China pollution clears amid coronavirus slowdown

Satellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is "at least partly" due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency Nasa says. Nasa maps show falling levels of nitrogen dioxide this year. It comes amid record declines in China's factory activity as manufacturers stop work in a bid to contain coronavirus.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51691967?source=Snapzu

Saving the banana

Scientists around the world are working on ways to stop banana crops being wiped out by a new strain of Panama disease. The disease, which has so far affected farms on four continents, reaches the banana plants through infected soil. Cleaning the soil is almost impossible. One idea under development in the Netherlands is to take away the soil altogether and replace it with something produced in a factory - such as loft insulation.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-51633620/saving-the-banana?source=Snapzu

U.S. Signs Peace Deal With Taliban After Nearly 2 Decades Of War In Afghanistan

The U.S. and the Taliban have struck a deal that paves the way for eventual peace in Afghanistan. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the head of the militant Islamist group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed the potentially historic agreement Saturday in Doha, Qatar, where the two sides spent months hashing out its details.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/02/29/810537586/u-s-signs-peace-deal-with-taliban-after-nearly-2-decades-of-war-in-afghanistan?source=Snapzu

Bill Gates: Coronavirus may be 'once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about'

"I hope it's not that bad, but we should assume it will be until we know otherwise," Gates wrote in an article published Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/bill-gates-says-coronavirus-may-be-once-in-a-century-pathogen.html?source=Snapzu

Kim warns of 'serious consequences' if virus reaches North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of the "serious consequences" of failing to prevent an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media reported Saturday. The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system, has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its territory.
Read more: https://us.yahoo.com/news/kim-warns-serious-consequences-virus-reaches-north-korea-005947594.html?source=Snapzu

Trump defends huge cuts to the CDC's budget by saying the government can hire more doctors 'when we need them' during crises | Markets Insider

President Donald Trump defended his huge budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during a Wednesday press conference on the federal government's response to the coronavirus. He said it was easy to bolster the public-health agency and cited his business approach toward running the federal government.
Read more: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-defends-cuts-cdc-budget-federal-government-hire-doctors-coronavirus-2020-2-1028946602?source=Snapzu

Freeman Dyson, Visionary Technologist, Is Dead at 96

After an early breakthrough on light and matter, he became a writer who challenged climate science and pondered space exploration and nuclear warfare.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/science/freeman-dyson-dead.html?source=Snapzu