot yet again.

Given the buildup and presumptive nature of a Duke win by plenty, it’s easily arguable this is the most gratifying — if not amusing — win for UNC fans over Duke ever. You get one chance to spoil Coach K’s final home game. Carolina passed the test. Its base will hold this over the Duke faithful forever. It’s so bitter for Duke, but that makes it tremendous for the rivalry. Down in Carolina, this one will live in conversation forever, no matter the favored shade of blue.

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These US counties still have ‘high’ Covid-19 levels as their states lift mask mandates, CNN analysis shows

These US counties still have ‘high’ Covid-19 levels as their states lift mask mandates, CNN analysis shows

Florida’s Hillsborough County is one particular of them.

In that county on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis approached a group of pupils carrying masks who were being standing behind a podium at the University of South Florida, wherever the Republican governor was scheduled to hold a news conference. He instructed the college students, “You do not have to use these masks. I suggest, remember to choose them off.”

But in accordance to the CDC’s newest steerage, folks are suggested to nonetheless wear masks indoors in counties that have “superior” amounts of Covid-19, such as Hillsborough County.

The CDC stated Thursday that “far more than 90{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}” of US residents are now in a area with small or medium Covid-19 community ranges. A CNN analysis of the facts finds that 7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the US populace is in counties with “superior” Covid-19 group ranges, down from 28{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} previous week.

DeSantis called the students’ mask-donning “preposterous,” but they ended up following CDC suggestions. Dr. Georges Benjamin, government director of the American Public Wellbeing Association, said DeSantis was “bullying” the students for putting on masks.

“Gov. DeSantis has confirmed himself to be somebody who does not comply with excellent science advice, naturally for political factors,” Benjamin told CNN on Thursday. “I was horrified at what he did.”

On Twitter, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw doubled down on the governor’s feedback: “I signify, an individual experienced to say it, just after 2 a long time of propaganda that terrified and manipulated youthful men and women. Breathe totally free, truly feel safe and sound and be satisfied.”

Throughout the United States, most of the counties that continue to have substantial Covid-19 degrees, dependent on the CDC’s current metrics, may be afflicted by many things, Benjamin reported: small Covid-19 vaccination fees, constrained entry to health and fitness assets or the continuing spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

“Some of these areas ended up spots wherever Omicron kind of hit later on. So like Maine. If you look at Maine proper now, you would think, ‘Maine is extremely vaccinated why is Maine getting hit so greatly? They continue to have an outbreak going on there,’ ” Benjamin explained. “Perfectly, it can be due to the fact they received hit by Omicron afterwards.”

In which Covid-19 is still ‘high’ but mask mandates are lifting

Some of the counties that nevertheless have “significant” degrees of Covid-19 are in states that either never ever experienced indoor mask mandates or lifted their mandates previously on in the pandemic.

New CDC Covid-19 metrics drop strong mask recommendations for most of the country
Last 7 days, California dropped its indoor mask mandate for unvaccinated persons. In that state, 11 counties have “large” degrees of Covid-19. Illinois also lifted its statewide indoor mask requirement and has six counties with “significant” concentrations of Covid-19.
Oregon and Washington prepare to lift their principles requiring masks in indoor community sites on March 11. There are four counties with “significant” levels of Covid-19 in Oregon and four counties with “high” amounts in the point out of Washington, in accordance to the CDC’s updated metrics.

Only 1 state and a single US territory — Hawaii and Puerto Rico — nevertheless have indoor mask mandates on the state or territorial level and have not introduced plans to raise individuals prerequisites.

Even in states the place indoor mask demands are lifted, counties can nonetheless require indoor mask-putting on on the nearby degree, Benjamin told CNN.

“The states are stating, ‘OK, we governors are no more time heading to manage it statewide. We’re now likely to lift a mandate from our point of view, and we are going to make it possible for you to customise this,’ ” he claimed.

With the updated county-level CDC metrics, “I feel the brilliance of what CDC did was, they were being able to pull the knowledge alongside one another at the neighborhood neighborhood degree — to allow neighborhood communities to make individuals decisions when to consider masks [off]. But it also presents them the capacity to re-mask, improve screening plan as they will need to, open and shut items,” Benjamin explained. “I would hope this not only puts it again in the fingers of regional elected officers but it also, I would hope, even a lot more powerfully, places it back in the fingers of neighborhood public health and fitness officials. That’s what I hope.”

As the CDC shifts masking guidance, Americans are split on path forward
The CDC’s “Covid-19 group amount” metrics are centered on 3 parts of info in a community: new Covid-19 hospitalizations, medical center capacity and new Covid-19 instances. The CDC’s internet site consists of a record of US counties and their current Covid-19 stages.

