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Monday's Daily Briefing: US reports first coronavirus deaths

Editors  |  Paste BN

Rise and shine, Daily Briefing readers! Welcome to March, a month that brings us the first day of spring, St. Patrick's Day and a whole lot more news. Let's start out with a quick recap of all the biggest news you might've missed this weekend:

It's N'dea and here's more news you need to know today.

Meeting set for coronavirus discussion at France's Louvre Museum 

Meetings will continue Monday on virus prevention at Paris' famed Louvre Museum after it closed Sunday due to discussions on the spreading coronavirus epidemic. The shutdown followed a French government decision to ban indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people. The world's most popular museum welcomes tens of thousands of fans daily in Paris. Almost 75% of the Louvre's 9.6 million visitors last year came from abroad. 

Speaking of coronavirus, here's the latest information:

I’ll be rounding up the biggest updates related to coronavirus every day in the newsletter so you can stay informed.

Israelis vote in national election, again

For the third time in less than a year, Israelis will vote in a national election. The likelihood of the country emerging with a government again looks slim, setting up a possible fourth vote. While polls show its longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with a narrow lead over his main challenger, Benny Gantz, neither group may win enough votes to form a government. Under Israel’s fractious electoral system, the party that wins the most seats gets first crack at cobbling together a coalition in the 120-seat parliament. Two previous efforts involving Netanyahu, Gantz and others to break this deadlock also failed.

Where are the presidential candidates before Super Tuesday?

Joe Biden, who catapulted himself back into the Democratic presidential race with a big win in the South Carolina primary, will swoop into Texas on Monday ahead of Super Tuesday. With 228 delegates, Texas is the second-biggest prize after California. But because California is considered especially friendly territory for Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist from Vermont and early frontrunner, Texas is the most likely to generate headlines and momentum for Biden. Also on Monday, President Donald Trump will be hosting a "Keep America Great" campaign rally in North Carolina and Sanders will host a "Get Out the Vote" rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Also in the news

Breakfast wars: Wendy's, McDonald's battle for sandwich supremacy

McDonald's is marking its first-ever National Egg McMuffin Day on Monday, coincidentally – or perhaps purposefully – on the same day that Wendy's launches its breakfast menu nationwide. Almost 50 years after the Egg McMuffin debuted in 1971, McDonald's will celebrate by giving the breakfast sandwiches away. No purchase is necessary to get the freebie at participating locations (from 6-10:30 a.m. local time), but you'll need to download the McDonald's mobile app and register an account. Meanwhile, the Wendy's breakfast menu, which had a soft launch at many restaurants last week, includes the Breakfast Baconator, Frosty-ccino and Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit and there are a few coupons for the breakfast items on the Wendy's app.

Book party! It's Read Across America Day 

Communities nationwide will recognize Read Across America Day on Monday, tied to the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association, it's the nation's largest celebration of reading and focuses on motivating children and teens to read. The day once focused on Dr. Seuss books, but the NEA now encourages communities to promote a diverse array of books and publishers in order to "create more readers, writers, and people who feel included and recognized, and who understand that the world is far richer than just their experiences alone," according to the Read Across America website.

In better news: This girl is on fire 🏃‍♀️

Meet Molly Seidel. She was unlike anyone the Wisconsin distance-running community had seen before, and now she's unlike anyone the United States Olympic team has seen before. Seidel came out of nowhere to become the first marathoner in U.S. women's history to qualify for the Olympics in her first-ever marathon. 

Competing Saturday in Atlanta, Seidel took second place (2 hours, 27 minutes, 31 seconds), just seven seconds behind Kenyan-born Aliphine Tuliamuk (2:27:23).

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