AP News in Brief 02-28-20

Stock market rout deepens on virus worries; drops 4%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank nearly 1,200 points Thursday, deepening a weeklong global market rout caused by worries that the coronavirus outbreak will wreak havoc on the global economy.

The S&P 500 has now plunged 12% from the all-time high it set just a week ago. That puts the index in what market watchers call a “correction,” which analysts have said was long overdue in this bull market, which is the longest in history.

It was the worst one-day drop for the market since 2011, and stocks are now headed for their worst week since October 2008, during the global financial crisis.

The losses extended a slide in stocks that has wiped out the solid gains major indexes posted early this year. Investors came into 2020 feeling confident that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates at low levels and the U.S.-China trade war posed less of a threat to company profits after the two sides reached a preliminary agreement in January. The virus outbreak has upended that rosy scenario as economists lower their expectations for economic growth and companies warn of a hit to their business.

“This is a market that’s being driven completely by fear,” said Elaine Stokes, portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles, with market movements following the classic characteristics of a fear trade: stocks are down, commodities are down and bonds are up.

In scramble to stop virus, testing raises tough questions

NEW YORK — Health officials confronted tough questions and doubts Thursday about testing to intercept the fast-spreading virus, with scrutiny focused on a four-day delay in screening an infected California woman despite her doctors’ early calls to do so.

The questions are global: not just who, when and how to test for the illness, but how to make sure that working test kits get out to the labs that need them. All those issues apparently came in to play in the treatment of the woman in northern California, a case officials say may be the first community-spread instance of the disease in the U.S.

“This was a clear gap in our preparedness, and the virus went right through the gap,” said Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Public Health.

In the wake of the latest California case, U.S. health officials on Thursday expanded their criteria for who should get tested, and took steps to increase testing.

The debate over testing has taken on added urgency as the number of cases worldwide climbed past 82,000, including 2,800 reported deaths. The rapid spread pushed officials in Saudi Arabia to cut travel to Islam’s holiest sites, triggered tougher penalties in South Korea for people who break quarantines and ratcheted up pressure on investors as U.S. stock markets extended their week-long plunge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank nearly 1,200 points Thursday, it’s worst one-day drop since 2011.

Biggest explosion seen in universe came from black hole

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronomers have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the universe, originating from a super-massive black hole.

Scientists reported Thursday that the blast came from a black hole in a cluster of galaxies 390 million light-years away.

The explosion was so large it carved out a crater in the hot gas that could hold 15 Milky Ways, said lead author Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.

It’s five times bigger than the previous record-holder.

Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory to make the discovery, along with a European space observatory and ground telescopes. They believe the explosion came from the heart of the Ophiuchus cluster of thousands of galaxies: a large galaxy at the center contains a colossal black hole.

Democrats focus on Super Tuesday even as S. Carolina looms

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Bernie Sanders will swing through North Carolina, Virginia and Massachusetts in the coming days. Elizabeth Warren will make stops in Texas and Arkansas. Amy Klobuchar will be in Tennessee and Virginia.

The South Carolina primary is just two days away, but the race is quickly going national as candidates pivot to the 14 states that vote on Tuesday.

The move is in part a recognition of Joe Biden’s strength in South Carolina, with most of the focus on the margin of his victory and who might come in second place. But it’s also an effort to tap into the hundreds of delegates at stake in the “Super Tuesday” contests. About a third of the delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination will be on the table.

The tight turnaround between Saturday’s primary in South Carolina and the contests that follow on Tuesday is creating a hectic stretch for campaigns.

“What happens in South Carolina does matter, mostly because of what the coverage is going to be over the three days leading up to Super Tuesday. If someone seems out of the running, they’re going to lose value,” said Achim Bergmann, a Democratic strategist whose firm does work in a number of Super Tuesday states. “It’s a tough deal for the candidates who are perceived to be at the lower rungs at the moment to figure out where can they get some juice.”

From wire sources

No one to vote? Nevada Democrats puzzle over empty precinct

RENO, Nev. — What if a neighborhood precinct was voting in Nevada’s presidential caucuses and nobody came?

Democrats in one county were left scratching their heads about the possibility they had stumbled onto a phantom precinct during the party’s third-in-the-nation presidential contest last week.

