Flush with Problems

NFL PACIFIC FACES Upheaval is US military furloughs Plenty to watch, new normal nearly half of its read, listen to for league S. Korean workers while at home Back page Page 4 Page 16 Afghan officials say dozens killed in Kabul attack on Sikhs » Page 3 stripes.com Volume 78, No. 244 ©SS 2020 THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas VIRUS OUTBREAK White House, Senate reach deal on $2T rescue bill BY ANDREW TAYLOR, LISA MASCARO AND JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON — The White House and Senate leaders of both major political parties announced agreement early Wednesday on an unprecedented $2 trillion emergency bill to rush sweeping aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. The urgently needed pandemic response measure is the largest economic rescue measure in his- tory and is intended as a week- slong or monthslong patch for an economy spiraling into recession and a nation facing a potentially ghastly toll. “To the American people, we say, big help, quick help is on the way,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday morning on CNN. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Schumer said he expected ap- Ford conducts high-speed turns in proval by the Republican-led the Atlantic Ocean in October. Senate later in the day. That would leave final congressional CONNOR LOESSIN / U.S. Navy approval up to the Democratic- controlled House, where the timetable for votes is unclear and whose members are mostly scat- BY BROCK VERGAKIS date more than 4,000 people, tered around the country. The Virginian-Pilot the report said. Top White House aide Eric But there’s been unexpected Ueland announced the agreement The Navy’s two newest air- and frequent clogging of the in a Capitol hallway shortly after craft carriers have a problem system, causing the Navy to midnight, capping days of often Flush with with their toilets getting clogged determine it needs to acid flush intense haggling and mounting and it costs $400,000 to fix each each aircraft carrier’s sewage pressure. time there’s an issue with their system “on a regular basis.” sewage systems, according to a “According to fleet mainte- SEE DEAL ON PAGE 5 Congressional watchdog report nance officials, while each acid released Tuesday. flush costs about $400,000, the problems The Norfolk-based USS Ger- Navy has yet to determine how Marine Corps ald R. Ford and USS George often and for how many ships H.W. Bush were both built with this action will need to be re- recruiters voice a new toilet and sewage system peated, making the full cost Report: Navy’s newest aircraft carriers that’s similar to what is used impact difficult to quantify,” safety concerns as have clogged toilets that cost $400K to fix on commercial aircraft, but the report said. increased in scale to accommo- SEE TOILETS ON PAGE 3 offices stay open Page 6 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Thursday, March 26, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Many flights nearly empty as virus cuts travel Military rates Thailand (Baht) ......................................... 32.78 Euro costs (March 26) ......................... $1.06 Turkey (New Lira) .................................. 6.4508 Dollar buys (March 26) ......................€0.900 (Military exchange rates are those BY DAVID KOENIG line, who asked that they and their The Wall Street Journal report- British pound (March 26) .................... $1.16 available to customers at military banking Japanese yen (March 26) ..................108.00 facilities in the country of issuance Associated Press airline not be identified, ticked ed that government agencies were South Korean won (March 26)...... 1,197.00 for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the off more than a dozen flights considering ordering a shutdown Commercial rates Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For Bahrain (Dinar) ...................................... 0.3783 nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Airline service in the United that departed Tuesday morning of virtually all passenger flights British pound ......................................... $1.1770 purchasing British pounds in Germany), States is teetering on the brink of with fewer than 10 passengers on within the U.S. The newspaper Canada (Dollar) ....................................... 1.4374 check with your local military banking China (Yuan) ............................................ 7.1028 facility. Commercial rates are interbank collapse, with near-empty planes board. said, however, that President Don- Denmark (Krone) .................................... 6.9153 rates provided for reference when buying and coronavirus outbreaks that Egypt (Pound)....................................... 15.7485 currency. All figures are foreign currencies The official said the average ald Trump and his advisers are re- Euro ............................................... $1.0800/.9260 to one dollar, except for the British pound, have left some air traffic control flight was just over 20% full and luctant to order a shutdown partly Hong Kong (Dollar) ................................ 7.7534 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, towers empty. Hungary (Forint) .................................... 328.68 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) that figure is expected to drop into because passenger planes also Israel (Shekel) ........................................ 3.6344 Even with sharply reduced the teens by the weekend. carry U.S. mail and vital cargo. Japan (Yen)............................................... 111.61 Kuwait (Dinar) ......................................... 0.3151 schedules, airlines are consolidat- Major airlines are drafting The FAA, which provides air Norway (Krone) ................................... 10.9436 INTEREST RATES ing some of the remaining flights plans in case they must shut down traffic control across the country, Philippines (Peso) .................................... 51.11 Poland (Zloty) .............................................. 4.24 Prime rate ................................................3.25 because passengers aren’t show- domestic flights because of a lack declined to comment on whether Saudi Arabia (Riyal) .............................. 3.7550 Discount rate .......................................... 0.75 ing up. of air traffic controllers or airport the agency was considering order- Singapore (Dollar)................................. 1.4482 Federal funds market rate ...................1.09 South Korea (Won) ............................ 1,229.31 3-month bill ............................................. 0.01 An official of one major U.S. air- screeners. ing a shutdown. Switzerland (Franc) ............................... 0.9811 30-year bond ...........................................1.37 WEATHER OUTLOOK THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST THURSDAY IN EUROPE FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 55/38 Kabul 59/46 Seoul 53/48 Baghdad 82/59 Kandahar 69/46 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 55/51 62/51 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 48/32 47/28 63/58 Iwakuni 60/54 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 73/68 Brussels 46/27 Guam 71/62 48/31 Ramstein 64/60 83/79 Lajes, 45/28 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 87/65 75/59 57/53 49/28 50/34 Aviano/ Vicenza 49/31 Naples 55/45 Okinawa Morón 74/70 69/51 Sigonella Rota 55/42 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 83/77 62/53 57/53 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 17 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 15 Crossword ................. 15 Faces ........................ 16 Opinion ................ 18-19 Sports .................. 20-24 Thursday, March 26, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 WAR/MILITARY US condemns attack on Sikh temple in Kabul BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Stars and Stripes KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 25 people were killed when a lone gunman at- tacked a Sikh temple in Kabul’s old town Wednesday morning, starting an hours- long firefight with Afghan special forces, local officials said. Women and children were among those who died in the attack, the Interior Minis- try said, adding that all of the victims were members of Afghanistan’s small Sikh minority, which numbers in the thousands. The gunman was killed in a gunfight with the special forces that lasted until late afternoon, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned the “fanatics and criminals who target a house of worship to harm innocents” and expressed condolences . “Peace will only come when people re- solve their differences through words, not guns,” the embassy said on Twitter. Afghan forces helped worshippers who were inside the temple when the attack began at 8 a.m. to escape, the Interior Ministry said . Several people who were wounded in the attack are being treated in hospitals. /AP Foreign troops from NATO’s U.S.-led PHOTOS BY RAHMAT GUL mission in Afghanistan provided advice Above: Afghan families leave and assistance to the Afghan soldiers the site of an attack in Kabul, who led the operation, a Resolute Support Afghanistan, Wednesday. A spokesman said. gunman stormed a religious The Taliban were quick to deny involve- gathering of Afghanistan’s ment in the assault. The SITE Intelligence minority Sikhs in their place Group, which tracks global terrorist activ- of worship in the heart of the ity, said the Islamic State affiliate in Af- Afghan capital’s old city , a ghanistan has claimed responsibility. minority Sikh parliamentarian The deadly attack came less than a said. month

Load more