Wednesday, 4 March 2020

News Brief: Election Results, Stock Markets Drop, Gene-Editing Tool


Copyright 2020 NPR. To see extra, go to https://www.npr.org.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It’s removed from a performed deal, however this morning after Tremendous Tuesday, we’re loads nearer to figuring out who the 2020 Democratic nominee for president will probably be.

NOEL KING, HOST:

Bear in mind; this began out as essentially the most numerous subject of Democratic presidential candidates in historical past. The front-runners now are two white males of their 70s, each with lengthy political careers – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE BIDEN: Just some days in the past, the press and the pundits had declared the marketing campaign lifeless.

(BOOING)

BIDEN: After which got here South Carolina, they usually had one thing to say about it.

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: And we had been informed, nicely, once you received to Tremendous Tuesday, it might be over. Properly, it might be over for the opposite man.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BERNIE SANDERS: Tonight, I let you know with absolute confidence, we’re going to win the Democratic nomination.

(CHEERING)

MARTIN: The voices of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders after final night time’s contests. We have got NPR nationwide political correspondent Mara Liasson with us to make clear what has occurred and what it means going ahead. Hello, Mara.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hello there.

MARTIN: So it was a late night time for all of us as we watched these returns are available in. Massive headline is that Joe Biden wanted to do nicely. And he did, proper?

LIASSON: Sure, he did. The large query stepping into was, would Bernie Sanders finish the night time on a glide path to a plurality of delegates with an all-but-insurmountable lead? We got here out of the night time with Biden with essentially the most votes and delegates thus far, and possibly he is on observe to get a plurality earlier than the conference. The race is now a two-man battle for delegates.

Yesterday was a check of three issues – cash, momentum and motion or group. It seems cash did not imply a lot. Bloomberg spent a ton of it and did not do very nicely. When it comes to motion and group, nicely, Bernie Sanders had that in spades. Joe Biden solely had one subject workplace in California…

MARTIN: Proper.

LIASSON: …And one in Virginia. In some locations, he did not even marketing campaign. It seems that free media – earned media – momentum actually mattered. And that is what Joe Biden had. He had endorsements, and it translated into wins. Who would’ve thunk it?

MARTIN: Proper.

LIASSON: You recognize? Historic guidelines solely work until they cease working.

MARTIN: Till they do not work anymore.

LIASSON: That is what we realized final night time.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Proper. So we must always simply level out, we hear loads about the truth that Bernie Sanders took California; Joe Biden got here out on prime of Texas – two very delegate-rich states. However it does not imply that every of these candidates walks away with all these delegates, proper?

LIASSON: No, as a result of it is not a winner-take-all system the way in which the Republicans have. There is a 15% threshold. You do not get any delegates except you recover from 15% of the favored vote. If nobody else will get 15%, then you’ll be able to take all of the delegates or an enormous quantity of the delegates – a much bigger proportion of the delegates than the share of the favored vote that you just received. But when loads of different candidates recover from 15%, then the winner of the state finally ends up taking a smaller proportion of the delegates than the share they received of the favored vote. That is why it is crucial to see the ultimate delegate totals.

MARTIN: Proper.

LIASSON: We do not have these but. However in the event you win huge, you get extra delegates than in the event you win by a smaller margin.

MARTIN: All proper. So let’s discuss Elizabeth Warren, who didn’t have a superb night time. She actually wanted to do nicely or a minimum of have a displaying, proper?

LIASSON: Wanted to do nicely. She got here in third in her own residence state of Massachusetts. She misplaced this place she was born, Oklahoma. After which, after all, that follows her fourth-place end within the neighboring state of New Hampshire. However final night time, she didn’t give any indication of giving up. This is what she mentioned.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELIZABETH WARREN: Regardless of how scared you might be, irrespective of how onerous it appears, you get on the market, and also you battle for the folks you like.

(CHEERING)

LIASSON: So what Elizabeth Warren goes to do subsequent is the topic of loads of hypothesis. She had talked earlier about possibly a brokered conference; that was her path to the nomination.

MARTIN: Yeah.