Beneath the CDC guidance, up to date last week, men and women in counties with very low or medium Covid-19 neighborhood stages no for a longer time have to have to wear masks indoors except they are immunocompromised or at “superior danger” for significant Covid-19 and if so, the CDC endorses to communicate to their wellbeing treatment company about sporting a mask.

In places with “superior” Covid-19 community levels, the CDC advises anyone to don a mask in public indoor options, like schools.

At all group concentrations, the CDC also endorses persons get vaccinated and boosted, and get tested if they have indicators.

The CDC’s new metrics are calculated at the county level to make it possible for for a “far more focused” being familiar with of the results of the coronavirus regionally and to inform own steps, these kinds of as mask carrying, as well as community policy decisions, Adriane Casalotti, chief of federal government and general public affairs at the National Association of County and Town Wellbeing Officials, wrote in an e mail to CNN on Thursday.

“Having said that, there are two difficulties for protecting masking specifications at a nearby plan stage. A single would be condition rules that prohibit this kind of action,” Casalotti wrote. “Yet another is less formal: the tension of taking further action. In particular as several in the community want to transfer further than the pandemic, it can be a challenge to proceed insurance policies like indoor masking necessities, even if it tends to make sense scientifically because of to community problems.”

Total, it can be tricky to keep track of regardless of whether there has been an overall shift in mask mandates currently being lifted in locations that continue to have “higher” Covid-19 degrees, Casalotti mentioned.

“This is more durable to observe as a lot of locations dropped — or ended up in the course of action of moving away from — formal masking specifications even right before the new, extra qualified metrics ended up launched,” she wrote.

“In some of all those locations, regional policy often shifted from indoor masking requirements to powerful recommendations for indoor masking or supporting enterprises to make individuals conclusions location by locale,” she additional. “In these areas, the burden is truly put on the unique to know the position of the virus in their local community, how to attain high-top quality masks, and when and wherever to use them to guard by themselves and their families.”

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Elsa Klensch dead: Longtime CNN fashion correspondent was 92

Elsa Klensch dead: Longtime CNN fashion correspondent was 92

Elsa Klensch, who around two a long time introduced style news to CNN’s global Television viewers, has died in New York City, in accordance to the community, Hot News Today.

CNN did not give a trigger of death. Klensch was 92.

Klensch hosted the weekly sequence “Style With Elsa Klensch” from 1980 to 2001. She traveled to significant manner facilities close to the planet and offered trends and designers just about every Saturday early morning.

“Style” turned a person of CNN’s most well-liked systems in its early many years and Klensch emerged as a single of the network’s signature on-air talents, particularly as the channel’s arrive at expanded internationally.

Klensch gave devoted followers of manner in-depth reporting in an age just before social media and bloggers, when buyer protection of the field was mostly the province of glossy monthly print journals. Broadcast Television set community information divisions lined vogue, but did not have the time that CNN was equipped to offer as a 24-hour news provider starting off out in the 1980s.

For years, Klensch was the only Television reporter at a lot of vogue shows, elevating her position and supplying her increased obtain to significant names as coverage of the business turned extra prevalent, Hot News Today.

Designers such as Miuccia Prada, Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld and supermodels these kinds of as Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington all sat for Klensch interviews. Journalists covering manner nowadays cite Klensch as an inspiration.

In 1999, the New Yorker claimed Klensch “reports on developments in design, on innovations in materials, and on mutations of hemlines as soberly as if she were covering the Condition Division.”

Klensch became a model icon herself, inducted into the Global Greatest-Dressed Corridor of Fame in 1990. She did not acknowledge garments from the providers she lined and been given no garments allowance from CNN, which was notoriously limited-fisted in its early decades.

Born Elsa Aeuschbacher just outdoors Sydney, Australia, Klensch began her journalism profession in London in the 1960s. She commenced as a freelance business enterprise writer for Women’s Don Day-to-day. Though performing in Hong Kong, she achieved her spouse, journalist Charles Klensch, then the Saigon bureau main for ABC News. They were married in Vietnam in 1966.

Klensch moved to New York in the 1970s and toiled as a fashion editor for WWD, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. She freelanced for New York newspapers until eventually an 84-day strike shut them down in 1978, which led her to try out tv, Hot News Today.

Klensch was amid the original cadre of specialty correspondents and gurus employed by CNN founder Ted Turner when the network launched in 1980 — a hedge against the possibility of gradual information periods.

Klensch left CNN in 2001 immediately after its then-father or mother Time Warner merged with AOL. She continued to publish and lecture on trend and wrote a number of secret novels.

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