Coronavirus, New Hampshire, 'Parasite'
Your Monday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here’s the latest. |
 | | Pang Xinglei/Xinhua, via Associated Press |
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More than 2,500 passengers on board are being kept in effective isolation, eating meals in their cabins and keeping at least six feet from each other during the few minutes each day they are allowed on deck. And the situation is worse for crew members, who live elbow to elbow in cramped quarters. |
China had extended its official Lunar New Year holiday by 10 days to help counter the virus’s spread. But when the extension ended today, stores and factories remained empty, suggesting it could be weeks — or months — before one of the world’s largest economies is humming again. Above, President Xi Jinping, who has remained conspicuously absent in recent weeks, made a rare public appearance to address the crisis. |
 | | Chang W. Lee/The New York Times |
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2. New Hampshire is next. |
The state’s Democratic presidential primary, the second contest in the 2020 race, is on Tuesday. Bernie Sanders, above, is leading in the polls, and Pete Buttigieg isn’t far behind. |
Iowa: The problems with the caucuses were bigger than one bad app. According to an investigation by our reporters, there was a total system failure. |
 | | Samuel Corum for The New York Times |
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As is usual, it’s more of a messaging document. The message: Keep shrinking the federal safety net, with deep cuts to student loan assistance, affordable housing, food stamps and Medicaid, and slash the E.P.A. Add funds to the military, national defense and border enforcement. |
Mr. Trump faces a secure spot in New Hampshire’s Republican primary, with just one opponent: Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor. |
We’ll be in Manchester, N.H., for Mr. Trump’s rally tonight. |
 | | Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images |
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4. Four members of China’s military were charged in the vast 2017 Equifax data breach, which exposed the personal information of about 145 million Americans. |
The U.S. government said the attack was part of a series of big data thefts organized by the People’s Liberation Army and Chinese intelligence agencies. Hackers stole names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of nearly half of all Americans — data that could be combined with artificial intelligence to help identify and target U.S. intelligence officers. |
And in Israel, a “grave” security lapse in an election app promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led to the exposure of personal data of all 6.5 million eligible voters. |
 | | Markus Schreiber/Associated Press |
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5. Angela Merkel’s chosen successor to lead Germany has stepped aside. |
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, above, announced her resignation after a local chapter of her party, the center-right Christian Democrats, allied itself with a rising far-right party, Alternative for Germany. |
At a time when neighboring countries are looking to Berlin for leadership in a post-Brexit Europe, Germany is struggling with an uncomfortable sense of having lived through this before, as the growing power of the far right echoes the rise of the Nazis. |
 | | Rajah Bose for The New York Times |
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6. New rules at U.S. schools and colleges will shore up protections for victims of stalking and dating violence. |
The rules will for the first time cement domestic violence, dating violence and stalking as forms of gender discrimination that schools must address. Victims’ rights advocates say that while many schools have presumed such infractions fall under the broad umbrella of sexual harassment, not all have trained their staffs to address them. |
Above, a memorial to Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah track star who was kidnapped on campus and killed by a former boyfriend in 2018, and whose case helped inspire the changes. |
 | | Lyndon French for The New York Times |
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7. The Dart Container Corporation was an American success story. But it built its fortune on a modern environmental pariah: foam containers. |
And in Africa, researchers found that an increase in temperatures over the past seven decades correlates with bigger and more frequent thunderstorms. That increase, combined with poor infrastructure, could mean more fatalities and more economic damage. |
 | | Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times |
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8. California was about to lose its oldest weekly newspaper. And then in stepped Carl Butz. |
Since his retirement and his wife’s death in 2017, Mr. Butz had considered traveling to England or Latvia, or riding the Trans-Siberian Railway. But one night, he said, he was watching “Citizen Kane” on cable and thought, I can do that. |
So the 71-year-old cut a four-figure deal to buy The Mountain Messenger, earning himself a new career and saving Downieville, Calif., from becoming the latest small town to lose its newspaper. |
 | | Noel West for The New York Times |
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9. Lessons from the “Parasite” landslide. |
The South Korean film’s triumph as the first non-English language best picture winner is a result in part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ efforts to diversify its voting base by race, gender, and nationality. It has added hundreds of new members from outside the U.S. |
From the Oscars red carpet, our chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, writes that “Janelle Monáe, in silver crystal-covered, hooded Ralph Lauren, had the best dress. She looked like the ruler of an entire galaxy.” |
 | | Sarah Blesener for The New York Times |
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10. What’s better than a bichon frisé? Four bichons frisés. |
Tomorrow night, the Westminster Dog Show will be a scene of high tension, as a handful of four-legged finalists compete for the coveted title of best in show. Until then, enjoy these photos of pampered Pomeranians, a meeting of Dalmatians and one very hairy Maltese. |
Have a doggone good evening. |
| Andrea Kannapell and Penn Bullock contributed to the briefing. |
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