Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake opened its first Toronto store five years ago this Wednesday. Almost immediately, it gained a cult following, with downtown lineups approaching two hours.

On Sunday, there was no line at all. In fact, I was the only one in the store, which allowed me plenty of room for the required social distancing. This was the Uncle Tetsu location at Pacific Mall, a famously bustling Asian-themed indoor arcade that is usually packed on weekends. But when I arrived during peak early-afternoon hours, the parking lot was a third full. The lone server told me (from the prescribed distance of at least six feet) that business is down by almost 75 percent. From what I saw inside the mall, that estimate seemed optimistic. Almost all of the kiosks were open. But the clerks, all wearing face masks, outnumbered the customers.

A massive lawsuit representing over 1,000 children who were held and sexually abused in the Michigan corrections system was recently settled as state officials agreed to pay $80 million to the victims. The lawsuit began in 2013 and has been an uphill battle for the plaintiffs as the state fought them every step of the way.

The massive payout comes after hundreds of children came forward with claims that they were sexually assaulted and harassed by corrections officers as well as incarcerated adults while in the state's care in detention centers across the state.

Despite the size of the settlement, he Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) director and a spokesperson for the current attorney general cited the costs of litigation as their reason for settling — not guilt.

"We've got to look at the length of time that we've been dealing with this and the amount of resources that frankly will be spent continuing to draw this out," Heidi Washington, the MDOC director, said during the call. Through a statement read by her spokesperson, Attorney General Dana Nessel said that although her office had "vigorously defended against this lawsuit and has exhausted every single legal argument over the years, in the end, it was clear that continuing to engage in protracted litigation was not in the best interest of the people of this state."

After videos went viral at the weekend showing Russian soccer fans chanting about the coronavirus in packed stadiums, some expressed concern that the country was in denial over Covid-19. If so, that ended on Monday.

In Moscow, all outdoor events have been banned and schools will be closed. Meanwhile, indoor gatherings will be restricted to a maximum of 50 people. The orders were published on the website of the capital's mayor Sergey Sobyanin and came only a few hours after a spokesman said the Kremlin "saw no need" to introduce a state of emergency.

Under the measures, schools will be shut from March 21, with only small daycare groups in primary schools excluded. Meanwhile, older people are asked to limit contact with the outside world as much as possible and to remain at home. All visitors from the rest of Europe, and North America, will be subject to 14 days of self-isolation on arrival. At the same time, bus drivers will stop issuing tickets to protect themselves from contact.

A row between a conservative former model and the congresswoman's followers on whether it's evil to be eating out amid the dreaded coronavirus outbreak shows the central problem the US faces today, and one far more threatening.

In the midst of a media cycle that only seems to have coronavirus on the brain, terms like social distancing have become popular among politicians and social justice warriors looking to preach through Twitter.

Though the US has faced nowhere near the consequences of some other countries in regards to the coronavirus, folks have still been panicking, stockpiling hand sanitizer and toilet paper and keeping away from the usual public places they may usually go, such as movie theaters, restaurants, bars, etc.

Man, it seems like only a few days ago that the smart set was writing off small-government types (again!) in articles with such snarky headlines as "There Are No Libertarians in a Pandemic."

By now it might be more correct to believe there are only libertarians in a pandemic, including officials who are suddenly willing and able to waive all sorts of ostensibly important rules and procedures in the name of helping people out.

How else to explain the decision by the much-loathed and irrelevant-to-safety Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow family-sized jugs of hand sanitizer onto planes? The TSA isn't going full Milton Friedman — it's reminding visitors to its website "that all other liquids, gels and aerosols brought to a checkpoint continue to be allowed at the limit of 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters carried in a one quart-size bag." But it's a start.

It appears some Russians really don't like the idea of being quarantined over Covid-19. After a well-publicized hospital breakout in Saint Petersburg last month, a Moscow patient decided to play copycat.

