Ewing, Hoyas Complete Run to Big East Title ›› College Hoops, Page 24
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MILITARY NATION FACES Germany continues China, N. Korea ‘Cherry’ role for to lag other US allies loom large for young actress on cost-sharing Blinken, Austin Ciara Bravo Page 4 Page 9 Page 18 Ewing, Hoyas complete run to Big East title ›› College hoops, Page 24 stripes.com Volume 79 Edition 234 ©SS 2021 MONDAY,MARCH 15, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Coronavirus conspiracy theories pain for nurses BY ALI SWENSON AND DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press Los Angeles emergency room nurse Sandra Younan spent the last year juggling long hours as she watched many patients strug- gle with the coronavirus and some die. Then there were the patients who claimed the virus was fake or coughed in her face, ig- noring mask INSIDE rules. One As cases man storm- ed out of the rise, Italy hospital af- ter a positive designates COVID-19 test, refusing red zones to believe it Page 7 was accurate. “You have patients that are lit- erally dying, and then you have patients that are denying the dis- ease,” she said. “You try to edu- cate and you try to educate, but JENSEN GUILLORY/U.S. Army then you just hit a wall.” Soldiers conduct area reconnaissance in Syria. Though the Biden administration does not appear to be in any rush to pull out the 900 U.S. Bogus claims about the virus, troops who remain in the country, White House officials have said they are reviewing the troop presence in Syria. masks and vaccines have explod- ed since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic a year ago. Jour- nalists, public health officials and tech companies have tried to push back against the falsehoods, but A question of commitment much of the job of correcting mis- information has fallen to the world’s front-line medical work- Possibility Biden administration could reconsider deployment top concern for US troops in Syria ers. In Germany, a video clip show- BY DAVID S. CLOUD “We’ve got the flagpole planted.” How committed President Joe Biden will be ing a nurse using an empty syr- Los Angeles Times to keeping troops in Syria is uncertain, howev- inge while practicing vaccinations KHSHAM, Syria — At a makeshift military Lt. Alan Favalora er. traveled widely online as purport- outpost abutting a natural gas field in eastern Louisiana National Guard soldier in Syria The Biden administration does not appear to ed evidence that COVID-19 is Syria, the signs of the country’s violent upheav- be in any rush to pull out the 900 U.S. troops fake. Doctors in Afghanistan re- al are everywhere. Bombed-out concrete are here — and not planning on leaving soon. who remain in the country, a relatively small ported patients telling them CO- buildings lie in ruins. The pipes that once car- “We’ve got the flagpole planted,” said Army force that some White House officials see as VID-19 was created by the United ried liquefied natural gas are shredded and Lt. Alan Favalora, a Louisiana National Guard key to preventing a resurgence of the Islamic States and China to reduce the twisted. soldier at Conoco, the name the base acquired State and a rush to reclaim the area’s oil fields world population. In Bolivia, med- A tattered U.S. flag strung between 40-foot- from the long-departed U.S. oil and gas firm by Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Rus- ical workers had to care for five tall gas processing towers flies high over the that once operated the wells. “We want them to base, a visible symbol that American troops know we are committed to this region.” SEE QUESTION ON PAGE 5 SEE NURSES ON PAGE 6 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Monday, March 15, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Microsoft probes whether hackers cracked research EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1136.36 Bloomberg Then in late February, Microsoft no- company has focused part of its in- Switzerland (Franc) 0.9306 Euro costs (March 15) $1.16 Thailand (Baht) 30.74 Microsoft Corp. is investigating tified DEVCORE that it was close to vestigation on understanding if Dollar buys (March 15) 0.8177 Turkey (Lira) 7.5848 British pound (March 15) $1.36 whether hackers who attacked its releasing security patches to fix the DEVCORE may have been com- Japanese yen (March 15) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available email system exploited the findings problem. promised, or in some way tipped off South Korean won (March 15) 1100.