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A total of 2,666 guests and 1,045 staff members have been quarantined since Monday on the Diamond Princess off the coast of Yokohama, a port city just south of Tokyo, after an elderly passenger from Hong Kong tested positive for the coronavirus on February 1, six days after disembarking the ship. The deadly virus, which was first identified in Wuhan in the Hubei province of China, has claimed the lives of at least 426 people, with 159 cases confirmed in 23 countries outside China, according to the latest report on Tuesday by the World Health Organization....

I’m obviously not the first American conglomerate to think of this. The New York Times recently detailed how scores of U.S. companies are reincorporating in Bermuda to avoid taxes. It’s so easy to do, the Times said, that it’s amazing that we have any corporations left in this country. “Moving” to Bermuda will save Stanley Works, a 159-year-old Connecticut toolmaker, $30 million a year in taxes. Tyco, the New Hampshire industrial conglomerate that’s now Bermudan as far as the IRS is concerned, saved $400 million in corporate taxes last year alone....

I’m talking, of course, about Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a former smoker who last year tightened up the city’s existing anti-smoking law so that it is now illegal to satisfy one’s nicotine craving in any indoor place–even bars and your office smoking room. The legendary or infamous (depending on whether you’re a tobacco-totler or a nicotine addict) law finally went into effect last week amid dire predictions from restaurant and bar owners that smokers would abandon their establishments in favor of getting drunk in the one remaining place where they could do so with a lit cigarette in their hand: their own home....

In the spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 could largely resume life as they did before the global pandemic began. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported in June that the agency screened more than 2 million passengers in one day for the first time since March 2020. But now, Americans are being urged to curb their travel again....

Parton, a musician like her older sister, made headlines following Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee with a series of tweets defending Meghan and Prince Harry’s move out of what she considers to be the “toxic waste heap” of the royal environment. On July 9, Parton doubled down on her earlier sentiments, responding on Twitter to an article published about the comments, saying: “Yes, I said it and I think more people should speak out when they see phony people in high places thinking their snooty behavior is ok....

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran spiked following the assassination of military general Qassem Soleimani, texts purporting to be from the U.S. Army claimed the recipient would have to travel to their closest military branch for “immediate departure” to the Middle East. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) confirmed texts had been sent “throughout the country” this week but assured citizens they are fraudulent. “Army Recruiting Command has received multiple calls and emails about these fake text messages and wants to ensure Americans understand these texts are false and were not initiated by this command or the U....

A new survey asked 2,000 Americans from all walks of life about their families’ cooking habits and found the kitchen truly is the heart of the home, with family at the core of culinary joy. Currently spending an average of 67 minutes per day in their kitchens, 77 percent say they used to cook with their family at least once a week growing up, creating some of their favorite childhood memories....

A new Morning Consult poll found that 48 percent of U.S. voters asked considered themselves pro-filibuster, while 27 percent said they were opposed to the rule. A further 25 percent said they were undecided. The filibuster rule allows debate on a bill to be prolonged indefinitely unless 60 senators vote for discussion to be closed. A vote cannot take place until debate has ended, meaning a minority of at least 41 senators can block any bill from passing....

American voters want answers and they want hope. That’s not just because of the pandemic. Some Louisiana residents just barely have electricity reconnected, five weeks after Hurricane Laura. In the meantime, two subsequent hurricanes made landfall in the Gulf. Many in California, Oregon and Washington remain homeless as a result of fires that continue to burn. Iowa lost 30 percent of its annual harvest to a freak derecho. And on top of the jarring climate-related suffering, Americans also worry that the homeless camps springing up in public parks and alongside freeways speak of something endemic to our economic system—even if they can’t quite put their finger on the problem....