Not only did no one cast a ballot during early voting in precinct No. 7321, but nobody from there showed up to participate at Saturday’s caucus site at the University of Nevada, Reno, where hundreds gathered from six other precincts in Washoe County.

Worried about the potential for a meltdown like the one that delayed official results in Iowa, site leader Austin Daly said they were prepared for the possibility of glitches with the iPads that were used to tabulate results or other software-related emergencies.

“And I expected big turnout, but never thought there would be a precinct with zero votes,” said Daly, head of the UNR Young Democrats.

___

Former Michigan wrestlers urge more victims to ‘speak up’

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — The whistleblower whose letter to University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel alleging sexual assault sparked an investigation into a former school doctor says he was inspired by the women who testified against convicted Michigan State physician Larry Nassar.

An attorney for Tad DeLuca said Thursday that his client complained to his wrestling coach in 1975 that Dr. Robert E. Anderson molested him during medical exams. In response, then-coach Bill Johannesen humiliated DeLuca, kicked him off the team and effectively removed his financial assistance, the attorney said.

“I spoke up again by letter in 2018 after hearing an NPR story about the MSU gymnasts, women who I am in awe of,” DeLuca said at a news conference in suburban Detroit. “Once again, the University of Michigan ignored me.

“I’m here today to speak up again, to let the University of Michigan know that I will not be ignored.”

DeLuca’s 2018 letter of complaint about Anderson, now deceased, led to a university police investigation that became public last week. Two other former Michigan wrestlers who allege they were abused by Anderson also spoke to reporters Thursday: Tom Evashevski and Andy Hrovat, the first athlete to publicly say Anderson molested him.

___

Plácido Domingo revises apology, as Spain drops more shows

SAN FRANCISCO — Opera star Placido Domingo amended his apology to the multiple women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, adding several caveats Thursday to a statement two days earlier in which he said he took “full responsibility” for his actions.

In a statement on his Facebook page, posted as several European concert halls moved to cancel his appearances, the legendary tenor said he wanted “to correct the false impression generated by my apology.”

“My apology was sincere and heartfelt, to any colleague who I have made to feel uncomfortable, or hurt in any manner, by anything I have said or done,” he wrote. “But I know what I have not done, and I’ll deny it again. I have never behaved aggressively toward anyone, and I have never done anything to obstruct or hurt anyone’s career.”

In his Tuesday statement, Domingo had said: “I respect that these women finally felt comfortable enough to speak out, and I want them to know that I am truly sorry for the hurt that I caused them. I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I have grown from this experience.”

Domingo’s spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, offered no immediate comment when asked how to reconcile the dual statements.

___

___

___

Ben Affleck on the pain and catharsis of ‘The Way Back’

NEW YORK — Of the many stories that have stuck with Ben Affleck from his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, one has especially resonated for the actor. Recovery is often described as a process of removing a damaging habit from your life. One man articulated it in a more positive way. He said he quit drinking so he could be a free man.

“That’s one of the most moving things that’s stayed with me,” says Affleck. “The desire for that freedom, and so I can be accountable to my kids.”

After a turbulent few years, Affleck, 47, is trying to reclaim his life and reorder his career. In Affleck’s new film, “The Way Back,” both missions converge powerfully. He plays a former high-school basketball star brought back to coach his alma mater’s team in Gavin O’Connor’s movie, which opens March 6. The film has obvious similarities to Affleck’s life. It’s about a man struggling with alcoholism, divorce and midlife disappointment. It’s about the hard road to recovery, a path that Affleck has been walking, with a few stumbles along the way, the last three years.

“I don’t know all the answers. I’m only an expert in my own failings,” Affleck says. “But the more expert you become in your own failings, interestingly, the less likely you are to repeat them, I’ve found. That is how my life has been getting better. I have a better relationship with my kids today than I did three years ago. I have a better relationship with my ex-wife, I think, than I did three years ago. I think I’m a better actor. I think I’m a more interesting person because most of the growth that I’ve had has come from pain.”

Affleck smiles. “You notice how you never succeed and all your wildest dreams come true and you go: ‘I got to change something!’ It’s when you hit a stumbling block that you say: ‘OK, let’s be really honest.’”