LIASSON: However now she’s splitting the left lane of the occasion with Bernie Sanders. Is that what she desires? Or will she drop out and endorse him? Nobody is aware of.

MARTIN: All proper. Let’s end on Mike Bloomberg as a result of that is the primary time he really appeared on any poll. He has spent an infinite amount of cash. He solely took American Samoa, a territory, final night time. So what occurs to his marketing campaign shifting ahead?

LIASSON: Properly, he is reassessing his marketing campaign. However even when he does not proceed as a candidate, he’s nonetheless on observe to play what could possibly be a game-changing and historic function within the election as a result of he has mentioned he’ll spend no matter it takes – billions of {dollars} if mandatory – to help whoever is the nominee of the occasion. And he’ll fund down-ballot Democratic candidates. He’ll fund get-out-the-vote drives. He’ll fund every part. That is what he says he’ll do. And that’s fairly vital.

MARTIN: All proper. NPR’s Mara Liasson on the outcomes of Tremendous Tuesday. Mara, thanks.

LIASSON: Thanks.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: OK. The World Well being Group says that the demise charge of COVID-19, which is the illness brought on by the coronavirus – that demise charge is now at about 3.4%, which is larger than beforehand thought. The battle towards coronavirus is de facto taking place on loads of totally different fronts, together with on the Federal Reserve.

KING: Yeah. That is proper. The Fed made an emergency rate of interest reduce yesterday to attempt to shield the financial system from the results of the virus, nevertheless it did not appear to work. The S&P, the Dow and the Nasdaq all fell yesterday anyway.

MARTIN: We have got NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley with us this morning. So Scott, simply begin with what was imagined to occur. What was the intention of the Fed in making this charge reduce?

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The Fed hoped to inject some confidence within the financial system and the inventory market after the worst week on Wall Road for the reason that monetary disaster. This was the primary time the Fed had reduce charges exterior of an ordinarily scheduled assembly. And so they reduce by half some extent, not 1 / 4 level as they normally do. They do not have a complete lot of financial ammunition right here, in order that they needed to behave rapidly and dramatically despite the fact that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that this motion by itself wouldn’t protect the financial system from coronavirus harm.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEROME POWELL: We do acknowledge {that a} charge reduce is not going to cut back the speed of an infection. It will not repair a damaged provide chain. We get that. We do not assume we’ve all of the solutions. However we do consider that our motion will present a significant enhance to the financial system.

HORSLEY: The preliminary response within the inventory market was optimistic. The Dow jumped about 300 factors when the information first broke. However the extra traders considered it, the much less they appreciated it. And the most important indexes ended the day down round 3%.

MARTIN: Proper. So what went improper? I imply, how did he miscalculate?

HORSLEY: Properly, it’s odd as a result of only a day earlier, the market had jumped Four to five% on the promise of simply this sort of charge reduce. So it is slightly bit uncommon. I spoke to the chief economist at LendingTree, Tendayi Kapfidze. And he simply thinks the Fed missed the mark. This isn’t the form of medication the financial system must cope with the coronavirus epidemic.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

TENDAYI KAPFIDZE: I do not see {that a} charge reduce makes me wish to get on a airplane or go to a sports activities stadium or every other form of financial exercise that will increase my danger of infections.

HORSLEY: Now, futures markets are pointing to the potential of a rebound on Wall Road immediately, so there could also be some reassessment. Though which will additionally replicate traders’ attitudes about yesterday’s Tremendous Tuesday outcomes.

MARTIN: Proper. In order you have got identified, there are limits to what financial coverage can do with regards to one thing like a public well being disaster just like the coronavirus. Is there an alternative choice for governments to make use of?

HORSLEY: There may be. For instance, South Korea is asking for simply cash to assist companies which are adversely affected by the epidemic. President Trump has been speaking a couple of payroll tax vacation, which was one thing that was performed through the recession. However there’s been little follow-up on that from the White Home and virtually no discuss it on Capitol Hill.

MARTIN: NPR’s Scott Horsley for us. Thanks, Scott. We admire it.

HORSLEY: You are welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: And now some information from the world of drugs.