Because of its potential to produce several kinds of toxicity, amiodarone should only be prescribed for people who have life-threatening or severely disabling arrhythmias, and who have no other good treatment options. The most feared side effect of amiodarone, by far, is pulmonary (lung) toxicity. What Is Amiodarone Lung Toxicity? Amiodarone lung toxicity probably affects up to 5% of patients taking this drug. It is not known whether the lung problems caused by amiodarone are due to direct damage by the drug to the lung tissues, an immune reaction to the drug, or to some other mechanism....

Back in 2005, Johnson was chosen out of Westchester High School in Los Angeles with the 56th pick, by the Detroit Pistons. After that year, the league raised its age requirements, effectively ending the practice of drafting players out of high school. That makes Johnson the last NBA player drafted out of high school. "I am the Jeopardy question," he says now. "Who is Amir Johnson?" That's something Brooklyn Nets fans have been asking after Johnson's Game 2 performance for the Toronto Raptors....

The former world light-welterweight world champion said he felt like he was being “picked on” before being escorted off an American Airlines flight from New York to Colorado on September 18. Speaking on the U.K.’s Sky News on Monday, Khan, 34, said he was told to get off the flight after a member of his group was told his mask “was not high enough.” Khan, a Muslim of Pakistani heritage, said the color of his skin “definitely” played a part in why he was told to get off the plane....

Much better, in short, to rail about settlements, occupation and “apartheid” than to actually have the independent Palestinian state Abbas claimed to want. Then there was the little matter of Hamas, which occupied the Gaza Strip, and which not only rejected any state of Israel within any borders under any circumstances but also maintained a de facto state of civil war with Abbas’ Palestinian authority, a civil war which continues to this day....

The Crescent left New Orleans on Sunday en route to New York. However, the train proceeded to get stuck on tracks north of Lynchburg, Virginia, due to downed trees. The train returned to Lynchburg on Tuesday, where it remains with little explanation to passengers experiencing a miserable trip. “I get it that there are weather conditions,” said passenger Sean Thornton in a phone interview to the Associated Press. “The real failure here was communication and management involvement....

Following a months-long search for a new host to replace beloved late presenter Alex Trebek earlier this year, then-executive producer Richards was announced on August 11 as the one who had landed the coveted job. However, things quickly unraveled, with Richards facing scrutiny over reports surrounding previous sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits he faced while serving as a producer on The Price Is Right. Matters soon got worse, when The Ringer published an article detailing a number of offensive comments he had made on a now-defunct podcast several years ago....

The California-based engineering manager has made history as the first openly transgender woman to qualify for the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, during a run that has so far seen her win 13 games and earn an impressive $536,400. And as Schneider took to her Twitter account to share her daily post-game analysis over the weekend, she took time out to share a personal anecdote about the connection legendary playwright Shakespeare’s work has with her own life....

The comedian, who has been married to chef and farmer Chris Fischer since 2018, made the comment during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, as the Los Angeles-based show broadcasts from Brooklyn, New York, for the week. When titular host Jimmy Kimmel asked Schumer how she was and what she had been up to, the Life & Beth star, 41, quipped that she had been “mostly kicking it with Adam Levine,” in reference to the infidelity allegations he recently denied....

Mystikal sounds something like James Brown in his ’70s prime. “A lot of people tell me that,” says Tyler. “I’m honored, ‘cause he’s the man.” But he also sounds like any number of old-time shouting-and-singing African-American preachers, a comparison that doesn’t surprise Tyler either. “Definitely,” he says. “I was raised in the Baptist Church.” If it seems odd to hear this preacherly delivery on Mystikal’s current hit single “Shake Ya A–,” what can you say?...

Can it happen again?
“Look around this place,” said FSU wideout Rashad Greene, pointing to the wild post-game locker room celebration in the bowels of the Rose Bowl. “We’ve got guys on this team that no one has heard of, and they’re just waiting to become stars.”
There’s no rest in this game, no feeling of comfort or satisfaction or accomplishment. Especially with the new College Football Playoff — and one more step to win the national championship — looming in the fall of 2014....