Virus Panic Causes Face Mask Supplies to Run Out Across Asia

Face masks and hand sanitizers are becoming must-have accessories from Hong Kong to Japan as a deadly virus spreads across Asia. The only problem is getting hold of them.

Pharmacies across Hong Kong sold out of masks aimed at preventing viral infection, prompting authorities to say more will arrive next week. Taiwan banned the export of masks for the next month to ensure sufficient domestic supply. In Macau, authorities said sales would be restricted to a maximum of 10 face masks to residents or authorized guest workers who can present a valid ID card.

Regular hand-washing, face covering and avoiding crowds are becoming the main line of defense as Asian residents seek to avoid catching the new coronavirus, which in China alone has killed at 25 people and infected more than 800. The rapid spread of the disease has prompted Chinese officials to restrict travel for at least 30 million people and limit Lunar New Year celebrations.

Patients with the infection have been found across Asia,..

The West Blames the Wuhan Coronavirus on China’s Love of Eating Wild Animals. The Truth Is More Complex

It was no secret to anyone in Wuhan that Huanan Seafood Market sold a lot more than its name suggested. While one side of the low-slung warren of stalls did primarily stock fish and shellfish, the other offered a cornucopia of spices, sundries and, if you knew where to look, beavers, porcupines and snakes.

“It was well-known for selling lots of weird, live animals,” says James, an English teacher who for five years lived a few hundred feet from the market, and who asks TIME to only use one name due to the sensitively of the situation. “So nobody was surprised at all when it emerged that the virus might have come from an unusual animal.”

Scientists have confirmed that the pneumonia-like disease, like around 70% of new human pathogens, was zoonotic or transmitted from an animal. But they are still investigating exactly what creature might be the source of the “novel coronavirus”—dubbed 2019-nCoV and belonging to the same family as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle Eas..

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Někdejší brněnský radní za hnutí Žít Brno Matěj Hollan se sešel s ministryní práce a sociálních věcí Janou Maláčovou. Ze schůzky se vrátil, jak se říká, jako opařený. Šlo prý o vůbec nejhorší setkání v jeho životě. O svou zkušenost se podělil s veřejností. A v noci přišel telefonát. Holanovi volal manžel Maláčové Aleš Chmelař, někdejší státní tajemník pro evropské záležitosti. Bývalý brněnský radní se nestačil divit…

Babiš řádil kvůli dopravě: Paní redaktorko z protibabišovského pořadu 168 hodin, přečtěte si to. Napsal jsem 10 dopisů. Být to ve firmě, tak už tam není

Premiér Andrej Babiše po uvedení Karla Havlíčka do funkce ministra dopravy vystoupil dnes na novinářském breefingu a jal se vyvrátit dezinfomace a nepravdy, které se v posledních dnech objevovaly v mediálním prostoru právě v souvilosti s děním na resortu dopravy a ohledně předražených zakázek na elektronické dálniční známky.

Musel držet hubu. Teď už ne. Robert Šlachta pro PL: Chovanec, milenka premiéra, odposlechy na vládě. K tomu se posaďte

ROZHOVOR Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu (ÚOOZ) byl v rámci Chovancovy policejní reorganizace rozprášen, aby byla zastavena činnost policistů v souvislosti s případy Beretta a Vidkun mapujícími vazby a klientelismus mezi politiky, policisty a podnikateli, říká v rozhovoru pro ParlamentníListy.cz bývalý elitní policista a šéf ÚOOZ, později vysoce postavený důstojník celní správy Robert Šlachta.

Scientists Confirm Mount Vesuvius Eruption Turned Victim’s Brain Into Glass

(MILAN) — The eruption of Mount Vesuvius turned an incinerated victim’s brain material into glass, the first time scientists have verified the phenomenon from a volcanic blast, officials at the Herculaneum archaeology site said Thursday.

Archaeologists rarely recover human brain tissue, and when they do it is normally smooth and soapy in consistency, according to an article detailing the discovery in the New England Journal of Medicine. The eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 instantly killed the inhabitants of Pompeii and neighboring Herculaneum, burying an area 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the volcano in ash in just a few hours.

The remains of a man lying on a wooden bed were discovered at Herculaneum, closer to Vesuvius than Pompeii, in the 1960s. He is believed to have been the custodian of a place of worship, the Collegium Augustalium.

A team led by Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at the Federico II University in Naples, determined that the victim’s brain matter ..

North Korea Names Retired Army Officer as Its New Foreign Minister

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea has named as its new foreign minster a former senior army officer with little experience in dealings with the United States, in a possible indication it will take a harder line with Washington in stalled nuclear negotiations.

The new post for Ri Son Gwon was disclosed Friday in a Korean Central News Agency dispatch that said he attended a reception for foreign diplomats in Pyongyang on Thursday. South Korean and other outside media previously reported North Korea had recently informed foreign diplomats in Pyongyang of Ri’s job.

In his speech at the banquet, “Comrade Ri Son Gwon said that the Korean people have turned out in the general offensive to break through head-on the barriers to the advance of socialist construction by dint of self-reliance … and made public the foreign policy stand of the (North Korean) government,” KCNA said.

Ri, an outspoken retired army colonel who recently headed a government body responsible for relations with South Ko..