Apparently unconcerned about infecting others around the capital, a woman suspected of having coronavirus escaped from a medical facility, according to Denis Protsenko, the head physician at Moscow's Kommunarka Hospital, who remarked:

"I have to deal with the ignorant behavior of hospitalized patients who do not understand the situation and the danger of spreading Covid-19 in the city. I ask my colleagues to explain the seriousness of the situation to non-medics."

Protsenko also asked Moscow residents to show civic consciousness.

"The worst thing is, from the moment of unauthorized departure to their discovery by the police, such patients pose a biological threat to the spread of the virus. Once again, I urge our patients to be relaxed and [more] conscious, and we will continue to work for you."

Residents of Hubei province, the epicenter of China's coronavirus outbreak, resumed a more normal daily life routine as factories and other businesses reopened Wednesday, possibly offering encouragement to the U.S. and other affected nations.

Health experts around the world are carefully watching the pandemic as it plays out in China, where the virus originated, for clues to how the new COVID-19 coronavirus strain works its way through a target population. At first overwhelmed by new cases and outbreaks, Chinese officials are reporting a sharply declining number of new cases in recent days.

Food processors, manufacturers and other businesses essential for providing daily necessities in Wuhan, the city in the province where the coronavirus emerged in December, can reopen, the Hubei provincial government announced. Construction also has gradually resumed on housing and public infrastructure projects in China as the country tries to bring employees back to work while still containing the epidemic.

Even though embarrassing information is tightly controlled by the Beijing government, experts say there are some glimmers of hope.

Americans have been bombarded with fake messages stating that President Donald Trump will declare martial law in days. The government had to intervene to prevent a wave of panic.

The seemingly unstoppable spread of coronavirus has already led the government to declare a national emergency over the deadly disease that has so far claimed 41 lives nationwide, and infected more than 1,600 people across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, certain unsavory characters apparently decided to exploit the already tense situation to stoke more fear in the hearts of Americans and provoke real panic. People across the US received text messages claiming the president is about to impose martial law in a day or two, while urging people to stockpile supplies. This comes as many shops have already reportedly run out of toilet paper among other things.

As Americans spend their first full day under a presidentially declared national state of emergency, many are wondering about the profile of those who have succumbed to the coronavirus so far.

The number of U.S. deaths has been growing since the first one reported in Washington state on Feb. 29. The victim's name was not released, nor were details of his circumstances. But officials said he lived in King County, was in his 50s, and had "underlying health conditions."

As of Friday, the total number of U.S. deaths attributed to coronavirus stood at 48. All but 11 of the deaths were in Washington state. Of the total deaths reported through March 13, more than half (25) were from the Life Care Center nursing facility in Kirkland, Wash., where a serious outbreak occurred.

U.S. health officials said the early pattern of deaths suggests those most at risk are the elderly and those with more serious health issues like diabetes, lung disease or coronary ailments.

Text of an urgent statement by the official representative of the People's Police (NM) of the DPR:

The Ukrainian side continues trying to destabilize the situation in the Donbass, provoking NM divisions to aggravate the situation.

"Tonight at 1:35 am militants of the 58th brigade, on the orders of a war criminal, Kashchenko fired at the mine settlement named after Gagarin from 122-mm artillery, firing 10 shells at the village."

As a result of the shelling, a high-voltage power line in the village of Kurgan was damaged. More than 1000 subscribers were left without electricity, boiler rooms No. 13.14 and 15 were de-energized. Emergency services are working to restore electricity.

According to updated data, as a result of shelling the area mine them. Gagarin, Gorlovka from 122-mm artillery, three civilians were injured : a man born in 1952, a woman born in 1959, and also a fourteen-year-old teenager.

"The victims were taken to the city hospital No. 2 of Gorlovka, where they were provided with qualified medical care. Currently, nothing threatens their life and health."

The cynicism of Ukrainian militants has crossed all borders. The ongoing genocide of the civilian population of Donbass should not go unnoticed by international observers and the world community. In this regard, we urge the leaders of Western countries to exert influence on the Ukrainian leadership to stop criminal acts against the Republic, and the Armed Forces command to curb their subordinates, for whom the killing of civilians has become the norm.