KING: Yeah. For the primary time ever, medical doctors have used a revolutionary gene-editing method. They’re making an attempt to deal with a affected person by enhancing that affected person’s DNA whereas it’s nonetheless contained in the particular person’s physique.

MARTIN: We have got NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein with us to clarify. Hello, Rob.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: This sounds loopy. Scientists edited somebody’s DNA from inside their physique.

STEIN: Yeah.

MARTIN: Clarify. What does that imply?

STEIN: Yeah. Properly, they’ve actually genetically modified somebody from the within. And this is what I imply. Scientists – , they have been utilizing a device known as CRISPR to rewrite the genetic code, , to attempt to deal with ailments like most cancers and sickle cell.

MARTIN: Yeah.

STEIN: However till now, medical doctors have been taking cells out of the our bodies – , cells like bone marrow cells – enhancing the DNA within the cells after which infusing the genetically modified cells again in.

MARTIN: Proper.

STEIN: Now, for the primary time, they’ve tried this completely new technique to attempt to deal with somebody with a uncommon genetic illness that destroys their imaginative and prescient.

MARTIN: That’s superb. So what occurred? I imply, are you able to clarify in layman’s phrases what they did?

STEIN: Yeah, yeah. It is actually fascinating. You recognize, a surgeon reduce a tiny gap within the affected person’s eye after which dripped in three tiny, little drops of liquid containing billions of innocent viruses that had been genetically engineered to hold the genetic directions for creating this CRISPR gene-editing device contained in the retina. The CRISPR then hopefully reduce out the genetic defect that is inflicting the illness, letting the cells produce an important protein that can hopefully heal the sick cells within the retina and giving the affected person the flexibility to see. This is Eric Pierce. He is the Harvard physician operating this examine.

ERIC PIERCE: If we are able to repair the underlying genetic defect, we’ve the potential to revive imaginative and prescient to individuals who by no means had regular imaginative and prescient earlier than. It could certainly be superb.

MARTIN: That is phenomenal. So it is a one who could not see – hopefully that their imaginative and prescient goes to be restored. What occurs now, Rob?

STEIN: They simply did this process on the Casey Eye Institute. It is on the Oregon Well being and Science College in Portland. And it is on the primary volunteer, first examine that is testing this. So the very first thing the medical doctors and the scientists are searching for is, , whether or not it is protected. Bear in mind; , nothing like this has ever been performed earlier than. So that they’re beginning with a really low dose in an older affected person who already had intensive imaginative and prescient harm. And so they’re solely treating one eye. And that is all, , simply to verify it does not backfire in some way, find yourself destroying no matter imaginative and prescient they do have as an alternative of serving to them.

MARTIN: Yeah.

STEIN: However the scientists say this affected person may begin to see higher inside, , possibly just some weeks. So medical doctors are going to be watching actually intently each for any issues and for any enhancements earlier than making an attempt this on extra sufferers.

MARTIN: And clearly paying consideration as a result of if it really works, I assume it should have results, implications for different ailments, proper?

STEIN: Yeah. That is proper. That is one of many causes scientists are so enthusiastic about this. You recognize, there are lots of different ailments the place you actually cannot deal with them by taking cells out of their physique and enhancing them and placing them again in. And the one strategy to get to the cells that must be fastened, , for mind ailments like Huntington’s illness, possibly some inherited types of dementia, muscle ailments like muscular dystrophy, is to edit from the within as an alternative of from the surface.

MARTIN: Yeah.

STEIN: That is what Francis Collins of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being mentioned about all this.

FRANCIS COLLINS: All of us dream of what time is likely to be coming, the place we may apply this strategy for 1000’s of ailments.

STEIN: He mentioned it is actually thrilling, and he is wanting ahead to see what occurs subsequent.

MARTIN: Wow. The implications could possibly be large. NPR’s Rob Stein for us this morning. Thanks, Rob. We admire it.

STEIN: No drawback.

[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In this report, we incorrectly say that the Federal Reserve cut rates this week for the first time outside of a scheduled meeting. In fact, it was the first time since the financial crisis in 2008 that the Fed acted outside of a scheduled meeting.] Transcript supplied by NPR, Copyright NPR.



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