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger of Taiwanese researchers who were In the days after Microsoft dis- attackers that the patch was in the many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3771 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur the first to alert the software compa- closed its still secret patch to DEV- pipeline, valuable intelligence for Britain (Pound) 0.7200 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2521 your local military banking facility. Commercial ny to the vulnerabilities, according CORE, attackers escalated their hackers seeking to time their attack China(Yuan) 6.5042 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2330 to a person familiar with the investi- malicious activity on networks us- to maximize its impact, according to Egypt (Pound) 15.6991 when buying currency. All figures are foreign gation. ing Exchange servers connected to the person, who asked not to be iden- Euro 0.8382 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7653 pound, which is represented in dollarsto DEVCORE, a small firm based in the internet, according to research- tified because details of the probe Hungary (Forint) 307.31 pound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.3234 Taipei City that specializes in dis- ers at Palo Alto Networks Inc. haven’t been publicly released. Japan (Yen) 109.00 INTEREST RATES covering computer security flaws, Microsoft is exploring if intelli- A Microsoft spokesperson con- Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3027 Norway (Krone) 8.4534 Prime rate 3.25 in December said it found bugs af- gence it shared with partners may firmed the investigation, but didn’t Philippines (Peso) 48.38 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.84 Federal funds market rate 0.09 fecting Microsoft’s widely used Ex- have somehow triggered the attack, comment on whether DEVCORE’s Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508 3month bill 0.04 change business email software. Bloomberg News reported. The role is under scrutiny. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3455 30year bond 2.28 WEATHER OUTLOOK MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN EUROPE TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 52/36 Kabul Seoul 62/43 55/30 Baghdad 67/45 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 53/29 71/39 78/49 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 42/34 66/41 51/38 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 61/45 76/60 Brussels Zagan Sasebo 74/64 Ramstein 44/36 63/52 Guam 48/36 48/33 86/78 Riyadh Lajes, 89/65 Doha Azores Stuttgart 77/65 65/55 36/29 Pápa Aviano/ 51/34 Vicenza 55/36 Naples 59/43 Okinawa Morón 75/66 71/44 Sigonella Rota Djibouti 63/46 The weather is provided by the 71/49 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 84/77 63/49 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 18 Opinion ........................ 14 Sports .................... 19-24 Monday, March 15, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY US, Japan pull off a massive personnel drop BY SETH ROBSON Stars and Stripes YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — “The biggest US-Japan airborne operation in history” involved hundreds of Japanese soldiers parachuting from Air Force trans- port planes in the shadow of Mount Fuji, according to the 374th Airlift Wing. Photos of Tuesday’s training, dubbed Airborne 21, show para- troopers from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 1st Airborne Brigade jumping from a C-130J Super Hercules assigned to Yoko- Yokota to Tsuiki Air Base in Fuku- ta’s 36th Airlift Squadron. They oka prefecture to collect 80 Japa- landed at Combined Arms Train- nese paratroopers who jumped ing Center Camp Fuji. from the planes with the help of The Air Force was fortunate to Army paratroopers from Alaska. be able to support Airborne 21, an During Airborne 21, Yokota’s event led by the JGSDF, wing spo- aircraft dropped the Japanese keswoman Capt. Caitlin Mott supply bundles without malfunc- wrote in an email Friday to Stars tions, Mott said. and Stripes. The supplies were dropped to “It involved the largest person- multiple locations, in theory sup- nel drop during a ground scheme porting individual firing positions, of maneuver,” she said, echoing a she said. wing Facebook post saying the “This event further strength- training included “approximately ened our relationship with our al- 600 JGSDF paratroopers, 12 lies and partners by demonstra- C-130J aircraft and 130 contain- ting our resolve to promote securi- ment delivery system bundles.” ty and stability throughout the re- Japanese paratroopers have gion,” she said. jumped from the wing’s planes in YASUO OSAKABE/U.S. Air Force the past. In November 2018, for [email protected] Japanese paratroopers jump from an Air Force C130J Super Hercules at Combined Arms Training Center example, two C-130Js flew from Twitter: @SethRobson1 Camp Fuji, Japan, on Tuesday. Airman honored for braving icy waters to rescue elderly woman BY CHAD GARLAND members and the Happy Hooli- Mom out,” Kathy Paulson, the pa- Stars and Stripes gans,” Gov.